Akelaŕe

Three Michelin stars. A 97-point La Liste ranking in 2026. And dinner service that closes at 9:30 PM sharp.

That last detail matters more than you might expect. Akelaŕe is not a place to arrive late and linger past midnight. Pedro Subijana's restaurant on Mount Igueldo operates on tightly defined service windows: lunch runs 1:00–2:30 PM, dinner 8:30–9:30 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. If you're hoping for a late-night fine dining option in San Sebastián, this is not the answer. What Akelaŕe offers instead is a precision-timed meal at one of Spain's most credentialed tables, with views over the Bay of Biscay that very few restaurants in the country can match.

The verdict: book Akelaŕe if you want to eat at a three-Michelin-star restaurant that sits at the intersection of creative Basque cooking and deep institutional history. Do not book it expecting a relaxed, open-ended evening or a casual à la carte format. This is a tasting-menu experience at the leading of the price range, and the booking window is severe.

The Case for Booking

Akelaŕe holds three Michelin stars as of 2025 and scored 97 points on the La Liste Leading Restaurants ranking for 2026, placing it among a very short list of Spanish restaurants with that level of dual recognition. For context, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, and Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria operate in a comparable tier. Akelaŕe has been at this level for decades, and the 2026 menu carries additional weight: it commemorates the golden anniversary of the New Basque Cuisine movement, with a programme that pairs contemporary recipes alongside reinvented versions of the restaurant's signature classics.

Pedro Subijana is one of the founding figures of that movement. His 50-year tenure at this address is not a marketing story — it is a verifiable culinary record, and the 2025–2026 anniversary menus reflect an institution marking its own history rather than chasing trend cycles. The Opinionated About Dining ranking places Akelaŕe at #183 in Europe for 2024, which is honest about its tier: it is a significant but not a top-twenty European table. For a food and travel enthusiast, that framing is useful. You are booking a landmark of Basque cooking history with three-star technical execution, not necessarily the most avant-garde kitchen in Spain right now.

The setting helps justify the price. The hotel shares its name with the restaurant and holds two Michelin Keys, which signals property quality as well as kitchen quality. The dining room faces the Bay of Biscay from Mount Igueldo. For a special-occasion dinner, that combination of credential, view, and culinary occasion is difficult to replicate elsewhere in San Sebastián.

What to Know About Timing

The restaurant is closed Sunday and Monday, which is a significant constraint if your trip is short. The optimal approach for a food-focused visit is to arrive Thursday or Friday, when you have both a lunch and a dinner slot available on consecutive days and can use the remaining schedule to work through the city's pintxos bars. Saturday is also viable but books faster. For the anniversary programme tied to New Basque Cuisine's 50th year in 2026, availability will tighten further than usual — plan accordingly.

Lunch at 1:00 PM is the better choice if you want to maximise the Bay of Biscay views in daylight. The dinner slot at 8:30 PM is narrower and closes earlier than almost any comparable three-star restaurant in the country. If your preference is a longer, more open-ended evening, consider Arzak or Amelia by Paulo Airaudo, where service runs later into the night.

Dietary Restrictions

The La Liste notes are direct on this point: there is no dedicated vegetable menu at Akelaŕe, which the assessors flagged as a gap given the kitchen's technical range. If you follow a plant-based diet, the recommendation from the guide is to flag your preferences at the time of booking, specifically mentioning the We're Smart movement. Given the kitchen's sophistication, a tailored approach is possible, but it requires advance communication. Do not arrive expecting a full vegetarian tasting menu as a standard offering.

For Solo Diners and Small Groups

Solo dining at a three-star tasting-menu restaurant in San Sebastián is a perfectly legitimate choice , the city has a strong culture of eating alone at the bar or counter across all price points. The practical question at Akelaŕe is whether solo seating at a dedicated counter or bar position is available. Seat-count and layout data is not confirmed in current records, so contact the restaurant directly before booking to confirm arrangements. A solo visit here is most defensible for a serious food and travel enthusiast for whom the anniversary programme has specific interest. For a more sociable solo experience with more flexibility, iBAi by Paulo Airaudo or a well-planned pintxos circuit through the old town will deliver more interaction and less ceremony.

After Dinner

Given the 9:30 PM close on the dinner service, you will finish at Akelaŕe with the evening still ahead of you. Mount Igueldo is a residential area, not a nightlife district, so plan your transport back to the city centre before you sit down. San Sebastián's bar scene , from the Parte Vieja pintxos circuit to cocktail bars along the Río Urumea , is active well past midnight. For a complete evening, treat Akelaŕe as the main event and build the rest of the night in the old town. Our full San Sebastián bars guide covers the options in detail. If you want to extend a food-focused day beyond the restaurant, the San Sebastián experiences guide and the wineries guide offer worthwhile additions.

Pearl Picks: If You're Exploring the Region

If you're building a broader trip around Spain's highest-credentialed kitchens, the comparison set is worth knowing. Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María is the most technically singular marine restaurant in the country. DiverXO in Madrid is Spain's only three-star restaurant with a genuinely avant-garde format. Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona delivers three-star precision in a more accessible atmosphere. For international comparison, Le Bernardin in New York City and Atomix in New York City sit in a comparable bracket of technically rigorous, tasting-menu-format fine dining with serious credential backing.