A traditional Basque sidrería in Astigarraga, eight kilometres inland from San Sebastián and one of the best places in the world to understand what natural cider is supposed to taste like. Petritegi has been pressing apples since 1527, and the cider-house format it keeps alive is the real thing: two long wooden refectory tables, a txotx (barrel-tap) ritual where the cellar-master calls the crowd in to catch a thin horizontal stream straight from a three-metre kupela, and the fixed menu of cod omelette, cod with peppers, chuleta (the canonical rib steak), and Idiazabal cheese with quince and walnuts. You drink cider standing, catching the stream in your glass from half a metre below the tap, and the cider is bone-dry, slightly effervescent, and alive in a way no supermarket bottle has ever been. This is not the tourist version of a Basque dinner. It is the Basque dinner.
Location
Astigarraga,
Map
Insider Intel
The fixed txotx menu: bacalao con pimientos (cod with peppers), tortilla de bacalao (cod omelette), chuleta (rib steak for two), Idiazabal cheese with quince paste and walnuts. Cider is bottomless within the txotx season — you refill from the kupela whenever the cellar-master calls 'txotx!' Don't drink more than a small glass at a time; the ritual is about the pour.
Txotx season runs mid-January through end of April — this is the canonical window and the only time the full ritual is at peak. Outside season, Petritegi serves the same menu but from bottles rather than the barrels. Lunch is the traditional service (1.30pm–4pm); dinner runs 8.30pm–11pm. Reserve well in advance for txotx season; this is the most famous sidrería in a crowded field.
Astigarraga is 8km / 15-minute drive inland from San Sebastián centre. Take a taxi or rideshare; parking is available on-site. Txotx is seasonal (Jan–Apr); outside those months the experience is authentic but less theatrical. Fixed menu, set price around EUR 35–45 per person including cider. Expect long communal tables; you will share with strangers, which is the point. Cash and cards both accepted. Not a place for quick drinks — plan on two to three hours minimum. The cellar-master calling 'txotx!' is the single cue to get up and go fill your glass — move quickly, queue politely.