By car
In the downtown, parking is costly roughly â¬20/day; most parking spots are underground, and finding a way to get there can be nerve-wracking. Left turns are more rare than rights and are unpredictable. Having a driving map is essential. The biggest underground parkings are located in the city center, so the easiest way to find a place without wasting time is to go through the road that goes by the river and follow the signals.
There are some free parking lots in the west of the city: on the tourist maps by SanSebastianTurismo available in some guesthouses, the area is marked with a blue dotted line "Controlled parking zone".
By bus
The Basque Country is generally easier to get around by bus than by train. Buses arrive and depart at the San Sebastian bus station, at Plaza de Pio XII in Amara Nuevo. A number of bus companies operate services to San Sebastian, including:
Pesa (http://www.pesa.net/pesa/...)
La Burundesa (http://www.laburundesa.co...)
Continental Autos
ATCRB
Roncalesa for connection with Pamplona.
Buses are the only way to get to some areas of the Basque region, and often run more often and cheaper! than trains. Vitoria-Gasteiz, capital of the Basque Country, is a 2-hour ride away. Bilbao, the travel hub and biggest city in the region 1-hour ride, and Pamplona 1-hour ride are other popular destinations, but longer-range buses do overnights to Madrid, Milan and even Barcelona.
By train
Trains arrive from many parts of Spain, Portugal and France, including overnight services from Paris and Lisbon. Take care when booking from France as there is also a town named Saint Sébastien in France.There are two train stations in San Sebastian: the RENFE (http://www.renfe.es) station for national and local trains at the east end of Puente de Maria Cristina, and the Euskotren (http://www.euskotren.es) station for the local network Plaza Easo. However as you are travelling from Spain to France, there is not a single train from San Sebastian to Biarritz, nor is the service between the two linked. You may therefore be stuck half way waiting for hours for a connecting train.
By plane
San Sebastian is well served by airports:
San Sebastian
(http://www.aena-aeropuert...), a small airport 20km from the town centre, next to Hondarribia.Bus to the airport: i2 €2 departs from Plaza Gipuzkoa nearly once a hour and rides exactly 30min, making maximum 4 stops typically less. Cafes in the departures area are limited to a single cafe on the ground floor, plus posh restaurant on the 2nd floor. Shopping in departures area is limited to a single souvenir small shop; no duty free shops available. Electronic check-in is available only for Iberia and Spanair. It doesn't work for Iberia e-tickets printed from an e-mail, however. Wifi network is not available.
Biarritz in France, 50km away with bus and train connections to San Sebastian (http://www.biarritz.aerop...). Take a French SNCF (http://www.sncf-voyages.com) train to Hendaye, change to the nearby Euskotren station located just outside the SNCF station and take a Euskotren (http://www.euskotren.com) to San Sebastian. Each train ride is between 30-40 minutes, with the total train trip cost less than â¬10. A coach service also exists between Biarritz airport and the Hendaye train station, via Saint-Jean-De-Luz change buses there. The coach ride is less than one hour and costs about â¬4. For an airport transfer, taxi, bus or coach from Biarritz Airport to San Sebastian check Biarritz Airport Transfers (http://biarritzairporttra...) or Sea-Lifts Airport Transfer (http://www.sea-lifts.com/).
Bilbao (http://www.aena.es/csee/S...), 100km away with good bus connections, about one an hour during the day. The trip takes about 70min, and costs around â¬15. The bus company is called PESA. Tickets for the journey from Bilbao to San Sebastian can be purchased on board the bus, however for the trip from San Sebastian to Bilbao, tickets must be purchased from the PESA office around the corner from the bus station.
Vitoria-Gasteiz (http://www.aena.es/csee/S...), 114km from San Sebastian with good bus connections. A bus from the airport will take you to the central bus station, from where you can take a bus companies Pesa (http://www.pesa.com or La Burundesa (http://www.laburundesa.co...) to San Sebastian for around €7.50.