This guide follows one straight line through San Sebastián, from the 19th-century city centre to the fishing port: the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Plaza de Guipúzcoa, the San Telmo Museum, Plaza de la Trinidad, the Basilica of Santa María del Coro and the Aquarium. The two churches face each other at either end of the old main street, and the last four places sit together at the foot of Mount Urgull, so the whole set makes an easy walk.
Cathedral of the Good Shepherd
The cathedral, Buen Pastor in Spanish and Artzain Onaren in Basque, is the main landmark of the 19th-century city centre. It was built on land between the Urumea river and La Concha beach that had once been dunes and marshes. The foundation stone was laid on 29 September 1888, the church was consecrated on 30 July 1897 and the tower was finished in 1899. The design, chosen from four entries, was by Manuel de Echave, an architect from San Sebastián who also ran the works.
The style is neo-Gothic, and Echave is said to have taken Cologne Cathedral as his model; the resemblance is clearest in the spire. It was built as a parish church and became a cathedral only in 1953, when the Diocese of San Sebastián was created.
- The single tower above the main door, 75 metres high, which you can see from far along the streets of the centre.
- The view from the main door straight down Calle Mayor to the facade of Santa María at the other end: the two churches were lined up on purpose.
Plaza de Guipúzcoa
A few blocks north, this square is a small green garden framed by the arcaded buildings of the 19th-century city, with a pond in the middle. It has carried its name since September 1866, when the city council named it after the province, because the palace of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the Diputación, stands on one side. The palace was designed by the architect José Goicoa.
- The facade of the Diputación palace, still the seat of the province's government.
- The eight streets that open onto the square, among them Elcano, Legazpi and Churruca, all named after Basque seafarers.
San Telmo Museum
Past the city hall and the church of San Vicente, at the far end of the old town, the San Telmo Museum fills a 16th-century Dominican convent built against the slope of Mount Urgull. Its patrons were Alonso de Idiáquez, secretary to Emperor Charles V, and his wife, Gracia de Olazábal. The city bought the building, and in 1932 it reopened as the municipal museum.
After a long refurbishment and an extension by the architects Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano, it reopened in April 2011 as a museum of Basque society, covering the people, work and customs of the Basque Country from prehistory to today. The collection holds about 26,000 items, and the art on show includes works by El Greco, Sorolla and Ignacio Zuloaga.
- In the old church of the convent, the huge canvases by the Catalan painter Josep Maria Sert, which line the walls.
- The 16th-century cloister of the convent, and next to it the 2011 extension, set against the slope of Urgull.
Plaza de la Trinidad
Behind San Telmo, between Calle 31 de Agosto and the green slope of Urgull, lies the most unusual square of the old town. The architect Luis Peña Ganchegui laid it out in 1963, a century after the city walls were pulled down, on a gap left by a ruined Jesuit school that had served as a prison. It is a plain stone space with a fronton for Basque pelota and steps cut against the hillside, and since the San Sebastián Jazz Festival was founded in 1966, the first jazz festival in Spain, it has been one of its main stages.
- The cobblestones: Peña is said to have reused paving stones that the city had taken out of its streets and stored.
Basilica of Santa María del Coro
At the end of Calle Mayor, the old main street, Santa María closes the view with its Baroque facade set between two towers. A church has stood here since the 12th or 13th century; after an explosion damaged the old building in 1688, rebuilding began in 1743 under Pedro Ignacio de Lizardi and Miguel de Salazar, and the church was completed in 1774. It is dedicated to the Virgen del Coro, who shares the role of patron of the city with Saint Sebastian, and it became a minor basilica in 1973.
The main portal works like an altarpiece carved in stone, mixing late Baroque with Rococo touches. Its doors line up with those of the Good Shepherd Cathedral along Calle Mayor, so the old and the new city look at each other.
- Above the door, the figure of Saint Sebastian pierced by arrows, and the papal symbols that mark the church's rank as a basilica.
- Inside, the high altar with an 1819 painting of Saint Sebastian by Luis Boccia.
Aquarium
A few steps from Santa María, at the end of the fishing port, the Aquarium was one of the first museums in Spain devoted to the natural sciences. Its story goes back to a visit by Prince Albert I of Monaco in 1903, which led to the founding of the Oceanographic Society of Gipuzkoa in 1908. The present building on the quay opened in 1928 in the presence of King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie, and it was enlarged and renovated in 1998 and 2008.
- The oceanarium, which you cross through a glass tunnel with sharks swimming over your head.
- In the entrance hall, the skeleton of a large whale, harpooned off the coast between Zarautz and Getaria in 1879.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd and walk north through the centre to Plaza de Guipúzcoa. Cross the Boulevard into the old town, passing the city hall by the Alderdi Eder gardens and the church of San Vicente, and go on to the San Telmo Museum and Plaza de la Trinidad behind it. Turn into Calle 31 de Agosto to reach Santa María del Coro, look back down Calle Mayor towards the cathedral, then follow the port round to the Aquarium. From there you can climb Mount Urgull or walk back along La Concha.
See San Sebastián with World City Trail
Our San Sebastián scavenger hunt turns the city into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the María Cristina Bridge to the Aquarium, and all six places in this guide are stops, along with Plaza de Cervantes, the city hall and the church of San Vicente. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in San Sebastián, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the San Sebastián scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of San Sebastián →
Play the outdoor escape game in San Sebastián →
Facts checked in October 2026.