Do you recommend taking the train to San Sebastian?
Simon Calder answers your questions on Spanish cities, Egyptian currency and cheap car hire
Q My partner and I are looking at San Sebastian by train in the spring. Would you recommend the trip?
Richard L
A San Sebastian is one of the great Spanish coastal cities, alongside Barcelona and Malaga. It has a magnificent location just beyond the western end of the Pyrenees. The bay on which it is perched is punctuated by two towering headlands: Monte Igueldo to the west and Monte Urgull to the east. Between them lies the scallop-shaped bay of La Concha (“the shell”), offering a broad sandy beach – though the water may still be brisk in the spring. Santa Clara Island stands between the shore and the Bay of Biscay to the north. The Parte Vieja (Old Town) sits beneath Monte Urgull, with the early 19th-century Plaza de la Constitucion at its heart.
The food in this area is some of the best in Spain – in particular pintxos, a Basque take on tapas. San Sebastian was European Capital of Culture in 2016 and has plenty for the curious visitor.
Perhaps because it has no direct flights from the UK, San Sebastian is overlooked. Yet it is also the fastest Spanish city to reach by rail from Paris and, by extension, from London. From Montparnasse station in the French capital, you can be at Hendaye – in the far southwest, almost on the Spanish border – in a little over four and a half hours. Just outside the SNCF (French railways) station is the terminus of the Eusko Tren – the Basque narrow-gauge shuttle train connecting Hendaye with San Sebastian . The 35-minute trip costs €2.90, which you should pay locally; I haven’t seen Eusko Tren showing up on apps such as Trainline. With smooth connections, you should be able to make it from London St Pancras International to San Sebastian in nine hours flat. Yet I recommend you break the journey at the fine city of Bordeaux, if only for a few hours. Biarritz is also rewarding.
My personal preference is to take it easy on the way to San Sebastian, enjoying the locations en route, then leave by air from Bilbao (whose airport is about an hour by frequent bus). Inbound airfares in March are ridiculously low – such as £12 to Gatwick on Vueling.
Q We’re going to Luxor on 9 December for a week. It’s more than 20 years since I was there and no doubt things, such as obtaining Egyptian currency, have changed. On Tripadvisor I’ve read that to get the currency, you feed crispy UK banknotes into an ATM and it will reward you with the correct amount of Egyptian pounds. I have heard that only notes with the late Queen are acceptable, not the King.
Stephanie T
A I have had some experience of using ATMs for currency exchange (though not in Egypt) and recommend caution. Sometimes they can offer a good rate of exchange, at other times the operators take a huge cut for the convenience of being able to change money at any time of day or night.
It’s two years since I was in Egypt. On that occasion I followed my usual procedure of taking clean Bank of England notes and shopping around for the best rate among bureaux de change. Even at airports you can get a good deal, in my experience. I have not heard directly of any issues with King Charles’s notes, but it seems plausible that the machines are calibrated to recognise only a certain series of British banknotes. As people from Scotland and Northern Ireland will be wearily aware, sterling in anything other than Bank of England notes is treated with some suspicion.
I discussed the issue on your behalf with Philip Breckner, director of the specialist Discover Egypt. He confirms: “There is an abundance of ATM machines everywhere.” Hotels are also good places to change money, and offer extra security. But change little and often rather than a large wad on your first day. Philip adds: “Most tourist sites now only accept credit cards for entrance tickets to museums, temples, tombs, etc.” A card with no foreign transaction fee, such as Halifax Clarity, Revolut or Starling, will keep costs down. Finally, Philip points out: “Many tourist shops and cruise boats will accept sterling – but check the exchange rate.”
Q I’m just booking a weekend to see friends in Italy. The car hire is £2 a day. What is going on?
Richard V
A The car rental business is odd. Assets that are almost new and worth many thousands of pounds are loaned to random customers such as me (I am not a good driver) at low prices. My rule of thumb is that the appropriate rate for renting a small car is around £50 per day, including sufficient insurance that I will not be bankrupted in the event of a prang. So what, indeed, is going on here?
I have successfully rented on the Spanish island of Menorca, in low season, for £10 a day – with no further charges beyond filling up the tank before returning the vehicle. But a daily rate of £2 is ridiculous low. I imagine you found it through an online search. The nominal £2 a day may go straight to the intermediary who steered you to the booking. I fear you may be open to one or more of the tricks used to earn extra revenue.
At the cheap end of the car rental market, it is often the case that the fuel policy is “out full, back empty”: you pay for a tank at whatever price they choose, and may not use it all. The charge for a second driver (which you may not need) could be £20 or more per day. Collision damage insurance is a big earner, with some firms saying: “You can’t take the car unless you pay £30 a day for our insurance”. You might already have separate, cheaper insurance for that excess, or receive suitable cover free as part of a credit-card deal. But the firm may flatly reject that policy and refuse to let you take the car without paying extra. An alternative strategy is to levy excessive repair charges for everyday marks that should come under the definition of “normal wear and tear”. But I hope my cynicism is misplaced and that you have indeed found a bargain.
Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @SimonCalder
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments