Rising up from Ondarreta to the west is Monte Igueldo.  You can take a small cable car up Igueldo to an old-fashioned attraction Park, with its small, creaky but surprisingly thrilling roller coaster, its bumper cars, cotton candy, and Hitchockian melancholy all there.  Plus as the sun sets one has the grandest view imaginable of the city.  A kiss – even a coffee – would be memorable from the terrace of the hotel there.  It’s a Monte Carlo view.

 

There are the tapas bars (pintxos in Basque) to give you bragging rights forever.  You will be able to say, “Yes, I am glad that your tapas in Madrid were good, but did you get to the Parte Vieja in Donosti?  No?  What a pity.”  They are laid out on the bar by the scores in all their variety and splendor, little bites of food: a bloc of bonito with fine anchovies, a thick slab of tortilla de patata, a brochette of octopus drizzled with oil and cayenne – there are hundreds.  They fly off the bar, so no need to worry about freshness.  One goes on a "ronda" or “txikiteo”, having a pintxo and wine here, a pintxo and wine there.  Three will hold you over from 6 until the late supper here. 

 

The restaurants are the best in the country. There are more Michelin three- and two-star restaurants in the San Sebastian area than anywhere else except Paris.

 

To top it off, there is a film festival at end of summer to rival Cannes and a major jazz festival in July.  On January 20 the city celebrates itself in la Tamborrada, an all-night affair.  Charming parades of citizens dressed either as Napoleonic-era soldiers or as chefs, march through the streets.  Everyone eats well.

 

In August comes la Semana Grande, a one-week explosion of fiesta.  It is more sedate than Pamplona’s madness, but the mood is ebullient and friendly, and there is a night-by-night international fireworks competition.