San Sebastián pintxos and wine tour:
The bars locals love
Destination
San Sebastian, Spain
Duration
2.5 hours
Tour size
Max 8
Language
English
Overview
Wander the streets of Centro, the San Sebastián neighborhood where the bars are smaller, the locals louder, and the pintxos as good as anywhere in town. This pintxos and wine tour takes you to five of them in an evening, with the gilda where it was invented and a homemade vermouth to close.
- •Taste local Basque cheeses at a market cheesemonger that supplies some of the city's Michelin-starred kitchens
- •Pour your own Basque cider, bottle held high, at a working market bar
- •Bite into the original gilda at the bar where it was invented in the 1940s
- •Pair seasonal pintxos with a glass of cold, dry Basque txakoli, poured from a height the way the cider was
- •Close on a homemade vermouth and a final round of seasonal bites
What's included
- 9 bites and 4 drinks across 5 small businesses
- A local English-speaking expert guide
- Group of 8 maximum
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What to expect
The market: cheese, fish, and a Basque cider you pour yourself
You'll meet your guide at San Martín, San Sebastián's most central food market and the one Donostiarras actually shop at. Inside, you'll stop at a traditional cheesemonger for local Basque cheese and a fishmonger that supplies some of the city's Michelin-starred kitchens. At the market bar, already filling up with locals stopping in after their shopping, you'll try a slice of the city's favorite tortilla and a pintxo. Then you'll pour your own Basque cider the way it's done here: bottle held high, glass held low, the stream aerating on the way down.
The gilda bar: the pintxo that started it all
From the market, you'll wind through Centro past the city's neo-Gothic cathedral, with your guide pointing out a closed third-generation wine shop and what its closing says about how San Sebastián has changed in twenty years. Then it's into one of the most iconic pintxo bars in the city, where the gilda was invented in the 1940s: a skewer of green olive, salted anchovy, and pickled guindilla pepper, named after the Rita Hayworth film. It's three flavors on one toothpick: salty, sharp, and slowly hot. Every pintxo on every bar in the Basque Country traces back to this one, and you'll taste it here alongside another seasonal pintxo and a glass of crisp Basque txakoli, poured from a height the way the cider was.
"You can tell a good gilda by the order you taste the flavors in: olive, then anchovy, then heat. If the heat comes first, the pepper is too young."
Hector,
WalksDevour San Sebastián guide
"Centro is where my friends and I meet when we want to talk over dinner. The Old Town is loud. Here you can hear your table."
Silvia,
WalksDevour San Sebastián guide
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