Sunday in Saint-Jean-de-Luz: harbour, chipirones and the corniche.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz is the fishing port of the French Basque Coast and is half an hour from San Sebastián. The morning goes in the old town, almost entirely pedestrian, and in the harbour. You eat fish at a long-established restaurant behind the market and return along the corniche, the cliff road between Ciboure and Hendaye, with a stop at Abbadia castle. The whole plan is flat and can also be done without a car.

The day, hour by hour

9:30 · Departure. From San Sebastián, the AP-8 to Irun and the French A-63, a toll road, put you in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in half an hour. If you prefer to save the toll, cross through Hendaye and follow the corniche: it takes a quarter of an hour longer and you see the sea from above. Park in the paid car parks at the harbour or Cœur de Ville, five minutes' walk from the square.

10:15 · Old town and harbour. Start at place Louis XIV, with the bandstand and the house where the king slept in 1660. Go down rue Gambetta to the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, where he married the Infanta Maria Theresa: inside, the wooden galleries run round the nave on three sides and the gilded altarpiece fills the back. Then, the fishing harbour and the bridge over the Nivelle to Ciboure. From Easter to early November you can visit the Maison Louis XIV with a guide, €8 for adults, except on Tuesdays.

12:30 · Lunch at Chez Pablo. It is on rue Mademoiselle Etcheto, behind Les Halles. In France people eat early: service runs from 12:00 to 14:00, so do not arrive at half past two. Call to book; in season it fills with locals.

14:30 · Abbadia castle. Head back towards Hendaye along the corniche. The neo-Gothic castle that Viollet-le-Duc designed for the explorer Antoine d'Abbadie stands on the cliff, with its observatory. From November to March it opens Tuesday to Sunday afternoons, with a guided visit at 14:30; from April to October, at weekends from 14:00 to 18:00. Booking is compulsory and rucksacks are not allowed in.

16:30 · Return. From Hendaye you are in San Sebastián in three quarters of an hour.

What to order at Chez Pablo

Home-style Basque cooking, above all fish. The chipirones in their ink are the house dish, around €23. The hake Pablo-style, breaded and fried, and the piquillo peppers stuffed with salt cod come to about €20. If there are two of you and you are hungry, there is a chuletón to share. For dessert, Basque cake. Closed Wednesdays and Thursdays, never on Sundays.

If it rains, with children or with more urge to walk

In the rain, the stroll round the old town is shortened, but the church and, in season, the Maison Louis XIV can be seen under cover. With small children, swap the castle for the Biarritz aquarium, twenty minutes north. If you prefer to walk, do the coastal path from Bidart and reach Saint-Jean-de-Luz on foot along the cliffs: it is 13 km and about three and a half hours, so move the departure to 8:30 and ask for a table at 13:30.