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Pintxo hop, don’t stop
As good as the pintxo you just had was, I promise you there are plenty more to try. So if you want to do it like a local, limit your intake to one or two pintxos max per bar and keep it moving. One more thing: locals never wait in line to enter a pintxo bar. A few bars, like Ganbara, Antonio, and Nestor have adopted a restaurant-style of sitting and eating, causing lines to form around the block, but you won’t catch a local in one of those.
Follow the meal schedule
For all the joie de vivre and revelry, Spain in general and San Sebastián in particular have a very concrete schedule around eating. San Sebastián, while still being a land of late lunches compared to most of the world, dines on the early side for Spain, in large part due to its proximity to France. Kitchens typically open at one for lunch and 8:30 or 9 p.m. for dinner, and some pintxo bars close kitchens at 10:15 p.m., especially midweek. Get on the schedule and you’ll feel less frustration.
Know which drink to order at what time
Drinking is also quite codified; with meals wine is the most common, but vermouth is often enjoyed as an aperitif before dining. When prolonging the time around the table, a gin and tonic is typically the digestive drink of choice, although rum and coke would come in a close second.
Use the bike lanes (or avoid them)
San Sebastián’s center is flat, and many locals prefer getting around on bike over car due to parking restrictions. The bike lane, known as the bidegorri, is often paved red and always marked with signage (bidegorri translates to “red path” in Basque). If you use it, stay on the right side, overtake on the left. If you’re not using it, be careful to look both ways when crossing one or you may get either a dressing down or a bruising.
Don’t let the rain stop you
Sunny Spain this is not: some form of rain is falling at least every other day in San Sebastián. With that frequency, combined with the general unpredictability of the coastal weather patterns, locals are accustomed to living with the wetness. They’ve even developed useful descriptive terminology, like sirimiri, to describe the constant light drizzle, or galerna, to describe a sudden storm that sweeps in with wind when the weather gets too warm. Especially in winter, the rain is often accompanied by strong winds, and many millions of umbrellas have met their demise trying to cross one of the city bridges or walk along the Concha, so do as the locals and get a waterproof raincoat with a hood and live your life.
