The gorgeous seaside town of San Sebastián is northern Spain’s most celebrated spot for great eats, from Michelin starred blowouts to brilliant bar nibbles.

Wondering where to eat on a short break to San Sebastián? Here are the spots to seek out for pintxos, fine dining and everything in between…

Arzak

The founding restaurant of the nueva cocina vasca movement, and arguably still the most important table in the Basque Country. Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena run the kitchen above the tavern the family opened in 1897, and have held three Michelin stars since 1989. The cooking is inventive without being cold, deeply Basque without being nostalgic. Book months ahead, and take the tasting menu at lunch if you want the more relaxed, daylight version.

Akelarre

Pedro Subijana’s dining room sits on the flank of Monte Igueldo, ninety metres above the Atlantic, and the view alone would carry a lesser restaurant. It does not need to. Three Michelin stars, a menu that has quietly influenced Spanish cooking for four decades, and floor to ceiling glass with the ocean grinding away below. Ask for a window table at half past eight and stay in the attached hotel if you can.

Amelia by Paulo Airaudo

The two star option for people who want the technique without the ceremony. Airaudo cooks at a counter seating only a handful of guests, which makes the whole thing feel closer to watching a workshop than attending a performance. Precise, confident and rather more affordable than the city’s three star giants. Ideal for solo diners.

Kokotxa

The most sensible starred meal in the Old Town: one Michelin star, a short walk from the pintxo bars, and a bill that will not require a lie down. The kitchen works classic Basque produce with a light hand, and the room is small and welcoming rather than hushed. If you want to try the fine dining side of San Sebastián on a single evening, start here.

La Cuchara de San Telmo

The pintxo bar everyone names first, and deservedly. No counter display of cold bites here: you order from a chalkboard and everything comes out of the tiny kitchen hot. The braised veal cheek in red wine and the seared foie are the dishes people cross the city for. Standing room only, elbows required, and worth every minute of the scrum.

Borda Berri

The other half of the Old Town’s creative double act, a few steps from La Cuchara and run on the same principle of cooking to order. Go for the kebab of Iberian pork, the risotto of Idiazabal cheese and the beef rib. Small, loud and permanently three deep at the bar. Do not try to sit down; nobody does.

Ganbara

The quieter grande dame of the Parte Vieja, and the place to understand what Basque produce actually tastes like. The counter is piled with wild mushrooms in season, cooked simply in a pan with an egg yolk on top, alongside txangurro and superb seafood. There is a dining room downstairs if you want to make an occasion of it. Prices sit above the neighbouring bars for good reason.

Bar Néstor

An institution operating on its own terms. Néstor sells a set number of tortillas a day, at fixed times, and you put your name down in advance or you go without. The other reasons to come are the tomato salad, dressed with almost nothing, and a txuleta steak cooked over coals that regularly features in arguments about the best in Spain. Tiny, brusque, brilliant.

La Viña

Birthplace of the burnt Basque cheesecake, a dessert that has since colonised restaurant menus from Sydney to San Francisco. The originals still come out of the oven all day and sit cooling on the counter in wobbly, caramelised ranks. Order a slice with a glass of something sweet, or come earlier for the anchovies and the rest of the pintxo counter. Then order the cheesecake anyway.

Elkano, Getaria

Worth the half hour drive west along the coast. Elkano built its reputation on grilling whole turbot over coals in the street outside, and it earned a Michelin star for doing one thing with total conviction. Order the rodaballo, eat it slowly, and understand why Basque fish cookery is spoken of the way it is. Its more casual harbourside sister, Kaia Kaipe, is the fallback when Elkano is full, and it is no consolation prize.

Also worth your time:

A Fuego Negro for playful pintxos including a miniature Kobe beef burger; Casa Urola for a pintxo bar downstairs and a proper dining room above; Mugaritz out at Errenteria for the most experimental cooking in the region; and Casa Julián in Tolosa, half an hour by train, for txuleton over an open fire.