San Sebastian Old Town Pintxos & Wine Tour Small Group Tour
Description
San Sebastian is a food mecca! While you’re here, there are some must-visit places you can’t leave without trying - but these can be hard to find without local knowledge. On this tour, you’ll take a deep dive into the world of the city’s beloved pintxos, visiting its most famous bars where a variety of dishes awaits. You’ll learn how to navigate the pintxos scene, which will prove invaluable for the rest of your trip! Explore the world of San Sebastian’s famous pintxos bars and try a range of their most delicious creations.
Tour Options
Itinerary
A traditional bar awaits as your first stop of the evening. Specializing in mussels, you’ll taste a variety of these along with a Basque cider. Get acquainted with the art of pouring your drink from a height and learn about a cultural phenomenon unique to the area.
This may not be a pintxos bar – but this specialty store is full of Basque and Spanish products that are must-tries. You’ll sample some of their famous cured Iberian ham. In fact, you’ll try not one, but two varieties and get an education into the difference between them.
The family running this bar has been working on the anchovy recipe offered here for generations. Once you taste them, you’ll see how much it’s paid off! Alongside this delicacy you’ll get to sample a refreshing glass of Basque sparkling wine.
Next up is a popular modern pintxos bar. Here, seasonal fresh ingredients, traditional recipes and inventive cooking techniques meet for a novel pintxos experience.
The last stop is exclusively for a dessert you won’t find elsewhere. Paired with a sweet dessert sherry, this Basque specialty is an award-winner and the perfect way to end the tour.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- This tour is not recommended for children under 15 years of age due to busy, crowded bars and the alcohol focus of this tour. For safety and logistical reasons, guests with very young children or strollers may be refused participation in this tour
- Guests with serious food allergies will need to sign an allergy waiver at the start of the tour
- Unfortunately due to the nature of this tour it is not suitable for guests with mobility impairments or with wheelchairs, or strollers.
- This tour is adaptable for: Vegetarians, Pescatarians, gluten free (not celiac), dairy free, Non-alcoholic options & Pregnant women, but please note that you may not have a replacement food option at every stop. Not recommended for Vegans.
- We will be standing up in all the bars, in true Basque style.
- The tour covers a full meal.
Reviews(1,210)
Mila gave us a passionate and knowledgeable tour explaining the history of San Sebastián and pintxos. Very structured tour with visits to generation old restaurants and Mila chose a set of pintxos that basically went from a s starter to dessert without giving too much away so you can go and learn for yourself. Recommended.
Great way to see the old town, learn of its history, and try great food. The group we were with were all interesting and fun but our guide Christina was fantastic and made everyone on the tour get involved.
The tour was over 100 euro to sign up. An address was given. Gave myself plenty of time to get there however Google maps took me way beyond the spot and anyone I asked for help with directions did not speak English which is ok. Btw, locals do not recognize the address. I went out of the way. A nice policeman directed me to the correct spot which I had passed a while ago. Ran back. Asked more cops for help when I got to location and they struggled to find the address but finally discovered it was right across the street. Crossed the street. Two tour guides there. It was about 6:10 when I arrived and explained the problem. Your guide not at all sympathetic. Did not expect my tour to wait but thought with all my contact info they had maybe they would reach out and let me know where to meet up. No dice. Other tour guides, same company, would not accept me on their tours. Suggested I try to catch up with the 6 pm tour but could not be for sure they would be at a certain destination. I had already walked 6.5 miles so wasn’t going to wander around on foot any more. I did call the guide contact number on my ticket when I realized I had reached the wrong location but no one answered. Sent an email to the company after but still have not heard back. Shared this experience with other tour guides this morning who led a walking tour I was on. They thought it coukd have been handled more humanely ’. Their words. I agree. Obviously cannot recommend this tour company for their inability to pivot and accommodate one person at such a steep price. Answering the contact info would have been a good start. Met some nice Australians while waiting for 20 Minutes for a good solution that never came. Hope this helps and that the your company comes through with a refund and no excuses.
Dear Florence, Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are truly sorry to hear about the difficulties you encountered finding the meeting point and the frustration this caused. We completely understand how stressful it must have been, particularly after allowing plenty of time to arrive and making every effort to locate the tour. We're also sorry to hear that you felt unsupported once you reached the meeting point. This is certainly not the experience we want any of our guests to have, and we would very much like the opportunity to investigate what happened. Unfortunately, we're unable to identify your booking from the information provided in your review. If you could please email us at feedback@walks.org with your booking reference, the lead passenger name, and any other booking details, we'll be happy to look into this thoroughly and follow up with you directly. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention and hope to hear from you soon. Kind regards, Samantha Walks & Devour Tours
Lily was a wonderful guide. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the food tour. We went to 5 spots, many of which were on our list of must tries! All of the spots were locally owned and often very busy, so being able to jump right to the front and try some of the most incredible pinxtos was well worth it!
Our guide was very knowledge and accommodating to our many food limitations. It was a great experience!
Lily was a great tour guide. In addition to sampling a wide array of pintxos and different kinds of drinks, she helped us learn how to navigate pintxos bars, and how to secure an outdoor table by hovering nearby. At the end of the tour, we asked her about "San Sebastian cheesecake" which we had heard about during a food and wine tour in Lisbon earlier in the trip, and she directed us to La Pina, and the cheesecake there was amazing. We were disappointed that we did not visit Bar Txepetxa on the tour (it was listed on the itinerary), but were told that they regularly vary the itinerary, and the tour did include anchovy pinxtos at another bar .. and we were able to visit Bar Txepetxa (which had 11 different anchovy pinxtos) the next night.
A really great evening out. We were taken to some interesting places with a good selection of food and drink
Experience great small plates and wines of the local region. Gabby, our host was incredible and very helpful. Great time!
Hector is a superb guide, extremely knowledgeable and professional. The places we went didn’t really look special from the outside or even inside, until I tried their menu. It was truly a local’s recommendation because Hector knew exactly what to order in each place. There was a good amount of information about the history of the city and the restaurants. Highly recommend for anyone traveling solo or as a couple.
Héctor was a wonderful guide! His knowledge of the history was excellent. He was very hospitable, making all in our group feel comfortable and welcome. We only had 5 in our group which also made it quite nice! Thank you, Hector!
