San Sebastián and the Basque Country

Frank Gehry's museum, opened in 1997 on a former industrial riverbank, is one of the most famous buildings of the late twentieth century: a swirl of titanium, limestone and glass that looks like a ship, a fish or a flower depending on where you stand. It transformed Bilbao from a declining port and steel town into a cultural destination, a phenomenon now known to urban planners as the "Bilbao effect". Inside, the vast galleries host major temporary exhibitions, and the ground-floor gallery holds Richard Serra's The Matter of Time, a walk-through maze of enormous weathering-steel spirals.

Some of the best art is outside and free to see: Jeff Koons's Puppy, a giant terrier covered in flowering plants, guards the entrance, and Louise Bourgeois's spider Maman stands by the river. Walk the riverside promenade along the Nervión and cross the La Salve bridge for the classic views of the building.

TipThe museum is normally closed on Mondays outside summer and a few holiday dates; buy tickets on the museum's own website, which warns of fraudulent resellers.

Bilbao's old quarter grew up around the Siete Calles, the "seven streets" of the medieval town, on the right bank of the river. Today it's a lively tangle of shops, bars and churches, anchored by the Gothic Cathedral of Santiago and the arcaded, neoclassical Plaza Nueva, whose bars are some of the best places in the city for pintxos. On the riverside, the Mercado de la Ribera is one of the largest covered markets in Europe, with stalls of fish, cheese and vegetables below and a food hall upstairs.

A short walk away, the Basque Museum (Euskal Museoa) introduces Basque history and traditions, and the Fine Arts Museum on the edge of Doña Casilda park has an excellent collection that is often overlooked in the Guggenheim's shadow.

A tiny hermitage perched on a rocky islet off the coast near Bermeo, reached by a stone bridge and a zigzagging path of more than two hundred steps. The site has been a place of pilgrimage for a thousand years, and visitors traditionally ring the chapel bell three times and make a wish. The setting, with waves crashing through natural arches below, is spectacular, and its fame grew further after it stood in for Dragonstone in Game of Thrones.

The walk down from the road and back up is steep and takes a good hour or more in total; wear proper shoes and carry water. Access is free, but at busy times of year visitors need a free timed reservation through the official Gaztelugatxe booking site, which also shows whether booking is required on a given day.

TipArrive early in the morning, or visit out of season, to have the islet almost to yourself; the chapel interior opens only at limited times.

Gernika-Lumo is the spiritual heart of the Basques. For centuries, representatives met under an oak tree here to make laws, and Spanish monarchs swore to respect Basque rights beneath it. The descendant of that oak still stands beside the Casa de Juntas, the assembly house, whose stained-glass ceiling depicts the tree. The trunk of an older predecessor is preserved under a classical pavilion nearby.

On 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, German and Italian aircraft supporting Franco bombed the town on a market day, destroying most of it and killing many civilians. The attack inspired Picasso's Guernica, now in Madrid's Reina Sofía museum. The Gernika Peace Museum tells the story of the bombing with sensitivity and broadens it into a reflection on reconciliation, and a ceramic reproduction of the painting decorates a wall in the town.

Between Zumaia and Mutriku, the cliffs are made of flysch: thin layers of rock laid down on the seabed over tens of millions of years and then tilted almost vertical, so that they stand along the shore like the pages of a giant book. One thin dark layer marks the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. The coast is protected as the Basque Coast UNESCO Global Geopark, which runs guided walks and boat trips.

The most famous viewpoint is Itzurun beach in Zumaia, watched over by the little hermitage of San Telmo. At low tide, a vast wave-cut platform of rock is exposed below the cliffs; the coastal path west towards Deba is one of the most beautiful walks in northern Spain.

TipCheck the tide tables: the rock platforms are only visible at low tide, and the light is best in the late afternoon.

A small, handsome fishing port on a headland, with a Gothic church built over a sloping street and a wooded island, nicknamed el Ratón (the mouse) for its shape, sheltering the harbour. Getaria was the birthplace of Juan Sebastián Elcano, who completed the first circumnavigation of the globe after Magellan's death, and of the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga, whose museum on the hill displays his elegant designs.

Getaria is above all a place to eat and drink. Its restaurants grill whole turbot and other fish over charcoal in the street, and the steep vineyards around the town produce txakoli, a light, slightly sparkling white wine poured from a height to bring out its fizz. Several wineries offer tastings, and the coastal path to Zarautz, with its long surf beach, makes a pleasant walk.

At the western end of Ondarreta beach, where the city ends and the open Atlantic begins, the sculptor Eduardo Chillida set three great iron claws into the rocks in 1977. The "Comb of the Wind" was designed with the architect Luis Peña Ganchegui, whose granite platforms include blowholes that hiss and spray when the sea is rough. It's one of the most powerful pieces of public art in Spain, and a moody place to watch a storm.

The hill at the western end of the bay offers the classic postcard view of San Sebastián: the shell of La Concha, the island of Santa Clara and the city beyond. The best way up is the wooden funicular, which has been climbing the slope since 1912. At the top, a charmingly old-fashioned amusement park includes a small roller coaster that runs alarmingly close to the cliff edge.

TipWalk the promenade along La Concha and Ondarreta, see the Peine del Viento, then ride the funicular up as the light softens in the evening.

One of the most celebrated city beaches in Europe, a sweep of pale sand in a sheltered bay, backed by a promenade with an ornate white railing and old-fashioned lamps. The bay became fashionable in the nineteenth century when the Spanish royal family began spending summers here, and the Miramar Palace and grand hotels date from that era. The water is usually calm, swimming is popular well into autumn, and at low tide the beach becomes a huge stage for football, joggers and strollers.

In summer, small boats cross to the island of Santa Clara in the middle of the bay, with a small beach and a lighthouse.

San Sebastián's old town, rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1813, is a grid of narrow streets packed with bars whose counters are piled with pintxos, small bites on bread or skewers, alongside hot dishes made to order. The arcaded Plaza de la Constitución, whose numbered balconies are a reminder that it once hosted bullfights, is the heart of the quarter. At the end of Calle Mayor, the baroque façade of the Basilica of Santa María del Coro frames a view straight back to the cathedral of the Buen Pastor.

The local way to eat is to move on: one or two pintxos and a small drink in each bar, then on to the next. Many bars are known for one speciality, so ask what the house is famous for.

TipThe busiest hours are roughly 1 to 3 pm and 8 to 10.30 pm; arrive at the start of each to find counter space.

Housed in a sixteenth-century Dominican convent at the foot of Monte Urgull, with a striking modern extension clad in perforated metal panels, the San Telmo Museum is the museum of Basque society and citizenship. It traces Basque history from prehistory to the present, with ethnographic collections, fine art and a quiet Renaissance cloister. The former church is decorated with vast gold and sepia canvases by the Catalan painter Josep Maria Sert, depicting scenes from Basque life and legend.

TipLike many museums here, it usually closes on Mondays; check the opening hours page before you go.

The wooded hill rising behind the old town was the city's fortress for centuries. Paths climb through the trees past old gun batteries and the English Cemetery, where British soldiers who died in nineteenth-century conflicts are buried, to the Castillo de la Mota on the summit, crowned by a huge statue of the Sacred Heart. The views over the bay, the city and the open sea are superb, and the climb takes less than half an hour.

At the foot of the hill, the paseo that circles it, the Paseo Nuevo, is spectacular in a storm, when waves explode over the sea wall. The aquarium and the fishing port lie on its sheltered side.

Across the river from the old town, Zurriola beach faces the open Atlantic and is the city's surf beach, with dependable waves for much of the year and several surf schools offering lessons for beginners. At its western end stands the Kursaal, Rafael Moneo's pair of translucent glass cubes that houses the congress centre and is the main venue of the San Sebastián International Film Festival each September.

Behind the beach, the Gros district is a relaxed, younger neighbourhood with some of the city's most creative pintxo bars, often less crowded than those of the old town.

Facing France across the mouth of the Bidasoa river, Hondarribia has a perfectly preserved walled old town of cobbled streets, coats of arms and wooden balconies. The Plaza de Armas is dominated by the stern castle of Charles V, now a parador hotel. Below the walls, the old fishermen's quarter of La Marina is lined with houses painted in bright greens, blues and reds, and its bars rival San Sebastián's for pintxos.

A small passenger ferry crosses the river to Hendaye in France, and the Jaizkibel mountain road and coastal path offer wild views back over the Basque coast.