Review: Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian, Marriott Luxury Collection

Love that you didn’t review food at the hotel besides breakfast…. That would be counter productive in such a foodie town

@ Eric -- Hah, thanks. I usually go out of my way to eat in hotels to be able to review the offerings, but in this case, I couldn't bring myself to have an Asian meal while only being in San Sebastian for a few days.

Which flights did you get to get to San Sebastion and from Biarritz? I'm guessing nothing "special" since there seems to be no mention 🙂

I always enjoy your luxury hotel reviews. This is the first one that doesn’t make me wish I could go stay there ASAP. I guess at the end of the day without fun amenities the difference between a hotel like this and an AC Marriott is fancier room and better service, which while important doesn’t justify the $$$ difference. Looking forward to the Hyatt Unbound!

My friend and I stayed at the Maria Christina years ago on points while traveling in Spain. Also staying at the Maria Christina was Bruce Springsteen who spent 20 minutes in the lobby taking pictures with hotel guests. What a gem.

San Sebastián is incredible. Only a short distance by road from Bilbao and even more of a treat.

I loved the Maria Cristina but even as a Platinum (this was pre-merger, when Platinum was top tier) I got absolutely nothing in the way of upgrades or special welcome on arrival. In fact, I found the hotel pretty uninterested which was disappointing. Maybe Ben got lucky.

Breakfast was fantastic, however. Slightly surprised it’s still on offer these days since Marriott allows so many properties to wriggle out of it.

On several occasions (pre-Chinese virus) this was one of our favourite ‘watering holes’ while travelling south through the Basque Country.
One is hopeful that the Marriott effect will not have a detrimental influence upon the establishment.

San Sebastian is my favorite city in Europe. Was there for a week this past July so maybe we crossed paths. Glad you got to experience some of the basque food culture during your time there. Stayed at this hotel many years ago and had a good stay but lack of pool was a bummer.

Wake up babe, an OMAAT luxury points hotel review just dropped! Joking aside, happy to see you able to get out and review a desirable points hotel in a beautiful area.

Question: you say the hotel doesn't have a gym, but does have a fitness center. You then switch back and forth calling the space a gym/fitness center. Is there a specific meaning for each?

Nice! Bruce Springsteen was at my hotel- The Grand- in Stockholm last month. Saw him several times in the lobby.

@ Super -- Sorry, I meant to say that it doesn't a pool or spa, and by mistake used the word gym. Fixed now.

@ Ben Holz -- Yeah, sorry to disappoint, but I ultimately decided not to do a full trip report this time around, but rather am just doing some individual hotel reviews. Long story short, I had lofty goals with this trip, but award availability just didn't come together as hoped. So I ended up flying Air France business class MIA-CDG-BIQ, and I figure I've done enough Air France reviews lately...

@ Jake B -- Yep, totally fair takeaway. It's a beautiful hotel, but there's not all that much to it, and it is expensive in peak season.

San Sebastián was for many years the #1 city in the world with most Michelin stars per capita. Recently bumped down to #2 by Kyoto. It was one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorite cities. He’s jokingly seen on one of his videos telling viewers “don’t come here”. We stayed at the Hyatt in the suburbs but will check this one out when we go back. Glad you loved the city. The food is out of this world.

Why, oh why, can't the bed be centered on that wall?

I was genuinely curious about that so I checked a few cities that perform significantly better than San Sebastian and Kyoto ...

San Sebastian has 9 stars for 187k people
Kyoto has 127 stars for 1 475k people
Megève has 5 stars for 3k peole
Luzern has 7 stars for 80k people
Skt. Moritz has 7 stars for 6k people
Courchevel has 12 stars for 2k people.
Geneva has 12 stars for 200k people.
Zurich has 20 stars for 400k people
Paris has 157 stars for 2 100k people

Tapas are in Madrid and Barcelona. In Basque Country it’s pintxos.

We stayed at this hotel a few years back and had a wonderful time. You missed that in the basement of the hotel is a Pintxos Cooking class that was absolutely fabulous and a great introduction to the city's food culture. We also dined at Arzak, a Michelin 3 star that is one of my favorite 3 stars ever! Rekondo is another great less expensive spot recommended by Luis Gutierrez, a Parker wine guy.

Best foodie city in the world ! Basque Country is so special , pinxtos and the culture is incredible

https://www.tastingtable.com/1169178/whats-the-difference-between-tapas-and-pintxos/

What is the Chinese virus?

What utterly idiotic pricing
I'd never spend 1100 EUR or 750+ USD on points per night.

Are Americans really this gullible?

I was going to ask this question as well so glad someone else had it. It’s not always about the review - it’s helps with trip planning (whether in reality or in our heads).

FWIW, I like when travel blogs have the entire trip outlined at the top with links to all of the posts. But best to add it at the end after the posts are all written so you have links.

Had a great stay here late 2010s, happy to see the continual Bonvoy degradation a la Marriott hasn't hit this property at least.

Funny comment regarding the weights... I was wondering the same thing at several hotels... then again, most people use mucg lower weights (like 10 lbs). Stuff over 30 lbs barely sees any use.
Breakfast at 8 AM on the weekends, seriously ? How exepensive would it be to start service at 6:30 or 7 instead ?

Yes. That said, San Sebastian is ridiculously expensive, when I visited I stayed in Hondarribia as it was the only place vaguely near the city where a decent hotel could be had for less than €170. And it was only June.

I don't know where your data comes from and I'm not familiar with some of the other cities, but this is directly from San Sebastian's Wikipedia page. I believe Tony Bourdain also mentions it on the show but it's been a while since I watched it. Different sources may be doing the math differently.

Where is the Service section that normally appears in every OMAAT hotel review?

Avacado Toast - Thank God!!! Otherwise, it would have been a 1-star rating.

Stayed there years ago as our friend with the Centurion Black card booked it..Nice venue and so were the wow restaurants we visited nearby