Monte Igueldo Funicular and Amusement Park

The little railway car you are about to ride has been climbing this hill since nineteen twelve. That makes this the oldest funicular in the Basque Country and the third oldest in Spain. Queen Regent Maria Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine herself inaugurated it on August twenty-fifth of that year, because apparently nothing opened in early twentieth-century San Sebastian without a royal cutting the ribbon.

The track is three hundred and twenty metres long with a passing loop at the midpoint where the two carriages squeeze past each other. The ride takes about three minutes, and the view of La Concha bay expanding beneath you as you climb is genuinely spectacular. But the real surprise is what waits at the top.

There is an amusement park up here that has barely changed in over a century. The vintage rollercoaster still chunters around the hillside on what feels like its original wooden track. There are bumper cars, a swing ride, and carnival games that look like they were installed when your great-grandparents were young. In an age of mega-theme parks and virtual reality rides, this place is gloriously, defiantly old-fashioned. Kids love it. Adults find it either charming or terrifying, depending on how they feel about elderly infrastructure.

The summit originally had a casino -- because Belle Epoque San Sebastian put casinos on everything -- but that was replaced in nineteen sixty-seven with a four-star hotel. The panoramic view from the top is regularly cited as one of the best in Europe. You can see the entire sweep of the coast: La Concha beach, Santa Clara island, Monte Urgull across the bay, the Kursaal cubes, and on a clear day, the mountains of France. The funicular alone is worth the trip, but that view seals it.