San Sebastián

San Sebastián keeps its beach in the middle of town. La Concha curves round a bay closed off by two headlands, Monte Urgull at one end and Monte Igeldo at the other. Spanish royalty took the city up as a summer retreat in the nineteenth century, and the Belle Époque front that followed still sets the look of the bay, down to the white cast-iron railing along the promenade. From June to September the sea is warm enough to swim in.

The food is the reason to come, and the best known of it is in the Parte Vieja, the Old Town, a medieval grid between the harbour and Monte Urgull. Its bars serve pintxos, the small plates of Basque bar food, eaten on the move: a plate and a glass at each bar along Fermín Calbetón and 31 de Agosto, then on to the next, so dinner arrives in instalments. At La Viña, on 31 de Agosto, Santiago Rivera first baked the cheesecake in 1990, and apart from its own website the bar is still the only place to buy it. That settles the last instalment.

Walking it off means going up. Monte Urgull is 123 metres, with the Old Town spread out below. Across the bay a funicular has climbed Monte Igeldo since 1912, for anyone who has walked the promenade to its foot and would rather not do the rest. Over the river in Gros, Playa de la Zurriola belongs to the surfers.

The old-guard tables have gone uphill for the quiet and the view. Akelarre has had the Cantabrian Sea below it on Monte Igeldo since 1970, and three Michelin stars since 2007. Where to sleep comes down to how late dinner runs. The Old Town is the base for nights out, and noisier for it. La Concha and Centro is calmer, just as central, and where to stay. Antiguo and Igeldo is the quiet end, and the one for families.

Only the summer can be counted on; the climate is Atlantic. August is the busiest and dearest month, with Semana Grande's week of fireworks and Basque sports. September is better, the sea still warm and the crowds thinning, though Zinemaldia, the film festival, takes the city over for a week. Winter is wet and the cheapest season, and the eating is then the whole visit.

San Sebastián's own airport, 20km away at Hondarribia, has only domestic flights. Most visitors land at Bilbao, an hour and a half away by road, or at Biarritz, which is nearer and in France.