{"id":16433,"date":"2019-08-20T15:40:42","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T15:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devoursansebastianfoodtours.com\/?p=2527"},"modified":"2024-03-12T16:08:56","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:08:56","slug":"responsible-centro-pintxos-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devourtours.com\/blog\/responsible-centro-pintxos-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"What Responsible Tourism in San Sebastian Looks Like"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

If you haven\u2019t been to San Sebastian yet, we bet it\u2019s on your radar.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And you aren\u2019t alone: the number of visitors to this city in northern Spain is increasing all the time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"beach\"
Playa de la Concha was voted one of the best beaches in Europe, driving tourism. Photo credit: David Vives<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Overtourism in San Sebastian?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cSan Sebastian has many beautiful neighborhoods but tourism concentrates mostly in its Old Town<\/a>,\u201d said Ania, our Operations Manager in San Sebastian. \u201cIt’s not surprising as this part of the city is pedestrian-only and also has the highest concentration of bars in the region (if not in all of Spain!). The only problem? The Old Town is tiny\u2014only 500 square meters!\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And there are only so many people that can fit into 500 square meters before it gets too crowded. A too-packed Old Town negatively affects everyone, from other tourists to the locals who have been visiting the neighborhood\u2019s bars for years before they became popular tourist hot spots.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Read more:<\/strong> How to be a good tourist in San Sebastian<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n

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\"San
Even in colder months, San Sebastian attracts many visitors. Photo credit: Mikahil Volkov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

Here’s the thing:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Some of those people in the streets of the Old Town every evening? That\u2019s us.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Our original pintxos tour<\/a> in San Sebastian visits our favorite bars in this part of town, and we love doing it. But watching those streets fill up more and more around us every night, we knew we needed to make a change.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How we made our tours in San Sebastian more responsible<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhen we noticed the rising number of people in this historic part of town we decided to take action and help our city to grow in a sustainable way,\u201d said Ania.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The first step? We lowered the number of guests on each of our tours from a max of 10 to 8.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThis makes the experience more intimate for our guests but also respects the bars that are our tour partners and their regular customers,\u201d said Ania.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Pintxos
Pintxos, pintxos, pintxos. Photo credit: Alexandre Trouv\u00e9<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Visiting this neighborhood during the day is a great way for responsible travelers<\/a> to experience the bars that have made it famous, supporting them with more business during slower hours without contributing to the crowded evening scene.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"cheesecake\"
Cheers to San Sebastian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201c19th-century architecture, eclectic style and a great mix between traditional and modern bars<\/a> make this neighborhood\u2014and food tour!\u2014remarkable,\u201d said Ania.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As San Sebastian\u2019s popularity continues to grow, we\u2019ll be right there with Ania, making sure that our tours in the city do just what our mission<\/a> says: help the local culture thrive.<\/p>\r\n

Update Notice: This post was updated on March 11, 2024.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

San Sebastian\u2019s Old Town is a popular place to visit\u2026but there\u2019s other parts of town that are worth getting to know, too. If you\u2019re looking for an evening out in a less crowded corner of the city, join us for <\/b>An Evening Out in San Sebastian: Centro Neighborhood Pintxos Tour<\/b><\/a>. You\u2019ll get to try the city\u2019s best tortilla, visit the very first pintxos bar ever, see first-hand where the locals hang out, and more.<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you haven\u2019t been to San Sebastian yet, we bet it\u2019s on your radar. And you aren\u2019t alone: the number of visitors to this city in northern Spain is increasing all the time. Overtourism in San Sebastian? \u201cSan Sebastian has many beautiful neighborhoods but tourism concentrates mostly in its Old Town,\u201d said Ania, our Operations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":36507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[362,1560],"tags":[148,1588,1580,1559,1296,293],"ppma_author":[2292],"class_list":["post-16433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-tours","category-san-sebastian-blog","tag-centro","tag-old-town","tag-parte-vieja","tag-pintxo-bars","tag-pintxos","tag-responsible-travel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDevour Tours<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When it comes to responsible tourism in San Sebastian, we're all in. 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