San Sebastian and Biarritz in June? Or Portugal?

cactusgal

Hi all, my boyfriend and I want to go on holidays in June, we've been putting it on the long finger and we really need to book!

It's our first holiday together, so we wanted to go somewhere fairly close by (he's a nervous flyer) and a combination of beach, walks, city, nice places to eat, things to see and do, etc. We're not package holiday types. Oh, also looking for decent public transport as well, as we weren't planning on renting a car.

I've heard good things about Lisbon and the towns around it (Caiscais and Sitric) and also have been recommended Biarritz and San Sebastian.

Has anyone had good experiences to share about any of these places? They all look lovely, but I'm worried San Sebastian will be rainy?

Anyway, looking forward to your comments! Thanks for reading

beardy_smith

cactusgal wrote: »

Hi all, my boyfriend and I want to go on holidays in June, we've been putting it on the long finger and we really need to book!

It's our first holiday together, so we wanted to go somewhere fairly close by (he's a nervous flyer) and a combination of beach, walks, city, nice places to eat, things to see and do, etc. We're not package holiday types. Oh, also looking for decent public transport as well, as we weren't planning on renting a car.

I've heard good things about Lisbon and the towns around it (Caiscais and Sitric) and also have been recommended Biarritz and San Sebastian.

Has anyone had good experiences to share about any of these places? They all look lovely, but I'm worried San Sebastian will be rainy?

Anyway, looking forward to your comments! Thanks for reading

my girlfriend and i are just back from four days in portugal , we absolutely loved it

we spent two days in lisbon , beautiful city and its transport system puts dublin to shame , lovely people , terrific service , we didnt eat one bad meal , you must check out a really quirky outdoor restaraunt called " pinochio " , we stayed in the turim hotel in avenidia

two places around 30 km from the city we visited were caiscais which is a seaside town and sintra which was the highlight of the trip , we visited a moorish castle and the penna royal palace , we also visited the national palace in sintra but pena wich is beside the moorish castle was the highlight

the train to both sintra and caiscais cost less than ten euro return each way

overall a fantastic trip , highly recomended


ps . be aware their are a lot of people from africa in the city who come up to your restaraunt table selling trunkets but they are not agressive

ManonRiv

Hi, i go to Biarritz every summer it is soooooo warm and lovely! You cannot miss that place ! Great shops and great beaches . I would also recommend you the town of St Jean De Luz which is just near by ! You'll have an awesome time there !

cactusgal

cactusgal wrote: »

Hi all, my boyfriend and I want to go on holidays in June, we've been putting it on the long finger and we really need to book!

It's our first holiday together, so we wanted to go somewhere fairly close by (he's a nervous flyer) and a combination of beach, walks, city, nice places to eat, things to see and do, etc. We're not package holiday types. Oh, also looking for decent public transport as well, as we weren't planning on renting a car.

I've heard good things about Lisbon and the towns around it (Caiscais and Sitric) and also have been recommended Biarritz and San Sebastian.

Has anyone had good experiences to share about any of these places? They all look lovely, but I'm worried San Sebastian will be rainy?

Anyway, looking forward to your comments! Thanks for reading

We've stayed in Estoril or Cascais about 5-6 times over the last few years, and would really recommend it (middle-aged couple and one child/teenager). The combination of Cascais/Estoril and Lisbon has everything on your list, so you can mix things up between beach things, culture vulture activities, shops and so on. Although Cascais is a bit outside Lisbon, the train and metro combination is excellent, with services that are regular and inexpensive. You wouldn't need a car.

Unshelved

San Sebastian can be rainy - although the square in the centre has an arcade running around it so you can still stand outside in the rain when you're having your tapas and glass of wine. The food in SS is out of this world - especially if you like seafood. It's a lovely city and it's an easy jaunt by bus to Biarritz if you want to do a two centre holiday. Biarritz has better weather, lovely beaches and there are some great places to go sightseeing if the weather isn't so good (Bayonne, St Jean Pied de Port). Good restaurants too.

Having said that I just love Lisbon and the area around there. Lisbon is as cheap as you're going to get with a capital city and has excellent public transport if you want to take the train to Caiscais or Estoril for the beaches. There's loads to see and do if you like museums or culture, and the nightlife in the Bairro Alto area is just fantastic.

Two great choices for a holiday, but as you're travelling in June, I'd opt for Portugal because the weather is more likely to be better.

ardmacha

If you are travelling the third week of June consider visiting Porto, where they have a festival which is good crack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festa_de_S%C3%A3o_Jo%C3%A3o_do_Porto

Some years ago I travelled into Lisbon and back from Porto with Ryanair.

sarkozy

Been to all those places. Both are fantastic. Around June, I'd imagine Biarritz would be very 'resorty' and I don't think it's the most interesting place to spend time if you're not into the beach thing. Still, it's pleasant for a night or two on the way to somewhere else. There's a very nice bistro beside Les Halles run by a truculent Lyonnais man that's great value. But San Jean de Luz is definitely worth a visit - a typical French Basque town in terms of architecture, good food, great beach.

If I was planning on Biarritz, then, as we did, I might start the trip by flying to Bordeaux, which is splendid, and getting a bus or train to Biarritz or head straight to San Sebastián.

San Sebastián is lovely and, while the city itself may not be the most beautiful, and the setting is, and it makes up what it doesn't have in aesthetics with oodles of character and wonderful food, and it's in a very beautiful region with lovely small towns, gettable by bus like Getaría, where you can eat amazing fish straight from the Atlantic. Eat lots of octopus.

However, Lisbon really edged it for me. I don't know why. It's a wonderful city, good value, interesting, creative, unpretentious, and the outlying towns are so scenic. I'd highly recommend a visit to Sintra (if a bit chocolate-boxy) and a wine tour (their local wines are finer, I think, than the southern Alentejo wines); Cascais is fine, I suppose. Oh, I'd go back there in a second.

My guess would be the weather would be more predictably good in Lisbon if that's important to you.

Do check ahead whether there might be any major festivals around the time you're going - good and bad, as you'll have mad craic, but accomodation could be tricky.

Unshelved

I forgot to say, there's a huge festival in mid-June in Lisbon - the festival of San Antonio. The city goes absolutely mental - in a good way! If you're there, you should definitely check it out.