When to visit San Sebastián: a chef's month-by-month food calendar

“When should we come?” is the question I’m asked most after “what’s a pintxo?” — and I always give the same annoying answer: it depends what you want on your plate. There is no bad month to eat in San Sebastián. There are just different feasts.

So here it is, the local’s calendar, month by month.

Winter: the secret season

• January opens with our loudest tradition: the Tamborrada (January 20th, San Sebastián Day), when the whole city drums for 24 hours straight, dressed as cooks and soldiers. Yes, cooks — the drumming started in the kitchens. This is also when cider season (txotx) kicks off in the hills.
• February–March is peak sidrería: cod omelet, giant steaks and cider from the barrel. Cold outside, magnificent inside. Flights are cheap, bars are local, seafood is at its best.

If you want San Sebastián without a single queue, winter is your play. Pack a raincoat; the green hills come from somewhere.

Spring: anchovy season

• April–May brings the anchovies of the Cantabrian, and this is not canned-pizza-anchovy territory — fresh anchoas and boquerones are a delicacy people cross Spain for. The weather turns kind, terraces open, and the city stretches in the sun.
• Cider houses close around the end of April — catch the txotx while you can.

Summer: the show

• June–August is bonito season, tomato season, grilled-sardines-by-the-beach season. Jazzaldia (July) fills the city with music; Semana Grande (mid-August) fills the sky with fireworks over the bay, every night, for a week.
• It’s also, no surprise, high season. Come for the energy, book everything ahead, and eat lunch early or late to dodge the crowds. My summer eating guide has the full playbook.

Autumn: the chef’s choice

• Late September brings the Film Festival — a week of red carpets and excellent people-watching — and the La Concha rowing regattas, when the whole coast comes to town.
• October–November is what we cooks quietly consider the best eating of the year: wild mushrooms, game, Tolosa beans, and the market at its most generous. I’ve written a whole love letter to autumn here.

December: small and golden

The city lights up, the old town smells of roasted chestnuts, and on December 21st the Santo Tomás fair takes over: farmers come down from the hills, everyone eats talo (a corn flatbread with chorizo — trust me) and the year closes the way it should: outdoors, eating, together.

Whenever you come — cook once

Every season changes the market, which means every season changes my classes. A Traditional Cooking class in October is a different meal than the same class in June — that’s the point. And if you’re building a whole trip around food, my Multi-Day Experience adapts to whatever the calendar is offering: txotx in winter, anchovies in spring, bonito in summer, mushrooms in fall.

Pick your month. The table will be ready.