This is the main bus station in San Sebastián, where public transportation is good. The station is…read moreclean. There are shops, cafes, restaurants, bathrooms. It's clean and very convenient to get to the center or to the beach. There are bus company booths, ticket machines, and lots of travelers. It's very busy.

So...you are in Bilbao, you hear all the rave about that small city an hour away by the name of San…read moreSebastian, yet you find out they have some funky rail company that runs it and it is very slooow. This brings you to the more convenient and quick option, that being one of the two companies that runs buses to and from San Sebastian, in this case I went with Pesa. I would of went with either as locals take them all day versus the train that apparently stops at every shrub to take photos (I kid, but not really). Half the time, half the price and runs more frequent, not a tough decision. I bought my tickets online, but they can be purchased at the bus station on either end for the same price. Beware though, as some are direct shots (San Sebastian to Bilbao), while others will make one or two stops in the smaller cities along the way. Remember, this is not a tourist service, more geared towards the locals. I do not recall, but the pricing was relatively small for the direct versus the multiple stops. Buses at both ends come quite frequently as mentioned prior, but pay attention to the digital boards that tell you where they are going and arriving (Number wise), or you may end up in a different city and or country! Both bus stations are quite clean and relatively theft free, but always be aware of your surroundings. As for distance from the cities to the bus stations, consider it an easy walk for non Europeans, no need for taxis unless you are running short on time. To sum it up, I guess no locals use Yelp for reviews of their local transit, but I hope this help another tourist in need!?

I spent the first morning with Julen in a fishing village where their annual festival was kicking…read moreoff. You had to get there by boat and then had a blast with the locals running with the Bulls. Not as chaotic as Pamplona but it was crazy non the less. From there were had the pleasure to visit the preservation project of an early whaling ship from Basque Country, the San Juan at Albola. Day 2 was a drive to Basque Country and the wine region of Rioja. We stopped at 2 great wineries, Julen tried to arrange tour guides who spoke a little English which helped me a great deal. See some of the amazing pictures below. It truly was a fantastic time and without Julen I would have never even known of the options available to you while visiting San Sebastián. Aupa Hi is a great guide, someone raised in the area who is kind and outgoing so has many friends in the area and can customize your experience to exactly what you want to do in Basque Country. I highly recommend Julen and will point all of my friends his way if they were to pass through the area. Aupa Hi!!!

Fantastic Day and a Great Way to see the True Basque Country…read more Our family of 4 (including two teenagers) had an incredible day with Julen from Aupa Hi! Julen is a dedicated, caring, passionate and excellent tour operator. This was apparent to us from the start when Julen wanted to meet my entire family, over pintxos, the day before to go over our entire itinerary. We chose the Coast, Wine & Fish tour which allowed us surf at a remote beach, visit a vineyard/cider house and cook as a family two types of paella and grilled tuna with Julen (who is also an impressive chef). We had to prepare two different types of paella as my son is allergic to shellfish - this was never an issue with Julen. From the prompt morning pickup at our apartment, Julen drove us out of San Sebastian and along the coast providing us with incredible views of Basque Country. From our drive, we arrived at a fishing port where we experienced an "old world" fish market (including auction house). At the fish market, we picked up all the seafood we would need for one of our paellas (clams, prawns, calamari, etc.) as well as fresh tuna to grill. After the fish market, we headed to the vegetable and bread markets to get the remaining ingredients for both our paellas (the other was a chorizo and chicken paella). Since we were outside of San Sebastian and in true Basque Country, it was incredible to just stroll along the cobblestone streets going from store to store. A real "old world" experience that you don't see too often. My teenagers were really impressed. Once we were done shopping, we headed to a local and remote beach to do some surfing. Julen was great with his instructions and was totally confident that everyone would be successful surfing. My teenagers did great and took a ton a video to prove it. After surfing, we headed to a family owned Txakoli vineyard and cider house. We were greeted by the owner, Antonio who welcomed us in just like we were family. We learned the art of pouring and drinking cider. We also toured his vineyard and bottling operation and drank plenty of Txakoli before, during and after dinner. At the vineyard is where we prepared our paellas and tuna with Julen. Everyone in our family had a job in preparing the meal. It was a real fun experience for our family. After a long day, it was nice to sit down and eat with Julen and Antonio and learn about life in the Basque Country. We had a lot of laughs and at the end we really felt like family. At the conclusion of the meal, we toured more of the property, including a really neat cave that Julen says goes on for miles. We just went in about 200 yards. As you can tell, we had a great day with Aupa Hi! and Julen was fantastic! I really recommend spending a day or several days outside of San Sebastian to really enjoy the true Basque Country! This tour was the overwhelming favorite by our entire family during our 11-day trip to Spain!

One of my favorite hotel stays in a long time, and a luxury home away from home for my weekend trip…read moreto San Sebastián. I reserved one adult double historical room a few months in advance through my travel agent. You pay in advance and there's a strict no refunds/cancellation policy, so they are very clear up front what to expect. That said, it was a really dreamy experience. I arrived on a Saturday of a busy weekend around 11:30 am and they let me check in early and get to my room immediately, which was a huge plus after a few exhausting days of travel. The hotel is less than 300 meters from the main Old Town pintxos drag, but also removed enough that it's very quiet at night AND attaches to a main road that allows taxis through (clutch if you have heavy luggage like I did.) I ended up being able to walk to 95% of what I wanted to do (primarily eat pintxos across the city) and took a short taxi for the one bit of sightseeing I wanted to do (Comb of the Wind was absolutely worth it.) When I got sick, the farmacia was literally less than a block away. The convenience of this hotel is genuinely unbelievable. Hotel staff are available around the clock to help you with what you need but rooms are also well stocked with amenities to help you really relax during your stay. The shower water pressure was strong, the water steamy and got really hot how I like it, and the room temp was very easily adjustable to my preferred cold temp, which isn't always easy to find. The bed was very comfortable. I got sick right before coming here and spent a lot of the weekend napping, reading, and otherwise relaxing in the awesome bed. The room came with a hot water kettle which I used liberally for hot water and tea to recover from the cold I had acquired. It was a rainy weekend but the hotel offered umbrella rental for these who needed it. The hotel is also adults only, which was a huge plus. On my last day, they arranged a taxi (fixed flat fee of 61 euros, which is a bit steep but the airport is a hike and it was very early) for me to the airport, which was great because taxis are a bit annoying to order at odd times. My one small bummer of the weekend was it was cold and rainy the majority of the weekend so the rooftop pool and bar was closed. I would not hesitate to stay here again if given the opportunity to come back to San Sebastián!

We had a 14-night trip planned across Spain that we had to cancel after our dog was diagnosed with…read morecancer. She will be in treatment for the next year, and travel is not possible. We provided veterinary documentation and explained the situation clearly. Every other property, including five-star hotels, refunded their non-refundable rates immediately once they saw the documentation. This hotel was the only exception. We have received multiple email responses from the hotel, essentially repeating the same explanation over and over again. What I understand from their stance is this: even with a non-refundable rate, they are unwilling to show compassion for a unique and serious circumstance. This is not a case of choosing to stay at another hotel. This is the cancellation of an entire trip because our dog has cancer. The hotel insisted on charging us for the first night unless we returned within three months, which is impossible given the year-long treatment our dog is facing. Our booking overlapped with the film festival, when nearly every hotel in the city was sold out. They could have easily rebooked the room and avoided any loss. Instead, they enforced the charge without regard for the situation. This experience shows a lack of empathy and professionalism. While every other hotel we dealt with demonstrated understanding and fairness, this property chose to prioritize policy over humanity.

Very good train station, clean and easy. There are machines which have many languages so you can…read moreeasily get tickets you have to buy tickets and validate them, save the tickets to exit the station where you arrive. There's an information desk, a cafe with good pintxos called Topobide Bar, and lots of police. The trains are fast and efficient. They run every half hour on weekdays and hourly on weekends. Outside there's a pretty garden in Easo Plaza.

Clean station but found the ticket machines only accepted cash. Went to the ticket window, and the…read moreattendant also only accepted cash. So make sure you've got some cash on you when you go. Track assignments are easy to find, and the station is located within the city.

Fun old school ride up and/or down the mountain. Cheaper to go down than up, lol. Great views at…read morethe top with an old school amusement park that was unfortunately closed when I went.

This is the best view of San Sebastian! Our group enjoyed a walk to the funicular on a hot summer…read moreday. There was a bit of a line to get in but everything moved fairly quickly. We didn't all fit in one car so it was some what of a rickety solo experience for most of our group. There's an amusement park with a bar at the top and we enjoyed the view over cocktails. The price of admission is well worth the view of the city.

This is a good size bus station, located in the Gros district of San Sebastian…read more Located next to the Urumea River and the North Renfe station, the bus station is a building of large footprint spread over three floors and a mezzanine. The main floor houses the bus station, which has 21 docks. In addition, there is also a candy store, automatic ticket offices, ticket sales and vehicle rental counters, as well as a bar-restaurant. On the mezzanine floor there are accesses to the station, offices, bicycle parking (for a fee), a supermarket, a lottery administration, a kiosk and 2 "take away" stores and a tourist office. Finally, it has a two-story underground car park, with a total of 400 spaces, 13 of which are for people with reduced mobility. Easy to get to from downtown, it's the lifeline for those wanting to get to many of the cities and towns in the surrounding provinces.