Estadio Anoeta

Tucked into the Anoeta sports complex on the southern fringe of Donostia, the Reale Arena is the rare big-club stadium that has actually improved with age. Between 2017 and 2019 Real Sociedad sank around €50 million into ripping out the despised athletics track, lowering the pitch and pulling all four single-tier stands tight against the grass. Capacity rose to roughly 39,500 and, more importantly, the sterile bowl of the 1990s finally started to sound like a football ground.

The naming rights went to Basque insurer Reale Seguros in 2019, though locals stubbornly still call it Anoeta. Whatever you call it, it is the home of a club that has quietly become one of Spain's most likeable: Basque to its bones like rivals Athletic Club up the road, but happy to sign from beyond the Pyrenees since dropping its Basques-only policy in 1989, which is how Norwegian playmaker Martin Ödegaard once ended up in the famous blue-and-white stripes.

The modern Reale era has produced proper silverware too. In April 2021 the txuri-urdin lifted the long-delayed 2020 Copa del Rey in an eerie, empty Sevilla, beating Athletic 1-0 in the first Basque-derby final for almost a century thanks to a Mikel Oyarzabal penalty. The pandemic robbed Donostia of its street party, so the next big trophy night here will be loud.

The 2025/26 season has been rougher than hoped. Sergio Francisco, promoted from the B-team to replace the much-loved Imanol Alguacil, was dismissed in December after a poor run, and German-American Pellegrino Matarazzo arrived to steady the ship. Real 1909 Fans behind the south goal keep the noise rolling regardless.

Donostia–San Sebastián is the city other Spanish cities quietly want to be: a Belle Époque crescent wrapped around the perfect golden curve of La Concha, hemmed in by green hills and the cold Cantabrian. Locals walk everywhere, swim in May, and treat eating as a civic duty.

It has, depending who you ask, more Michelin stars per head than anywhere on earth — three triple-starred temples (Arzak, Akelarre, Martin Berasategui) within a short drive, and a Parte Vieja whose pintxo bars set a standard the Michelin lot quietly measure themselves against. Calm, cultured, ludicrously well fed.

On foot

The most Donostia way to arrive. From the Parte Vieja or La Concha it is a flat 25-minute stroll along the Urumea river — Boulevard to the stadium is about 1.8km and you will pass joggers, surfers and the Kursaal cubes on the way.

By bus

Dbus lines 26, 28 and 45 link the city centre with the Anoeta stop on Paseo de Anoeta in 12-15 minutes; line 21 from Boulevard runs every 15 minutes or so. Cheap, frequent and packed on matchdays.

By train

Euskotren's Topo line stops directly outside at Anoeta station — handy if you are coming in from Hendaye, Irun or Hernani.

By air

San Sebastián's tiny airport at Hondarribia has limited routes (mostly Madrid and Barcelona), so most visitors fly into Bilbao Airport an hour west and pick up the PESA bus straight to San Sebastián's Plaza Pío XII.

Build the day around the food, not the football. Start with a txikiteo crawl through the Parte Vieja — Bar Néstor for the tortilla (two sittings, lunch and dinner, turn up early), Ganbara for wild mushrooms, La Cuchara de San Telmo for slow-cooked cheek, Borda Berri for risotto. Wash it down with txakoli poured from a height.

Before kick-off, walk Monte Urgull for the view down onto La Concha, or take the wooden funicular up Monte Igueldo for the postcard. Post-match, the bars around Plaza de la Constitución and Calle 31 de Agosto stay open late and welcome both sets of fans without much fuss — this is not a city that does aggro.

The stadium tour with the Real 100 museum runs Tuesday to Sunday (closed match days and the day after) and is genuinely worth the small entry fee for the dressing rooms and tunnel walk.