What Responsible Tourism in San Sebastian Looks Like

If you haven’t been to San Sebastian yet, we bet it’s on your radar.

And you aren’t alone: the number of visitors to this city in northern Spain is increasing all the time.

Overtourism in San Sebastian?

“San Sebastian has many beautiful neighborhoods but tourism concentrates mostly in its Old Town,” said Ania, our Operations Manager in San Sebastian. “It’s not surprising as this part of the city is pedestrian-only and also has the highest concentration of bars in the region (if not in all of Spain!). The only problem? The Old Town is tiny—only 500 square meters!”

And there are only so many people that can fit into 500 square meters before it gets too crowded. A too-packed Old Town negatively affects everyone, from other tourists to the locals who have been visiting the neighborhood’s bars for years before they became popular tourist hot spots.

Read more: How to be a good tourist in San Sebastian

Here’s the thing:

Some of those people in the streets of the Old Town every evening? That’s us.

Our original pintxos tour in San Sebastian visits our favorite bars in this part of town, and we love doing it. But watching those streets fill up more and more around us every night, we knew we needed to make a change.

How we made our tours in San Sebastian more responsible

“When we noticed the rising number of people in this historic part of town we decided to take action and help our city to grow in a sustainable way,” said Ania.

The first step? We lowered the number of guests on each of our tours from a max of 10 to 8.

“This makes the experience more intimate for our guests but also respects the bars that are our tour partners and their regular customers,” said Ania.

Visiting this neighborhood during the day is a great way for responsible travelers to experience the bars that have made it famous, supporting them with more business during slower hours without contributing to the crowded evening scene.

“19th-century architecture, eclectic style and a great mix between traditional and modern bars make this neighborhood—and food tour!—remarkable,” said Ania.

As San Sebastian’s popularity continues to grow, we’ll be right there with Ania, making sure that our tours in the city do just what our mission says: help the local culture thrive.

Update Notice: This post was updated on March 11, 2024.

San Sebastian’s Old Town is a popular place to visit…but there’s other parts of town that are worth getting to know, too. If you’re looking for an evening out in a less crowded corner of the city, join us for An Evening Out in San Sebastian: Centro Neighborhood Pintxos Tour. You’ll get to try the city’s best tortilla, visit the very first pintxos bar ever, see first-hand where the locals hang out, and more.