FIRST WORD, ELI! Second WORD DELICIOUS FOOD TOUR-PINTXOS! We were fortunate enough to experience Mimo in multiple locations and they all had their super stars, but ELI was and is FANTASTIC! THIS WAS THE BEST TOUR AND EXPERIENCE EVER!!!!! I will absolutely book them again. There are not enough words to express my happiness and appreciation of the MIMO SAN SEBASTIAN EXPERIENCE. I am looking to bring my family back to experience this! THANK YOU ELI read more

MIMO Bites Experience is the most amazing culinary academy. My husband and I have been going every year twice a year since 2020. The school has experienced lots of changes and all for the better. If you love to do something amazing and love to cook or eat this is definitely for you. The team is composed of very experienced chefs, who love to teach and go out of their way to create an unforgettable experience for you. Lara, the office manager goes out of her way to make you and your guests happy. While the classes are awesome, there is another side to the school, you can book the entire place for team building or team rewards, rehearsal dinner party, birthday celebrations, etc. If you go to San Sebastian, one of the most beautiful cities in Spain, make MIMO a stop on your journey. Enjoy your stay read more

Such a fun experience with friends - cooking together, learning about the history and enjoying good food

A group of more than a dozen friends had the benefit of Tito's incredible knowledge and expertise on a wide range of local red wines, as part of a stag do/bachelor party. Tito demonstrated great calm and patience as we arrived in sections and a little bit late, followed by a thoughtful and interesting interactive demonstration of six different reds, with lots of little tips and nuggets of information that made the whole experience a fascinating couple of hours. An excellent way to learn more about wine - highly recommended! read more

Mimo San Sebastián - Red wine tasting experience - Food Tours Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

What an amazing experience we had! We had a food and drinks tasting tour with Almudena last week. It was so much fun. She showed us the right way to get service and shared some great stories and tips about the town and food. All the food and drinks we ate were delicious. I am so thankful I got to experience this tour and even more thankful for Almudena! I would highly recommend this! read more

See all

My wife and I took the Mimo Pintxo Dinner Tour last week and it was worth every penny. Unless you're a native of San Sebastian and/or have done months of research, there is no way to know where to stop for what to eat in an afternoon or evening of pintxo bar hopping. The tour conveniently left from our hotel, the Hotel Maria Cristina, and our tour guide Eli made the whole evening seem like it was just friends strolling around eating and drinking versus your bus tour/loudspeaker that we're used to in the U.S. While effortlessly navigating through multiple bars ordering us food and drinks, Eli also gave us history lessons about San Sebastian, the food and wine we were drinking and made us feel at home in a place where we had only just arrived. We will definitely do the tour again when we get back to San Sebastian and if we're lucky, a cooking class or chef's dinner at Mimo as well. read more

See all

Would definitely recommend, one of our most fond memories of the whole trip! Eli, our guide, spent so much time with us, we genuinely loved everything about it- an amazing time and learned a ton about the culture, too! read more

5 stars for a 5 star experience. The experience was thoroughly enjoyable and a great introduction to Basque cooking. We unfortunately booked on a national holiday which meant that we could not visit the local market as it was closed. Instead, we were guided around the old town and given a history lesson on the city followed by a delicious pinxtos tasting in one of the bars. When we returned to the kitchen, we were greeted with a delicious gaspachio and a much needed coffee. We then got down to business and cooked a wonderful array of tapas under the careful instruction of our chefs Augustin and Bendur. The process was simple and easy to follow and produced great results! At the end, we all sat down to sample our goods accompanied by some delicious wines. One small caution, many of the dishes we made came with 'assistance' from the very talented chefs so don't expect to not encounter some difficulty in recreating these delicious morsels. I could not recommend this enough. read more

See all

We had the absolute BEST time with Nagore at the Sidreria Evening. She was an absolutely awesome tour guide and she made us feel totally comfortable and like locals. We went to the Petritegi Cidre House and ate and drank like kings. It was so much fun. The food was delicious! I think my favorite was the cod scrambled egg dish. There was also sausage, steak, cheese/quince/walnuts, bread and more! The unique part of this tour starts with the cider though. This place is like no other experience I've ever had. HUGE barrels of cider are all over the restaurant and you can go as you please to get more and more. There is a special way in which they teach you to catch the the cider in your glass. It's a blast!! If we had more time I would have booked more experiences with San Sebastian Food. Next time for sure! read more

See all

My wife and I were in San Sebastian for a long weekend earlier this year, and we decided that it might be worthwhile to take a pintxos tour instead of trying to figure out, in our limited time, where to go for the best bites. We usually aren't the types of folks who do this, but we decided it'd be the most efficient - and Mimo did not disappoint. While Mimo does have an office (along with their kitchen / cooking area) outside of the main structure of the Hotel Maria Cristina, we signed up in their shop that is off to the left of the main entrance, right before you enter the lobby. The tour started out back, and we had the most friendly lady (Lourdes was her name, IIRC) who took us to five different spots in the old city, all of which had amazingly delicious food, whether it be by land or by sea (and most had a wine pairing to boot). While we undoubtedly paid a little more than had we done it ourselves, it was worth it to go to the spots that not only the locals really enjoyed, but to get the dishes worth having at each location. The tour lasted for a few hours over the course of midday and early afternoon, but suffice to say, Lourdes was extremely friendly and insightful (e.g. I learned a lot about the cooking clubs in the region), and everything we ate was spectacularly good. I would also say that, along with the tour being good, that the shop in the hotel is worth a visit as well. There are a lot of local goods being sold; we ended up taking a pouch of Spanish-raised wagyu prosciutto (not literally prosciutto, but the cut and curing is very similar to it)...paired with the almonds recommended to us by the lady working in the store, and wow - it was an intensely rich flavor that you wouldn't expect from such thinly-sliced meat. I grabbed a local beer as well, and I do wish that we had grabbed some more food as well - it's very well-curated, even if it's a tad on the pricier side. In all, Mimo did a great job, and even if I wasn't staying at the Maria Cristina next time I visit, I would definitely stop by the shop as a curiosity, and you cannot go wrong with the tours if you have some culinary curiosity about Basque food. read more

We did the lunchtime pintxo tour with Mimo while in San Sebastián for our honeymoon. Our tour guide was Iñigo, who speaks fantastic English, was friendly, and did a spectacular job. Our group was rounded out by a couple of other international travelers who ended up becoming great drinking buddies and who we swapped travel recs with for the rest of our trip. We learned so much about what's fresh, what's famous, and what's new at each pintxo bar (we went to 5), which we would never have been able to figure out ourselves. And then we promptly forgot it because we were all totally sloshed on the free-flowing alcohol, but luckily Iñigo sent us an email to remind us where we'd been, what we ate, and what else he recommended. read more

Our pintxos tasting tour with Arantxa and Almu was outstanding. It was a great way to start out our visit to San Sebastián. Every thing we ate and drank was delicious, absolutely everything. They made sure that everyone in our group of 6 had something to their taste. They even had special pintxos created for our friend who does not eat any seafood or beef....a real challenge in a city known for seafood! Our guide Arantxa and her trainee Almu were knowledgeable, warm, and friendly. Arantxa even followed up with an email outlining each place we went and what we ate and drank at each place. In addition, she gave several recommendations of places to go during our visit. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting San Sebastián. read more

Pintxos food tour an absolute must while in San Sebastián! Try to get on Almudena's tour. While I'm sure the other guides are terrific too, Almudena truly makes the night special! Don't eat all day as you will be having multiple pintxos at each stop - I was amazed at the value of this tour (food, wine, history and laughter all included). My wife and I will do this tour again when we return to San Sebastián some day - 5+++ stars!! read more

If you want to do pintxos right, take a tour with Mimo! There are TONS of bars in Old Town and it's hard to know what is good (or even what their specialty is) without any local knowledge. When I first signed up for the tour I had doubts about whether or not it was worth the money, let alone paying it 3 times (for me, my wife and my 10 year old son). I have to say it was DEFINITELY worth it. Our tour guide Almudena guided us throughout the streets of Old Town San Sebastian on the hunt for great food and drinks. She started us off light (in food and drink), progressed to more robust drinks and filling food, and then topped it off with something sweet. EVERYTHING she chose was thoughtfully paired, but we also had the option of picking anything else off the pintxos bar if our heart so desired. Throughout the tour she also gave us a little bit of local history such as a local candy shop that has been in operation for 4 generations, the house that she grew up in, local art galleries, wine shops, etc. She is definitely a local with knowledge that only a local can have. Almudena is a top notch tour guide. It was easy to connect with her, and she followed up our tour with an email that detailed all the places we went to AND the dishes and drinks that we had. She also provided us a list of things to do/places to see/useful phrases in the local Basque language. read more

I can't speak highly enough about our experiences with san sebastián food! We attended a spanish cooking class and made some purchases from their store. Our class with Agus was more than we could have expected - we were fortunate to be part of a small group but that didn't mean we missed out on any of the treats and excitement. Matched drinks throughout the night were just the start of the fun. We were each supported to complete cooking tasks which pushed our cooking abilities including butchering a rabbit and chicken for the paella. We ate, we laughed, we cooked. This class was well worth the pricey cost wether you are alone or with family/friends when in san sebastián. The store is fabulous - a modern space filled with helpful staff and ALL the tasty treated of the basque area! From salt to books to fresh meats and cheese this is the place. They ship around the world (a little pricey for non european countries) which is great for your luggage restrictions. San Sebastián Food is pricey but san sebastián just begs for you to yell 'treat yourself' as you throw dollar bills around and if you are going to throw the dollar bills then san sebastián food is the place to do it! read more

We absolutely loved our trip with Vicky to Biarritz and Saint Jean de Luz, and would recommend this tour to anyone spending time in San Sebastián! We had such a wonderful time with Vicky learning about the Basque culture and the history of the sites we visited, and of course lunch was so delicious! She also gave us recommendations for pintxos and restaurants in San Sebastián for us to try. Which we did and everything that we tried from her recommendations were wonderful! read more

We highly recommend SSF! It is hands down the best way to experience Pintxos and a Basque cooking class! Our amazing tour guide, Lourdes, was a wonder - she was born in San Sebatian and was familiar with many of the locals. As a result, our Pintxos tour had a warm, familial, insiders feel to it. In addition, Lourdes shared personal and historical insights into Basque culture, food, customs, the invaders that shaped the town, the significant buildings, and so much more! The cooking class explored Basque food preparation, technique and more. Overall SSF was a highlight of our Basque experience! http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g187457-d1857081-r328930607-San_Sebastian_Food-San_Sebastian_Donostia_Guipuzcoa_Province_Basque_Country.html# read more

The centre piece of our recent trip to San Sebastián was the Mimo walking tour with guide Almudena who was knowledgeable, funny, charming and made sure that everyone in our group of 10 was accommodated as we wandered around the bustling old town quaffing pintxos and matched wines at each stop. For a first time foodie visitor to this part of Spain, the tour was an essential introduction to the delights on offer here. We recreated much of the tour ourselves the following day so good was the food and the quality of the guide. It's not cheap, to be honest, but well worth the cost. Certainly for us, it gave us not only an insight and a taste for the magnificent food available (really for small change) but also an insider's guide to the city and to it's food and historic culture. To cap it all, Almudena sent us a detailed email after the event outlining where and what we had eaten. Filed for our next visit! Excellent and highly recommended. read more

Great food tour with Ane. She was incredibly helpful and seemed to know everyone in San sebastian. Exploring old town was great and I got to make friends with locals and fellow foodies alike. Ane showed us through 6 bars and stayed later than necessary since we were all having such a great time. Would definitely recommend! read more

Mimo San Sebastián - Food Tours Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

My husband and I had an extremely enjoyable time doing our pinxto tasting tour with Eli! This was our first visit to San Sebastian. Eli did a fantastic job showing us around the downtown with our group while teaching us about Donostia culture, pinxtos and the fabulous local wines. I highly recommend experiencing this! Many thanks again, Eli! MJ & Ryan read more

I am literally sitting with my friend in our Airbnb after the MIMO food tour and we are so obsessed with our experience that we have to write a review immediately. We are full and happy and a little tipsy and in awe. Verónica was the most amazing tour guide, and--being born and raised in Donostia to a restaurant family--gave us all the most amazing insider information. We ate superbly delicious pintxos and drank a bunch of local and regional wine, and, even more importantly, really got the lay of the the land here in San Sebastián. Some food highlights included lamb with sunchokes and fried onions, the most tender baby squid imaginable, incredibly flavorful mushrooms and the best piece of cheesecake we've ever eaten. This tour isn't cheap, but it's worth every euro we paid for it, both for the gastronomical value and for the excellent company and guidance of our fearless tour leader. I can not recommend this experience more highly. read more

See all

We did the Pinxtos Tasting Tour at lunch hour with Almudena, and it was probably the best 2.5 hours of our time in San Sebastian. We loved the walk through the Old Town and the history and culture information she shared as we ate and drank. The pinxtos were all excellent and her personal recommendations about even more pinxtos bars and restaurants were excellent as well. We literally tried almost all of them! We had a 10-month-old and a 3-year-old with us for the tour, and Almudena made sure to include them in the experience as much as possible, which was very kind of her. The Pinxtos Tasting Tour is a must-do if you're in San Sebastian, and do it at the beginning of your trip so you can spend the remainder of your trip trying all of the different recommendations of your tour guide. read more

We stayed at the Maria Christina and did the wine tasting and pintxos tour. The sommelier was incredibly knowledgeable and patient with us. We had a lovely time. Arantxa was wonderful! We went on a week night in November and it was just the three of us. My husband wanted to try anything and everything, and we had so much fun trying all types of pintxos - the popular ones as well as those she typically doesn't get for most groups including tripe and blood sausage. It's also a nice intro to the culture and history of the town. Best part - we ran into her parents going to get pintxos themselves! read more

I think my experience was different from everyone else's. Maybe it's due to the recent popularity of pintxos bars in San Sebastián. But our tour felt very haphazard and I don't feel like we were exposed to a good variety of food. It could also be that prior to our tour in San Sebastián we did a couple of food tours in Barcelona that we excellent with Food Lovers and Barcelona Taste. Our guides were able to reserve tables for our group at each of the places ahead of time, even ones that were incredibly busy. And the guides had in mind what they were going to order for us and have us try. The location of Mimo food is nice and our guide was really friendly and I feel badly for this review. But for 125e per person, I did not feel it was worth it. He did not do anything that we couldn't have done on our own. read more

Best experience during our trip to Spain! We did the dinner/pintxo tasting tour. We were only in San Sebastián for 2 nights so I planned this for night 1 so we could get they lay of the land - so glad I did! Our tour guide, Inigo, was fantastic. He took us to 6 spots where we had 2-3 pintxos and a beverage or 2 at each stop. The food was delicious, but we also appreciated that we were able to enjoy the night and did not have to worry about ordering food and battling lines. Inigo also gave us tips and pointed out other spots to check out. The following morning he sent us an email with a list of where we went, what we ate/drank and additional recommendations. Totally worth the 110 euro price and would highly recommend it the tour to anyone traveling to San Sebastián. read more

I live in a tourist town. Born and raised. So, this is something I would never do. That being said, I'm so glad we did. San Sebastián is amazing, and as a sommelier I could definitely make my way n my own. Elly made this an exciting educational experience. Everyone enjoyed my son. We drank and ate and talked. History. Gastronomic inquiry. Truly worth it. Besitos, Elly! read more

I took the lunch pintxos tour with Vicky and it was outstanding. Somehow I was the only person signed up and I had a lovely time eating and getting to know San Sebastian. Vicky was great--she is warm, funny, knowledgeable, and a great conversationalist. She told me all about the amazing food that we were eating, the history of the area, the culture, and so much more. The food was amazing! Vicky took me to several pintxo bars stuffing me to the gills with squid, pork, beef, lamb, rissoto, artichokes, peppers, french toast, and more. I also had many glasses of wine (wheee!) and tried a different kind at each site. I was so full in the end that I didn't need dinner. This morning I awoke to an email detailing every place we had gone and what we had ordered as well as suggesting several other pinxto bars and restaurants. I look forward to trying some of them today. After my tour I feel more comfortable and confident going to the bars on my own. read more

Our tour with Arantxa was by far the highlight of our trip to San Sebastián! We ate amazing food, made new friends, and learned so much about the pintxo culture. We even went back to many of the same pintxo bars that Arantxa took us to on the tour because we loved them so much. Highly recommend this tour! read more

We did the pintxos dinner tour and it was one of the best things we did on our trip! Our guide, Verónica, was incredible. We got a little history of pintxos, of San Sebastian, of the food and people.....it was AMAZING! I would honestly recommend this to anyone traveling to San Sebastian, whether it's your first time or your 10th. This was my 3rd time in San Sebastian and our 4th night there so we had eaten plenty of pintxos, but nothing compared to this tour and having a guide! We also had such an amazing group that we ended up grabbing drinks after the tour with them! Thanks so much Mimo and Verónica for an experience i'll never forget! read more

Fantastic! Booked thru Charmed by Spain, this five hour cooking experience turned out to be a creative, professional, and very fun day! The chefs were so great, informative, with a fantastic sense of humor! Loved it!!! read more

One of the best cooking classes I have ever taken. I cannot say enough good things about the professionalism, expertise, and style of the team at Mimo. I took my course as part of a culinary vacation with a girlfriend and we both agreed this was THE BEST part. My only regret was that I didn't have more days to learn from this group. Thank you so much to Mateus and Augustin for sharing your passion with us. read more

Ask for Eli on your pintxo tour!!! I'm SO glad we had her because she's the kind of person you want to eat with when you're told 100000 recommendations from all sorts of people. Eli is a local who nearly knew everyone we walked past in the Old Town of San Sebastián. If you tell Eli you love seafood, she'll know exactly which pintxo bars to take you to AND which pintxos the bar is reallly good at and which pintxos other bars are better at. I'm so happy we had her for our tour since my husband and I absolutely love food and getting the "good" dishes at every new restaurant is something we look forward to when we travel! read more

Spectacular! My first day in San Sebastian, I was invited by Marti to attend an "Underground Dinner". It was surprising and superb. The next night, I thoroughly enjoyed Pinxto Hunting with Aranxta...she is so bright and funny and knowledgeable about San Sebastian. She made Pinxto Hunting so fun and followed up with a picture of our group, recipes and more recommendations. A true professional! The 3rd night, I went to a Wine Tasting with Tito. He was adorable and taught us all about wines from around Spain. It was very fun and so worth it! San Sebastian Food Company is amazing!! read more

We had a fantastic experience with Arantxa and a half dozen new friends on the 3-Hour Pintxos tour in Old San Sebastian. She was very entertaining and picked the best selections at each of the five stops. Beforehand I thought we might only get one selection per stop but that was not the case! We had two or three pintxos at each bar with a glass of wine (or non-alcoholic drink if preferred). I would highly recommend MIMO San Sebastian and Arantxa!! read more

We did the evening pintxos tour with Arantxa on our first night in San Sebastián. I can't recommend this tour highly enough. Arantxa was a knowledgeable, fun, friendly and wonderful companion as we explored the pintxos scene in the old town. We learned a great deal, and at the end, felt quite comfortable knowing what to drink and eat, and how to do it like a native, that our remaining days in San Sebastián were especially well spent! Thanks Arantxa and Mimo! We'll never forget this experience. And we'll definitely be back for more! read more

Had the pintxo tour for dinner. The tour guide, Eli, was a super down to earth, friendly, and knowledgeable. Showed me many great pintxo bars as well as educated me on the culture of San Sebastián. The next day, Eli also sent me an email detailing where and what we ate and drank as well as more recommendations, which was super helpful. 10/10 would recommend to anyone. read more

The best tour ever! Fun, educational and delicious. Should do the minute you arrive in San Sebastián to make the rest of the trip even better. Eli was the best guide!! read more

Veronica has an incredible knowledge base both of the gastronomic scene and of the culture and history of San Sebastián. If you do one activity or tour in San Sebastián, this is it. read more

My daughter-in-law, 14-yr. old granddaughter and myself took a cooking course at Mimo located in Hotel Maria Cristina.. It was the best cooking course we have ever taken. Besides enjoying a scrumptious Basque meal, we participated in its preparation. Our teacher, Mikel Martija, was informative, charming, and fun. We learned a lot of cooking techniques. read more

I had two wonderful tours with MIMO during a 4 day stay in Donostia. I am not a packaged tour type of person. However both the 'Off The Beaten Track' and The 'Pintxos Tasting' experiences were like reuniting with an old friend who is showing me why she is proud of her city's history and cuisine. All of their selections were highly curated and it was not unusual for other people if San Sebastián to say hello to our guides on a first name basis. Because of a phone call ahead made by the principal of MIMO to Arzak where 4 of us had reservations, we were asked by the staff to tour the kitchen and meet Chef Juan Marie. We were all stunned to say the least. The first two pictures were taken from pintxo bars recommended by a MIMO employee's blog but were not on our tour. The next three pictures are taken from Arzak. The last picture is taken from the Pintxos Tasting experience and ended with a lovely dessert wine and ... well dessert. read more

See all