The Best Hotels in San Sebastián
San Sebastián is a small city in the Basque Country with a reputation as a global gastronomic destination. It still seems remarkable that a town with no more than 190,000 inhabitants should harbor no less than 19 Michelin stars among its innumerable restaurants and bars. In the matter of characterful hotels, however, it hasn't cut the mustard in quite the same way—which is all the more surprising given San Sebastián's long history as a watering place for the Spanish bourgeoisie.
True, there was always the glorious María Cristina, a timeless classic and still one of Spain's very finest grand hotels. But in a city once defined by characterless four-stars and cheap-and-cheerful pensiones, a glut of fine hotels has come along at once, building on the 2017 arrival of Akelarre, the high-design addendum to Pedro Subijana’s restaurant on Igeldo hill. Chief among them is the revival of Villa Soro. Following its purchase and reopening by the Soldevila Ferrers, the family behind the Sant Francesc and Can Ferrereta in Mallorca, the old building has a fresher edge. The makeover, in the careful hands of Núria Ferrer, maintains original elements such as the carved wooden staircase, the creaky parquet flooring, and the stained-glass roof of the central hall, complemented with smart new furnishings, judiciously chosen modern art, and bathrooms that nail the crisp Art Deco look. With more on the way, the city can finally match its starry cuisine with a clutch of great places to stay. Here, we profile the best of them.
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JAVIER BRAVO/Courtesy Nobu San Sebastian\Nobu San Sebastian
There is no doubt Nobu and San Sebastian were destined to meet. Gastronomy has always been at the heart of this famed hotel—and the same could be said for this Michelin-star blessed city. Set up on the Miraconcha promenade, interior designer Tomas Alía has interpreted that inimitable Nobu style with nods to the city. Delicate Japanese simplicity prevails while leaving whispers of the original French palatial style. Guest rooms maintain straight lines, dominated by imposing headboards and neutral colors. On the rooftop, the sea-facing infinity pool will make you feel like an aristocrat from when Queen María Cristina spent her summers in San Sebastian. And then of course there is the crown jewel: the restaurant, which serves up all of Nobu's beloved classics from black cod with miso (perhaps the best-known creation) to a Basque cheesecake. —Beñat Muñoz
Courtesy Mendi ArgiaMendi Argia
Once an unassuming villa off the beaten track at the base of Mount Ulia, Mendi Argia was left to ruin before Openhouse Studio carried out its thoughtful restoration into a boutique hotel. The original structure has been carefully preserved to respect its links to the landscape, complemented with interior design by Openhouse magazine co-founder Mari Luz Vidal and CiOestudio architect Sara Ojanguren. Oak, terracotta, black marble from the Gipuzkoan town of Markina, and glass create an environment that easily welcomes the contemporary within the traditional structure. The hotel sees no need to compete with San Sebastian’s restaurant scene, instead partnering with local restaurants including Mirador de Ulía and Bodegón Senra to offer an on-site dinner service on request.
Javier Tolosa EchepareHotel Arbaso
San Sebastian’s Centro neighborhood was always the city’s administrative and retail hub but never had a great appeal to visitors. Arbaso, the city’s coolest new urban hotel, has changed all that. Stupendously situated in a 19th-century apartment block on a sedate square beside the neo-Gothic Cathedral, this easeful boutique property is predicated on an idea of contemporary Basque-style fusing dark-hued minimalism with respect for rural tradition. Natural materials (notably wood) are highlighted and there’s an elegant austerity in the interior design. Suites so large they feel like apartments have perfect views of the Cathedral from their grey-painted ornamental balconies. The hotel’s restaurant, Narru—where chef Iñigo Peña does his radically stripped-down Basque cocina de producto—lies at the center of a growing restaurant ecosystem in Centro. Altogether, Arbaso (‘ancestor’ in Basque) has considerably raised the neighborhood’s self-esteem.
hotelVilla Soro
$$In the old days, this former summer house on the outskirts of Gros—an architectural mashup of Surrey Tudor and bourgeois Basque—was a frowzy, fusty kind of place. Following its purchase and re-opening by the Soldevila family of Catalan hoteliers, the Villa (which dates back to 1898) has a new lease of life and the fin-de-siecle ambiance is all part of its charm. The six-month overhaul, under the careful hand of designer Núria Ferrer, combines original elements—such as the carved wooden staircase with smart new furnishings and judiciously chosen modern Basque art (look for the original works by Eduardo Chillida). Bedecked in fine wallpapers and rich fabrics in stripes and tartans, this old lady now has quite a spring in her step.
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Courtesy Lasala PlazaLasala Plaza
This new hotel, housed in a grand 1917 building made of golden sandstone typical of San Sebastián, manages several clever tricks all at the same time. One side of the hotel abuts a quiet old-town square on the fringes of the Parte Vieja, while the other gives directly onto the old harbor with all its buzz and brouhaha. The Lasala Plaza has no pretensions to five-star fuss yet its clean-lined modern rooms with a palette of greys and whites, solid wooden floors, top-level beds and bedlinens, Japanese bathrooms, and domotic lighting, are airy and comfortable. Immersed as it is in the Parte Vieja's vast universe of pincho bars, the new hotel hardly needed its own-house restaurant. Even so, Ander González's Jarana is making a name for itself with a disingenuously simple menu of retro dishes (steak tartar, fish soup, egg and chips with morcilla) impeccably done. Crowning the building is a rooftop solarium— a rare beast in San Sebastián—with a swimming pool and bar. When it comes to venues for a glass of cold txakoli while watching the sunset over Santa Clara island and the heights of Igeldo, nowhere in town comes close.
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Villa Favorita
Villa Favorita is an offshoot of the been-there-for-ever Hotel Londres, but there's a charm and chic about this 23-room townhouse hotel, housed in one of the last remaining private mansions behind La Concha beach, that rather puts its forebear to shame. Rafael Sitges, the doyen of Spanish interioristas, is a past master at balancing bold glamour with exquisite taste: the sea-facing rooms with their high moulded ceilings, maritime-inflected brass fittings, studded headboards and mirrored bathrooms are beyond classy. Antique furniture makes a strong showing – an antique Dutch grandfather clock stands beside the reception desk, dutifully tolling the hours. Sitges' regular collaborator Paul Christopher McKenna is behind the gorgeous hand-painted lifts and the trompe l'oeil murals of tropical vegetation. Meanwhile down in the basement, Argentine chef Paulo Airaudo ups the ante with San Sebastián's restaurant of the moment, the two-Michelin-starred Amelia. 'Favorita' may not have been the Villa's original name, but it's coming to seem deeply appropriate.
Courtesy Starwood Hotels & ResortshotelHotel Maria Cristina
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Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019Like all great hotels, the Maria Cristina—which opened in 1912—is even more than the sum of its considerable parts. San Sebastián’s most venerable and glamorous lodging has no sprawling gardens, no pool, no big-name spa, or chef-driven restaurant. But its situation beside the river Urumea, with views of Rafael Moneo’s Kursaal building and the Cantabrian Sea beyond, is as nearly perfect as any hotel in Europe. If the building’s sandstone façade has a certain severity, the interior is voluptuously furnished in the eclectic style of modern luxury, with a soft-edged color scheme in grey, mauve, and turquoise. Named for Spain's regent queen, mother of King Alfonso XIII, the Maria Cristina has history and heritage in spades; anecdotes cling to it like sequins. (Here's just one: a portrait of Bette Davis, who smoked her last cigarette here before being rushed to Paris and death, presides over the cocktail bar.) Worth singling out for praise is the hotel’s charming and discreetly omnipresent service, which creates something of the intimacy of a grand private household.
Courtesy AkelarrehotelAkelarre
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Hot List 2018Igeldo, the out-of-town settlement somewhere between suburb and bucolic hilltop village, is best known in San Sebastián for three very different things: its funicular railway, the baby peas grown on its allotments, and Pedro Subijana's Akelarre restaurant (one of a trio of storied establishments in the city boasting three Michelin stars). For years, Subijana had dreamed of building a small hotel as an adjunct to his restaurant and was snapping up adjacent plots of land for the purpose (on one of which stood an abandoned discoteca). The result, unveiled in 2017, is a cut above the average restaurant with rooms. Attached to the existing building is the modernist structure of the hotel (designed by Marta Urtasun and Pedro Rica of Madrid-based architects Mecanismo) whose low-slung cuboid forms are faced with rough grey slate. Akelarre's 22 rooms have the studiedly neutral aesthetic of the boutique retreat de nos jours, with oak-lined walls and floor, cool modern furniture (check the butterscotch-colored leather armchairs), total soundproofing, and plate-glass windows giving wide-screen views of sea, sky and verdant farmland. The effect is so restful it's easy to forget you're just a 10-minute drive from the bustle of downtown San Sebastián.
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Pablo AxpeZinema7
Zinema7 occupies the site of a former cinema—the much-loved Astoria—in the un-touristy neighborhood of Amara. Each of the breezily designed contemporary rooms is named after an actor or director, and photographs throughout the hotel are a roll-call of winners at the annual San Sebastián Film Festival. Theming of this kind in hotels can be annoying if it's not done with the coherence and humor on show here: the Zinema7 has a library of film books, a huge collection of DVDs for guests to enjoy, and do not disturb signs that read: “Silence! We're rolling!” Ceiling installations in the ground-floor Bistroteka restaurant are made of recycled film reels, while the portly gentleman permanently seated in the lobby is a sculpture of Alfred Hitchcock, who also lends his name to one of the suites. It's all great fun, and this is one of the few hotels in San Sebastián that the whole family can enjoy.
A version of this article originally appeared in Condé Nast Traveller.
