Traffic and Driving
in San Sebastian
.JPG) San
Sebastian is a small city and as such
doesn't have many traffic problems. However,
the volume of traffic increases considerably
during the summer and at other times of
the year like Christmas, Easter and bank
holiday weekends.
Access to the City:
San Sebastian has 3 main routes from
which you can get to the city centre.
The AP-8 coming from Bilbao or
other parts of Northern Spain, the A-1
from Irun or France and the A-1
from Southern Spain (Burgos, Madrid...).
If you arrive in San Sebastian using
the AP-8 coming from Bilbao the first
entrance to the city is in the area called
Antiguo/Ondarreta (University, beach...).
It leads you to the Avenida de Tolosa
which takes you directly to the Concha
Bay (San Sebastian's main beach) without
having to cross the city centre. The other
entrance is in the area called Amara (football
stadium and various other sports facilities...).
By driving along the Paseo del Arbol de
Guernica which borders the river you will
reach the centre and the Old Part in just
a few minutes.
Approaching San Sebastian from the
A-1 from the North you arrive in the
area called Gros next to Zurriola beach
which is practically in the city centre.
Arriving from the A-1 coming from
Madrid the access is the same as the
AP-8 (see above) because the two roads
come together in the bypass (free).
San Sebastian Bypass: This road
which goes around the edge of the city
gets very busy during the rush hour (morning,
midday and evening) and is a major route
for lorries coming from Europe and travelling
to the South or vice versa.
The main exits out of San Sebastian:
To go towards Irun and Francia from the
centre you need to get onto the avenida
Ategorrieta. To go towards Madrid or Bilbao
drive along Calle Prim to get to the area
known as Amara which is where you can
get onto the bypass. You can also go to
Irun and France by getting onto the bypass.
There is another exit leaving from the
area called Antiguo. By driving out of
the city along the Avenida de Tolosa you
can go in any direction on the AP-8 towards
Bilbao, the A-1 towards Madrid, Burgos
or towards Irun or Francia on the bvpass.
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Traffic and
Driving in the City Centre
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| The best thing
to do like in many other cities is
not to use your car in the centre.
There are 2 new park and ride car
parks in Antiguo and in Amara
which are next to bus routes into
the centre. If you do decide to drive
into the centre then there are numerous
underground car parks - la Concha,
Boulevard, Kursaal are just some of
the car parks available. However,
they fill up very easily and it is
not uncommon to see queues of cars
waiting for a space to park at weekends,
bank holidays and during the summer.
If you decide to park in a street
then you will have to pay and display
from 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday.
In winter you don't need to pay and
display near Ondarreta beach. |
|
To orientate yourself in San Sebastian
the best thing to do is head for
the Concha beach opposite
the Town Hall. The Old Part is behind
the Town Hall but bear in mind that
cars are not allowed to enter.
On the other side you have the
area where most of the shops are.
The main streets are la Avenida,
El Boulevard, el Paseo de la Concha,
Miracruz and la Calle Urbieta,
although none of them are very big.
If you take a wrong turning you
won't have much trouble getting
back to where you wanted to be because
all the blocks are very small and
you will be able to turn back within
just a few metres. In summer the
city centre has been known to become
gridlocked due to the excessive
volume of traffic especially during
the Jazz Festival, Semana Grande
fiestas, the San Sebastian Film
Festival and the Regattas.
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Road
travel in Spain
