San Sebastián/Bilboa with young kids

[Bella1905]

Has anyone been to San Sebastián and/or Bilboa with young kids and know how child friendly they are? We have a 6 year old, 4 year old and a baby and are considering finding a Eurocamp style camp site within 90 mins of there with some day trips to both. Any campsite recommendations woukd also be welcome. Thank you!

Personally I would say Bilbao is more of an city break for adults sort of place and apart from the Guggenheim there are not many "sites" as such, plenty of eating and drinking places but these are again geared towards adults. There are some beach areas on the coast which seem nice.

Agree Bilbao is limited for children though we had a nice couple of days there with DC older than yours. We then drove along the coast to Getaria which is lovely and has a great beach but again no specific child-oriented activities. San Sebastian also has a great beach - we didn't stay long there so not sure what else there is other than restaurants.

We went to Bilbao and San Sebastian a couple of years ago, thought both were lovely. Yes the sights are adult orientated but that's true for most cities, we took our kids who were 9 and 12 at the time and we all enjoyed it. The Bizkaia bridge which is like a gondola is very unique, we also did the Artxanda Funicular, the Guggenheim and had a wander around the old town over 2 days. San Sebastian has a lovely beach in a sheltered bay, we went up the hills either side of the bay, one has a castle at the top the other has a basic theme park, they gave stunning views. San Sebastian is somewhere I would return.

There aren't really any Eurocamp type places. I looked at going last year with older teens. There are some nice smaller campsites but with no cooking facilities so it would have meant eating out every meal which is expensive for 5 of us.

I’d say that San Sebastián is the more child-friendly of the two. There’s Monte Igueldo amusement park which has quite a bit for children that age, an interactive science museum and a good-sized aquarium. Outside the City Hall there’s a double-decker carousel that my dc still enjoy!

One of the best campsites in the area is Camping Itxaspe. It’s nowhere near on the scale of Eurocamp, but it’s such a high-quality site with amazing sea views and very close to some gorgeous beaches. There isn’t any organised entertainment, but there’s a play area and pool with slides for the kids.

We did it with kids aged 2 and 5.
There were nice beach towns along coast, sometimes parking was an issue at most popular places.

San Sebastian has more for kids.
Food was a bit of an issue so I had so cook a bit. We ended up in McDonald's once as it was quite hard to feed a fussy 2yo out. She ate a lot of bread and ice cream!

But if you are eurocamping it will be nice.
Even local shops were very well stocked.
We got caught out in smaller places when there was half day closing, or bank holidays we didn't know about.