As we might have mentioned, the city is great for food - really great!! - from pintxos places to some of the best restaurants in the world, and the quality is exceptional at every price point, from literally cheap as chips to multi-Michelin starred need-another-mortgage. 

Pintxos central

The pintxos protocol is to hop from one place to another, elbowing your way through the throng to order that bar's particular specialities, which you will probably have to eat standing up, before moving on and repeating the process just yards away. The more traditional places favour open displays of their pintxos, often on slices of baguette, where you can just point, while the more ambitious spots have menus scrawled on the wall. Wine is mostly the local txacoli, served in flat tumblers and poured rather dramatically from a great height for the princely sum of a couple of Euros; a few bars have wider-ranging selections, including a couple with Coravin systems, but even here the price rarely tops 10 Euros a glass. The Old Town/Parte Vieja has the biggest concentration but therefore the biggest crowds - here are a few recommendations.

Pescatarians would probably be content spending an entire evening on Fermin Calbeton street, with freshly grilled prawn skewers at Goiz Argi at number 4, octopus at Borda Berri at number 12 (as well as unmissable risotto), and clams and amazing dried seaweed at  Casa Urola at 20, particularly with a detour to nearby Bar Txepetxa (Calle Pescaderia, 5) for amazing anchovies marinated according to a secret recipe and served in multiple different ways. If you need a fix of tortilla, Bar Nestor (Calle Pescaderia, 11) is the go-to location, but they are only served twice a day at 1pm and 8pm, and when they're gone, they're gone. Ganbara (Calle San Jeronimo, 19) is the place for mycophiles; the mixed platter at 21 Euros is expensive by local standards but spectacular.  La Cuchara de San Telmo (Calle 31 de Agosto, 28) is a real star, no pintxos on the counter and a modern take on classics like hake in cider, foie gras a la plancha with apple, suckling pig and another great risotto, but it gets very busy so either turn up before it opens for lunch or dinner or be prepared to wait your turn! Yards away Gandarias (Calle 31 de Agosto, 23) has probably the best selection of wine by the glass, with older vintages and covering all of Spain, and specializes in spider crab and steak. Almost opposite La Txuleta (Pl de la Trinidad, 2) is more basic but knocks out the best foie a la plancha in town. Finally, no self-respecting pintxos tour would be complete without a Basque cheesecake finish, and La Vina (Calle 31 de Agosto, 3) gets the honours here, washed down with a glass of PX sherry or, even better, Patxaran, a local sloe liqueur.

Restaurants

Some of the above (Casa Urola, Ganbara, Cuchara, Gandarias) double up as restaurants with seated areas and a menu of bigger dishes. If you are after a view, Mirador do Ulia on the hill to the east has an amazing panorama of the bay and city, and we had a good set menu lunch there despite mixed reviews online. Rekondo in the hills on the other side of town is world famous for its cellar and serves old vintages at amazing prices, but we found the food a little disappointing and, very unusually for Donostia, over-priced. If you have enough time for a half-day trip to Getaria, Michelin-starred  Elkano and sister restaurant Kaia-Kaipe are legendary for huge turbot grilled on a wood fire. The city itself boasts 20 stars, including a trio of 3 star restaurants, all around 280/300 Euros a tasting menu but actually good value! Our favourite is Akelare, a few miles west overlooking the sea in a stunning new hotel building.