At all times of the day Old Town is lively. Shops during the day, taverns by night. We had both children (7 and 13) and we saw kids their ages and younger all until the wee hours. Pintxo variety at each place. We popped in to several (some pricy and some very reasonable 1€+). Can walk around with open alcohol drinks so that makes the evenings a bit different in personality.
What did I miss?
I was so excited to come to San Sebastian, in particular the Old Town. The streets were packed, like a Christmas Market, in. July. There are more places to eat and snack, but that's 80% of what everyone is doing and why we came. The prices for lunch will stop you in your tracks - lunch plates for 35E. We did some toodling around, but this was somewhat over-rated. We did find a delicious lunch, for 16E for a 3 course lunch - outside of the Old Town, basically across the street.
The old town can get quite crowded but that is part of the fun. There are hundreds of restaurants here serving Pintxos. We ate here every night we were in San Sebastian and were never disappointed.
The Old Town is besieged by tourists, with most pintxo bars heaving with queues of people trying to catch the eye of the bar staff. Many are frankly overpriced, although the pintxos themselves are undoubtedly good. During the nine days we spent in Donostia, our favourites were La Cepa (we ate twice in the restaurant, and liked try the gavillas, chorizo, morcilla, sopa de pescado and brocheta de rape y gambas), and Giroki (good value, good bocatas and pintxos, frequented mostly by locals). Both recommended.
Wonderful fresh baguettes for breakfast with a great assortment of cheeses and ham available.
Great bars for lunch.
Michelin starred restaurants for dinner
