Sunday at La Rhune and Espelette: rack railway and villages of red houses.

La Rhune is the 905-metre mountain you see from Hondarribia beach, right on the border. You go up in a rack railway with wooden carriages that has run since 1924, and from the top you see the coast from Biarritz to Hondarribia and the Pyrenees of Navarre. On the way down, you eat in Espelette, the pepper village, and take a stroll through Ainhoa, a single street of white houses with red shutters. It is a plan for a clear day between April and October.

The day, hour by hour

8:45 · Departure. From San Sebastián, cross via Irun towards Urrugne and Ascain and climb to the Col de Saint-Ignace, on the D4. It is about 40 minutes. The station has parking; in summer and on long weekends it fills early.

9:30 · Train to La Rhune. From April to June and in September and October, the first train leaves at 9:30; in July and August, between 8:20 and 8:50. The climb lasts about 35 minutes and at the top you have an hour and twenty minutes to go round the summit, which is the border: on the Spanish side there are ventas (roadside inns and shops). The round-trip ticket cost €26 for adults and €18 for ages 4 to 12 in 2026; the family of two adults and two children, €82. You pay by card or on the website: cash is not accepted. Before buying, check the summit webcam on the train's website.

12:30 · Lunch at the Euzkadi. You go down to Espelette in twenty minutes. The same family has run the house since 1873, next to the pelota court, at 285 Karrika Nagusia. On Sundays it serves lunch, not dinner, and closes Monday and Tuesday. Book by phone.

14:30 · Espelette and Ainhoa. In Espelette, the tower that remains of the barons' castle, now the town hall and tourist office, and the church of Saint-Étienne, with painted ceilings from the 17th century. At the end of summer and in autumn there are still façades with strings of peppers drying. Ainhoa is ten kilometres away: a street of Labourd houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. Look for the lintel of the Maison Gorritia, dated 1662.

17:00 · Return. From Ainhoa, the Dantxarinea pass takes you into the Baztan; for San Sebastián it is shorter to go back by the coast. You arrive around six.

What to order at the Euzkadi

Inland Basque cooking with local produce and Espelette pepper, protected by designation of origin since 2000, in almost everything. The menu changes with the season and highlights Banka trout, milk-fed lamb and the Basque pork from the Ospital house. If it is on, order the axoa, the minced veal with pepper that is the village's dish.

With children, with a dog and if the fog closes in

The train works with children of any age: the journey entertains them and under-4s do not pay, though they need their own ticket at €0. At the top, a baby carrier is better than a pushchair. The dog goes up with its own ticket, €6.50, and in Espelette and Ainhoa it can stroll along the street without problems. If the summit is in fog, do not go up: head down to the coast and swap the train for Abbadia castle, in Hendaye, which opens on Sunday afternoons.