Getting married in San Sebastián
A bay between two hills, a belle-époque seafront and cider houses in the hills behind — with a rain plan in every good day.
San Sebastián — Donostia in Basque — keeps most of what couples come for along one bay: the old town at the foot of Monte Urgull, the beaches of La Concha and Ondarreta, the Miramar Palace between them, and Monte Igueldo closing the bay to the west. The light is not the Mediterranean’s: at the Igeldo weather station July brings 196 hours of sun, against 334 at Ibiza airport.
The day often splits between town and hills: the ceremony at the city hall, a baroque basilica or a palace above the water, then dinner at a cider house among the apple orchards. Rain belongs in every plan — Igeldo records 10 to 13 rainy days in every month of the year — so keep a roof a few steps from the view and let the photographer use the breaks in the weather.
Photographers
Wedding photographers in San Sebastián
No one in the Basque Country & the North yet
The first photographers in the Basque Country & the North are joining now. Tell our concierge your date and your plans — it checks who is free and fits.
Ceremonies
Where couples marry in San Sebastián
The city hall
Built as the town’s casino and opened in 1887, facing the Alderdi Eder gardens, it now holds civil weddings in its council chamber; a short version for up to 15 people uses another room. One of you must be registered as living in the city.
Santa María and the Buen Pastor
For a Catholic wedding: the 18th-century baroque basilica of Santa María del Coro, under Monte Urgull, or the neo-Gothic Buen Pastor cathedral (1897), its 75 m spire visible across the city. Their doors face each other in a straight line, 1 km apart.
Miramar Palace
Built in 1893 for Queen María Cristina’s summers and owned by the city since 1973, with free public gardens above the bay. It has opened its rooms to symbolic wedding ceremonies since 2012.
Cider houses in the hills
Restaurants in the farm buildings where the cider is made, among apple orchards in Astigarraga, Hernani and the towns nearby; open all year, and several host weddings. The txotx season, with new cider straight from the barrel, runs from mid-January to late April.
Portraits
Where to take your portraits
Monte Urgull
Viewpoints above the old town looking west to Igueldo and the sunset. The gates close at 21:00 from May to September and 19:30 the rest of the year, so a sunset inside works only from late August to September and from mid-October to March.
Monte Igueldo
A funicular with wooden carriages, running since 1912, climbs to a view over the whole bay, the city and the coast. In the evening the bay lies below you in warm light.
Peine del Viento
Eduardo Chillida’s steel sculptures on the rocks at the end of Ondarreta (1977), with granite terraces where the waves push air and spray up through holes in the ground. Most dramatic at high tide in a rough sea.
Miramar’s gardens
Gravel paths and flower beds falling towards the sea between the two beaches, with Santa Clara island in front: an easy stop between ceremony and dinner.
The old town in the rain
Narrow streets ending at the baroque front of Santa María: when it rains, doorways and balconies keep the portraits going.
Through the year
When to marry in San Sebastián
June to September is the season (AEMET normals for Igeldo, on the hill above the bay): average highs from 20.0 °C in June to 22.5 °C in August, nights around 14–16 °C. Even in summer there are about ten rainy days a month, 1,507 mm a year, and the hilltop station records fog on around ten days a month from May to August; October and November are the wettest. Two weeks to know about: Semana Grande around 15 August, with fireworks over the bay every night, and the film festival in the second half of September (18–26 September in 2026).
Basque Country & the North, month by month
- January: Quieter
- February: Quieter
- March: Quieter
- April: Quieter
- May: Good with planning
- June: Best
- July: Best
- August: Best
- September: Best
- October: Good with planning
- November: Quieter
- December: Quieter
Practical
Good to know before the day
Getting there
From Bilbao airport a direct bus reaches San Sebastián in about 75 minutes. The city’s own airport is in Hondarribia, right on the French border, with flights mainly from Madrid and Barcelona.
Rain and tides
Book a venue with a covered plan in any month. The tide moves several metres — over four on big tides — so check the table for your evening: it decides how much beach you have and how wild the Peine del Viento looks.
Drones
The city and its beaches count as urban areas under Real Decreto 517/2024: a registered operator must notify the Interior Ministry at least five days before a drone flight.
The legal route
A civil wedding at the city hall needs one of you registered as a resident; otherwise, a Catholic wedding through your home parish, or the legal wedding at home and a symbolic ceremony here.
Questions
Questions about marrying in San Sebastián
Does it rain in San Sebastián in summer?
Yes, regularly: the Igeldo station averages 9.8 rainy days in July and 10.5 in August, against 13.2 in January (AEMET). June to September are still the warmest, steadiest months, but every plan here needs a covered space.
Can we get married at San Sebastián city hall?
Only if one of you is registered as a resident of the city, once the civil registry has approved the file. Couples from abroad usually choose a symbolic ceremony — Miramar Palace has hosted them since 2012 — or a Catholic wedding.
Where should we take our wedding photos in San Sebastián?
Along the bay: Miramar’s gardens, the Peine del Viento at the end of Ondarreta, and the viewpoints of Urgull and Igueldo for the whole bay. In the rain, the old town’s narrow streets around Santa María del Coro.
Which dates should we know about for a wedding in San Sebastián?
Semana Grande around 15 August, with fireworks over the bay every night, and the film festival in the second half of September: book early if your date falls on either. From mid-January to late April, the txotx season suits a cider-house dinner.
How do we get to San Sebastián?
Often the simplest way is a flight to Bilbao and the direct bus, about 75 minutes. San Sebastián’s small airport in Hondarribia has flights mainly from Madrid and Barcelona, and Biarritz in France is close by.
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Spain
Marrying in the Basque Country & the North
Plan
Read before you plan
- What a wedding photographer costs in Spain, and what changes the pricePublished prices for a wedding day in Spain run from under €1,000 to €8,000 and more. The ranges with their sources and dates, region by region, what goes into a price, the Spanish extras (preboda, postboda, IVA) and how paying works on Lens & Vows.
- Getting married in Spain: civil, Catholic or symbolic, and who can do whichSpain’s three routes for couples from abroad — what the law asks (Ley 20/2011), why a civil wedding needs one of you to live there, how a Catholic wedding works without residence, the documents, the timings and where the photographer fits in.
- A symbolic wedding in Spain: marry legally at home, celebrate in SpainWhy most couples from abroad sign the papers at home and hold the ceremony in Spain, what makes it symbolic, who can lead it and what it costs, where you may hold it — beaches under the Ley de Costas, parks, squares — and what it frees up for the light and the photographs.
- The best time to get married in Spain: month by month, region by regionAEMET’s climate normals for six places couples marry, how many couples marry in each month (INE), the best months for each region, and sunrise, sunset and golden hour for 2027 in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Palma and Las Palmas.
- How to choose a wedding photographer: the steps, and the questions to askThe decision in order — whole weddings, style, availability, the package, the contract and deposit, cancellation, delivery and a conversation — then a checklist of questions, with why each one matters.
- Wedding venues in Spain: fincas, castles, haciendas and wine countryTwenty places that say on their own sites that they host weddings — Mallorcan fincas and a sea fortress, Andalusian haciendas and city palaces, Catalan castles and a cava winery, Basque belle-époque hotels and Gehry’s winery hotel — with where they are, what they look like, capacity from their own pages, and what each means for your photos.
Not sure yet?
Tell us about your wedding — we’ll find who is free
The place, the date, the guests, the photos you like. Our concierge checks who is free and fits, and comes back with photographers to choose from.