My partner and I are planning a European holiday and have settled on San Sebastian, northern Spain, as our main destination. We will be departing from London and have nine days to play with. Can you suggest the best use of our time? Is the train journey from Paris to nearby Irun a nice one? Or are we better to fly into Biarritz in France and make our way down from there? How many days do you suggest we have in San Sebastian to do it justice?
- Nikki
Shawn Low, Lonely Planet's Asia-Pacific travel editor, writes:
The train is a good way to get from London down through France and into Spain. In fact, it's even more convenient because San Sebastian's Renfe train station is on the Paris-Madrid line. Nine days gives you more than enough time to make it with some stops along the way. So a rough itinerary would take you from London to Paris on the Eurostar. If you really wanted to, consider going all the way to Madrid for a few days before heading back up to San Sebastian.
San Sebastian is the sort of place you want to stay in as long as possible. The gorgeous city beaches, Playa de la concha and Playa de Ondarreta, are popular but get to Playa de la Zurriola too. You can take a boat to the Isla de Santa Clara, an island in the middle of the bay. Museo Chillida Leku is the best museum and, for food, get to Parte Vieja (Old Quarter), where there's plenty of tapas bars. And try to get to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim museum.
Good helping of KL
