Where to Stay in San Sebastián: Best Areas and 7 Hotels

Working out where to stay in San Sebastián comes down to three questions: how close you want to be to the Old Town, whether you’re bringing a car, and how much you’re happy to spend. San Sebastián, or Donostia as the Basques call it, is small, walkable and famous for having more Michelin stars per inhabitant than almost anywhere on earth. It isn’t cheap, though, and in summer the good rooms go early.

We’ve been, but we haven’t slept there: on our trip in September 2023, we stayed in Bilbao and drove over for the day. So these seven come from research, from walking the Old Town, the centre and La Concha all the way to Igueldo ourselves, and from checking every price.

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Which Area to Stay In

Where to stay in San Sebastián comes down to the area more than the hotel. These are the five that matter, and where our seven sit.

Old Town (Parte Vieja): the pintxo bars, the port and Mount Urgull, squeezed between La Concha and Zurriola. It’s the liveliest base and the noisiest at night, and it’s inside the low-emission zone. Ours here: Pensión Itxasoa ↓ and Lasala Plaza ↓.

Centro: the grid of 19th-century streets behind La Concha, with the shops, the cathedral and the promenade. It’s a few minutes from the Old Town but calmer and also inside the zone. Pensión Peñaflorida ↓ is here, and Hotel de Londres ↓ sits right on the promenade.

Gros: across the river around Zurriola, the surf beach, with its own pintxo bars and a more local feel. It’s outside the zone. Villa Soro ↓ is just beyond it, in Ategorrieta.

Ondarreta and Antiguo: the Igueldo end of the bay, residential and quieter, with a calmer beach and the funicular up to Igueldo’s amusement park. It’s outside the zone. None of our seven is here, but it’s a good area to look for an apartment ↓ with kids.

On the hill and further out: Far Out Inn ↓ sits on the slope above La Concha, and Hotel Tres Reyes ↓ is out in green Miramón, 15 minutes by car.

Sleep Well, Spend Less

San Sebastián isn’t a cheap city to sleep in. None of our picks came in under €150 a night for mid-June, so even the cheapest sit in the €€ tier. These three are the best value on our list: two owner-run pensions in the centre, and a hotel with a pool and parking for anyone with a car.

1. Pensión Itxasoa

Best for: Travellers who want to be in the thick of it: steps from the sea, the pintxo bars and everything else in the Old Town.

Location is everything in a city like San Sebastián, and Pensión Itxasoa has one of the best in town. It’s tucked into the Old Town, the pintxo-bar-lined heart of the city, between La Concha and Zurriola beaches. In any other city, this would cost far more.

It’s a small two-star pension, run by its owners around the clock all year, so there’s always someone there. The rooms are spacious by Old Town standards, and almost all of them have balcony-terraces with sea views. One of its seven rooms sleeps four and has its own sea-view terrace, so it works for a family too. Don’t come expecting spa facilities or a rooftop bar: what you get is honest, comfortable accommodation in a brilliant spot.

2. Pensión Peñaflorida

Best for: Couples looking for a stylish, central base from which to explore everything.

Pensión Peñaflorida quietly gets almost everything right. It sits in the city centre, less than a ten-minute walk from La Concha beach, close to the Victoria Eugenia Theatre and the Kursaal. Couples in particular rate its location highly, and it’s not hard to see why.

It’s a small, owner-run pension with elegant rooms and personal service. You can add breakfast to your stay, and the owners offer parking cards for the nearby Kontxa car park at a guest rate, which helps, since parking in the centre is tricky. As a couple, this is the one we’d book. It isn’t one for young families, though: it doesn’t take children aged seven or under, and there are no cots or extra beds.

3. Hotel Tres Reyes

Best for: Families, travellers with a car, and anyone who’d rather have space and quiet than the Old Town on the doorstep.

Hotel Tres Reyes is the most different choice on this list, and deliberately so. It’s a modern four-star hotel in Miramón, a green residential area on the edge of the city, about 15 minutes by car from the centre. It won’t win any awards for being in the thick of things, but that’s rather the point: after a day in the city, you come back to quiet rather than to the Old Town at midnight.

It feels more like a resort than a city hotel, with gardens, a gym and a seasonal outdoor pool (open from about mid-June to the end of August), and the restaurant has a child-friendly buffet.

It won’t be for everyone. If you want to wander down to the pintxo bars at 10 pm and roll back an hour later, you’ll want something closer to the action. With our son and a car, though, this is the one we’d book: it’s the best value for money on our list.

The Sweet Spot: A View or a Landmark

These two sit in the middle of our list: more comfort and personality than a pension, for less than the two at the top. One trades the centre for a view of the whole bay. The other is San Sebastián’s most famous address.

4. Far Out Inn

Best for: Couples, solo travellers, and anyone who wants to wake up to a panoramic view of the bay.

The name says it all, really. Far Out Inn is a small guesthouse perched on a hillside just above the city centre, trading the bustle of the streets below for something calmer. From here, you get sweeping views of La Concha Bay and Mount Igeldo.

Rooms either have a private balcony over the bay or face the garden, which is quieter still, and breakfast is included. It’s not trying to be a luxury hotel, and it doesn’t need to be: what it offers is a slower pace and a view that will stop you mid-coffee every single morning.

5. Hotel de Londres y de Inglaterra

Best for: Travellers who want the most iconic address in San Sebastián: a hotel with over 150 years of history, right on the bay.

The Hotel de Londres y de Inglaterra is defined by where it stands. For over 150 years, it has faced La Concha beach, with the promenade to its left, the Old Town to its right and the island of Santa Clara sitting in the bay in front.

Inside, it still carries the warmth of the Belle Époque, updated over the decades for modern guests. The Old Town, with its pintxo bars and top restaurants, is a two-minute walk. With our son, for a night or two, this is where we’d pay more just for the location.

If You’re Going to Splurge, Make It Count

The two most expensive stays on our list do it in opposite ways: a 19th-century mansion on a quiet residential street, and an adults-only hotel right at the edge of the Old Town. Both fill up early for summer.

6. Villa Soro

Best for: Travellers who want a characterful boutique stay: somewhere with a story, not just a star rating.

Villa Soro was built in the 19th century as a private family home in British style, and it forms part of San Sebastián’s official Historical Heritage. Today it’s a 25-room boutique hotel that keeps the house’s grand salons, high ceilings, carved wooden staircase and fireplaces, and even a private chapel. It’s run in a family spirit, with the attentive service only a small hotel can offer.

It sits on a quiet residential street east of the centre, past Gros, but it’s entirely walkable to Zurriola beach and the Old Town: enough distance to feel calm, close enough that you’re never far from the action. For people who find large, impersonal hotels a little soulless, it’s a refreshing alternative.

7. Lasala Plaza Hotel

Best for: Adults looking for quiet, understated luxury at the edge of the Old Town.

Lasala Plaza doesn’t announce itself, and that’s intentional. It’s a boutique hotel in a 1917 building facing La Concha Bay, and the location is extraordinary: 80 metres from the Calle Mayor, a two-minute walk from the promenade, right at the edge of the Old Town. Being adults-only keeps the atmosphere calm and romantic.

The rooms are spacious and bright, and the restaurant leans into Basque cuisine, which in this city means eating very well indeed. But the real surprise is the rooftop terrace: above the Old Town, with the bay, the port and the whole city spread out below you, it’s the kind of spot where you order a drink and suddenly two hours have passed.

Availability fills up fast in summer, so it’s worth checking dates early.

With Kids? Look at an Apartment

With our son, we’d look at an apartment first. In Lapland that’s what we book. Further south a hotel has more going for it, and a good café is far easier to find in San Sebastián than in Rovaniemi, but an apartment still means you don’t have to eat out for every meal, and it usually costs a bit less. When the flights are already expensive, that’s how we keep a trip’s costs under control. It works for longer stays too, with or without children.

Look for one with a lift and a washing machine, and within walking distance of La Concha if you won’t have a car.

If you’d rather have a hotel, these are the three we’d look at with a small child. With a car, Hotel Tres Reyes is the one we’d book, with family rooms, a pool in summer and parking. In the Old Town, Pensión Itxasoa has a room for four, and for a night or two, Hotel de Londres puts you right on the bay. Far Out Inn and Lasala Plaza are adults-only, and Peñaflorida doesn’t take children aged seven or under.

How to Choose the Right Stay for Your San Sebastián Trip

If you’re after atmosphere and history right on your doorstep, the Hotel de Londres or Lasala Plaza put you in the heart of it. If you want character and calm away from the crowds, Villa Soro is the one. Couples on a mid-range budget will love Pensión Peñaflorida‘s central elegance, while Pensión Itxasoa offers remarkable value for its location. Families, or anyone wanting space and a pool, will find Hotel Tres Reyes a smarter fit than a cramped city-centre room. And if you want to wake up to a view of the whole bay, Far Out Inn on the hill is one of the most charming options on the list.

If you’re driving, check the Low Emission Zone before you arrive: the Old Town and Centro are inside it, and it’s much easier to sort out before you go than after a camera has read your number plate. Our FAQ explains what to do.

Final Thoughts: Where We’d Stay in San Sebastián

San Sebastián doesn’t really do bad places to stay: it’s small enough that almost anywhere central is a walk from the beach and the pintxo bars.

As a couple, we’d book Pensión Peñaflorida, or Hotel Tres Reyes if we had the car: it’s the best value for money on our list. With our son, an apartment comes first, with Tres Reyes again if we were driving. For just a couple of nights, we’d pay more for Hotel de Londres, for the location alone. And for an adults-only splurge, it’s Lasala Plaza, for the rooftop and the location.

Book early, especially for July and August. Come in May, June, September or October if you can. Walk the promenade at sunset. Eat more pintxos than you think is sensible.

FAQ: Where to Stay in San Sebastián