I live in San Sebastián AMA

[EspanaPorfavor]

I often see San Sebastián recommended for holidays on here. If you’re thinking of coming and have any questions AMA! I’ve lived here 14 years.

I did my university year abroad in Bilbao and visited Donostia-San Sebastian a lot. I had a pretty tough time as my dad was terminally ill, but I have happy memories of bar hopping in SS eating delicious pintxos. I bet it's a lovely place to live! What took you there?

I loved learning a bit of Basque. The only bit I remember now is 'hurrengo geltokia' from the Bilbao metro!

What a birth story!!! Thank god you had insurance!

they do go to Basque schools and are trilingual! But one DC in particular struggles with Basque a lot, and if we stay here they will need it as you need it for most jobs. I wish I knew it - I’ve tried learning it but it’s so hard and I prefer to focus on Spanish

ah I’m sorry that you had a hard time being away from your dad when he was ill, that must have been really tough for you. have you ever been back?

Erasmus is the best! Mine was in Italy and I knew afterwards that I wanted to go back to Spain or Italy and have another year so asked DH to keep an eye out for jobs in his field, his boss in the UK knew his now boss was looking for someone and put a word in for him, so out we flew for a year and just never went home!

I did my year abroad in France and Spain

Then went to Spain after uni to teach English as a foreign language with British Council

One of the best times of my life that

You can also get the Eurostar to Paris, TGV to Hendaye and narrow gauge Euskotren to San Sebastián. Details here. It's a lovely journey

London to Spain by train | 2026 times & tickets https://share.google/wjCdXXxvpDY4IV7GC

I love this thread as SS has been high on our list for a long weekend for ages now!
Really annoyingly I’ve recently been diagnosed as coeliac. Spain in general has a really good reputation for being gluten free / coeliac friendly. Because the food is one of my main motivations to go to SS, do you know about or have any specific recommendation for GF eating experiences, OP? I understand it’s a bit niche but worth asking!

This is great! Thank you.

Is San Sebastián blighted by cruise ships, as are other beautiful cities around Europe? ( Malaga, Cadiz, Dubrovnik, Venice, Barcelona,Marseille etc).

Is the sea cold there ?

Do you speak Castilian or Catalan?

No I haven't been back. The nearest I've been is Galicia and I found it a bit traumatic to be honest. On top of my dad I had a lot of mental health problems so going back was hard. I do get very excited by all the Basque football managers in the Premier League though, and bore anyone who'll listen with my praise of the Basque footballing set up! Another of my favourite memories is going to watch Athletic Bilbao and all our neighbours hurling abuse at the 'españoles' while sharing leather pouches of wine with us!

I would love to know how you ended up living there and what you do for work. I spent a year as an au pair in Madrid and now I have my own young family, keep thinking we should do something adventurous and live abroad for a few months (I think we would be bound to 90 days and work would be an issue unless we could both take sabbaticals).

Yes this was it on the beach.

The aforementioned Spanish omelette is GF and divine!

I found this GF San Sebastián guide online

It is happily not! We have the most beautiful bay and they are not allowed there. The port is actually in the next town. Once, they did give special permission for the most expensive cruise ship in the world (called The World) to dock in the bay and it caused an outcry. It hasn’t happened since!

I speak Castilian Spanish. Catalan is only spoken in Catalunya, here the language is Basque (Euskera) and it is very different to Spanish and notoriously difficult to learn. I tried for a year but gave up. It’s as different from Spanish as Welsh is from English. My DC speak it though as well as Spanish and English.

How is the cost of living in comparison to the UK? Average meal out per person, average cost of electricity per month?

I wanted to move to Spain or Italy ever since doing my Erasmus so pressured DH in O job hunting in the region and he got lucky! The intention was to come out for a year or two but we never went back.

I have my own business going into companies and teaching them English or presentation/public speaking skills. I am a little worried about how AI might impact that though!

Do you have a spare room that I could rent? 😉
Never been, would love to!

I walked the Camino del Norte in 2018 and loved all the villages along the coast there and have been back many times you are very lucky to live there! I did find the smaller villages a bit negative towards tourists quite a few tourists go home graffiti, my Spanish isn't great but I'm a native Catalan speaker and that made interactions more friendly

This is is a good question! I would say food is pretty similarly priced in restaurants but a coffee is less than €2, a glass of wine €1.50, a plate of tapas €10, so we eat out a lot but more informally. I get a coffee and pintxo every day for lunch and it’s €4.60.

I left the UK 14 years ago so it’s hard to compare like for like with things like bills. The housing in San Sebastián is crazy expensive, comparable to SE England. A 3 bed flat is around 600k.

My biggest saving (and one big reason we stayed) is childcare. It’s free from age 1. They also have semi private schools. I have one DC in private and that’s €300 a month. The other at state but I have to pay €70/month for lunchtime care and food (as state provision doesn’t include that).

You wouldn’t want to, it’s a messy chaotic house with small dc!! But a few of my friends house swap on the home exchange platform which could be worth checking out!

I find the anti tourist sentiment very conflicting. It is true that house prices are out of control in San Sebastián now, so it’s almost impossible for local young people to buy. Also the price of pintxos has skyrocketed so we don’t go to the old part anymore. I’m often mistaken for a tourist in summer and spoken to in english, it’s usually friendly. On the other hand, I love to travel and I’m a tourist everywhere else I go!

I’m coeliac and I’ve just got back from there. I ate some fabulous gluten free food - they are clued up and there is generally a few good options. Plus the two best things, the tortilla and cheesecake are always gf!