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Bilbao/San Sebastian weekend trip

Anyone been and have any recommendations? Also looking to get tickets for Bilbao & Sociedad games that weekend, anyone know the best ways of doing so? Its their last home games of the season so hoping there will be tickets available still
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  • edited April 2017
    Am going in September for a week, and hope to take a game in as well. Will be interested to hear any info / tips as well.
  • Been to both - my better half is from the Basque country.

    Both are good but I prefer San Seb - which has beaches, great food & bars. From pervious experience, it's very hard to get tickets for Bilbao. Not sure about Sociedad.Osasuna is another option
  • I'm going over the Mayday weekend. Athletico Bilbao are away but Real Sociedad are at home to Tony Adams' Granada. According to online info tickets are generally available at the gate. I'll let you know how it goes.
  • Bilbao less interesting than San Seb. Old town pinxos bars offer some of the best food in the world. Beaches can be jammers. Great thalassotherapy centre in middle of beach to east of old harbour. Good weed easy to find near old harbour. Don't go to any restaurants just eat at bars. One of the best punk record shops in Spain just outside old part of town.
    Bilbao crawling with bookers near stadium at night.
  • scidbox said:

    Bilbao less interesting than San Seb. Old town pinxos bars offer some of the best food in the world. Beaches can be jammers. Great thalassotherapy centre in middle of beach to east of old harbour. Good weed easy to find near old harbour. Don't go to any restaurants just eat at bars. One of the best punk record shops in Spain just outside old part of town.
    Bilbao crawling with bookers near stadium at night.

    From experience, I can say both of these statements are correct.
  • Has anyone caught the new series of "The Trip"? Set's off in this area of the world and THE FOOD!!!!!!!
  • I've been to both grounds, although in the case of Athletic Bilbao, it was the "old" San Mamés, rather than the new ground. As @Jints says, it will may be hard to get tickets to see Athletic, as they have a hugely committed local support. I don't think you'll have any difficulty getting into see Real Sociedad, as they only average around 22,000, against a stadium capacity of 32,000. We saw them against Barcelona and there were still empty seats.

    I really enjoyed both towns. In San Sebastian, we went to a traditional cider house for Sunday lunch (a fixed price for whatever you ate and drank) and then caught a bus 35 miles to Eibar up in the mountains to see them. At the time, they were bottom of the Second Division and on the way down (they duly lost 1-0). Amazing to think that they are now 8th in La Liga and could even qualify for Europe.

    I agree with @scidbox says about the pinxos bars in the San Sebastian's old town. Food is definitely a local obsession. The fact that much of old town is pedestrianised further enhances the atmosphere and character of the place.
  • scidbox said:

    Bilbao less interesting than San Seb. Old town pinxos bars offer some of the best food in the world. Beaches can be jammers. Great thalassotherapy centre in middle of beach to east of old harbour. Good weed easy to find near old harbour. Don't go to any restaurants just eat at bars. One of the best punk record shops in Spain just outside old part of town.
    Bilbao crawling with hookers near stadium at night.

    Excellent, no more info needed on my part.
  • Just got back from San Sebastian - it is superb. Went to the Anoeta to watch Sociedad v Sporting Gijon as well. No problems getting tickets and some great bars around the stadium. You'll have a greater time!
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  • It's high my list too so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.
  • Nice one guys
  • Have been to both but not for football. Basque people can be very direct. But mean well. Had a situation in a bar where I was being asked questions in a way that seemed hostile. Got over myself and carried on. Definitely helps to know how to say hello and thanks in Basque. Goes down really well. - neither of which I can quite remember now. 'Euskericasco' ?
  • edited April 2017
    Also the English cemetery in San Sebastian is very beautiful and moving. There was an assault by English forces on the town in 1813. Some background here- http://www.peninsularwar.org/sebastian.htm - the last two paragraphs cover San Sebastian today and how events of 1813 shaped the modern layout of the town. The losses are commemorated by a candle lit procession in late August.
  • @CharltonMadrid Need a bit of help mate, we are going 13th of may for the weekend, which is the second to last round of fixtures for all clubs. According to various sources, they tell me that all games are due to kick off at 5pm spanish time on the sunday. Do you know if this is correct? Seems that similar happened on the penultimate weekend last season but nothing tells me that its been confirmed as of yet. Ideally the games would be spread over the weekend like they always are but this doesnt seem the case
  • I think it is only the last game of the season that has games kicking off at same times, for those games with something at stake. Other than that, fixtures have a generic kickoff time of 8pm of Saturday until a couple of weeks before, when it is confirmed. Very frustrating for planning to watch games!
  • Could be any time from Friday night to Monday night, so hope it ends up when you are there!
  • I think it is only the last game of the season that has games kicking off at same times, for those games with something at stake. Other than that, fixtures have a generic kickoff time of 8pm of Saturday until a couple of weeks before, when it is confirmed. Very frustrating for planning to watch games!

    I went to a Valencia game in April 2015. It was supposed to be a Saturday night game, I brought tickets, it moved to a Sunday and in the end played on the Monday. Fortunately i was there until Tuesday.

    Seeing as this one is the last game of the season, there will not be that problem.
  • The one he is planning to go to is the.penultimate game though.
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  • Can you get direct flights to San Sebastián? Can't see anything on skyscanner.
  • edited April 2017
    jamescafc said:

    Can you get direct flights to San Sebastián? Can't see anything on skyscanner.

    I think you may have to fly to Bilbao (or Bilbo as it's called on Spanish maps) and get the bus - about an hour.
  • jamescafc said:

    Can you get direct flights to San Sebastián? Can't see anything on skyscanner.

    Pretty sure San Sebastian is internal flights only but Bilbao is not far and there are flights from the U.K. to there.
  • Also went there via Biarritz on a cheap flight, which is nearer than Bilbao - about 50km/30 miles from San Sebastián. Worth a look.
  • San Seb is still on my list to do, but I had a wild night in Bilbao travelling with Deportivo years back. The fans freely mixed on the saturday night in the town, and weren't even segregated during the match. Those were the days
  • Blucher said:

    Also went there via Biarritz on a cheap flight, which is nearer than Bilbao - about 50km/30 miles from San Sebastián. Worth a look.

    Yep - We're going to San Seb in June and flying into Biarritz.
  • edited April 2017
    You fly to Biarritz for San Sebastián.....there are very good train and bus services from the airport.
  • I went to see Real Sociedad v Granada on Saturday. The ground was no more than two thirds capacity and buying a ticket on the day was easy, with the ticket office just to the right of the club shop but hidden around a corner. We arrived an hour earlier than intended as the kick-off time on my various devices for some reason was in UK time, so double check this if you're going. The ground is OK but unless it was above where I was sitting, I didn't see an away fans' area. There seemed to be a lot more women and kids than you find at an English game for some reason. Loads of bars near the ground, none of them too busy as the fans are spread amongst them, and the excellent pintxos made a great breakfast replacement.

    If travelling by bus from Bilbao it's worth knowing that San Sebastian in Basque is known as Donostia, as some companies use this name. Buses get surprisingly full so pre-book if you can.

    Had I known the Athletic Bilbao game was taking place on the Thursday night we arrived, we may have taken in this game as well. I also discovered that Eibar, currently 8th in La Liga, is between the two cities, so that's another footie option for anyone travelling in the region.

    @SoundAsa£ did mention the G&Ts at a particular hotel. Well, I'll expand on this to state that the whole region does the most amazing ones, big measures, big glasses, immaculately made. They're a long drink in that part of the world! Didn't really enjoy the local beers though.

  • Off to San Sebastián Sunday. Will drive there on my way to the Algarve. Will stay a couple of nights depending on the weather. Have been told to do one of the well known cider houses (see Tripadvisor ).
  • masicat said:

    Off to San Sebastián Sunday. Will drive there on my way to the Algarve. Will stay a couple of nights depending on the weather. Have been told to do one of the well known cider houses (see Tripadvisor ).

    You'll love Donostia........a great place to relax after your long drive down and let the vibes and ambience gently flow over you.
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