The txotx<\/strong> \u2014 pronounced "choch" \u2014 is the ritual. Somebody shouts "txotx!" in the dining room and everyone gets up with an empty glass. You queue in front of the kupela, the tap is opened and each person catches a thin jet, barely a finger of cider, across the glass so it breaks and aerates. You drink it in one, because natural cider loses its sparkle in seconds, and you go back to the table.<\/p>\n That repeats all through the meal. Nobody serves you: you get up yourself. And it is exactly that back and forth that ends up with people talking to the table next to them.<\/p>\n The cider house menu is fixed by custom and repeats almost identically everywhere. It is served in this order:<\/p>\n There are no starters and no main courses to choose between. There is no wine list and no beer: here you drink cider and that is that. The cider is included in the price of the menu, which is fixed.<\/p>\n Most cider houses now have a vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free alternative, but you have to say so when you book, not when you arrive.<\/p>\n A cider house menu runs to around 38-42 euros a head with the cider included, and that price barely moves from one house to another. That it is so uniform is no accident: the menu is the same, the produce is the same, and competing by cutting back on the beef rib would break the custom.<\/p>\n Some houses offer a version with a bottle of cider on the table, instead of free access to the kupela, a few euros cheaper. It is more convenient and considerably less fun.<\/p>\n The txotx season runs from mid-January to the end of May, roughly from the second half of January to the start of May. It coincides with the moment the year's cider is ready to be tasted in the barrel.<\/p>\n February and March are the best months: peak activity, full dining rooms and a good atmosphere. In April and May the pace drops. Outside the season several cider houses stay open and serve the same menu, but with the cider already bottled and without the kupela ritual, which is what you came to see.<\/p>\n Those same months are the best time to get to know the city without the crowds, and we cover that in the guide to San Sebasti\u00e1n in winter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most of them are concentrated in two neighbouring villages, Astigarraga<\/strong> and Hernani<\/strong>, eight and ten kilometres from the city. It is a small area with a density of cider farmhouses that exists nowhere else.<\/p>\n The larger houses, the ones that fill three dining rooms and several hundred covers, are a quarter of an hour away by car. The small ones, more family-run and quieter, are spread around the same valley. Either option works: what changes is the volume of the noise, not the menu.<\/p>\n There are three ways up from the city:<\/p>\n Now the important part: if you are going to drink cider, don't go by car<\/strong>. And you are going to drink cider, because the glass fills itself. Natural cider is low in alcohol, but you drink it without counting, and that is precisely the problem. Come back by bus or by taxi.<\/p>\n Many cider houses tell you the times of the buses back when you book. Ask: it saves you the only possible upset of the evening.<\/p>\n You always book, and in advance. Fridays and Saturdays in February and March sell out weeks ahead, and many houses open bookings for the whole season at the beginning of January.<\/p>\n Each cider house handles it its own way: some take bookings on their own website, others only by phone, and some charge for the menu up front. There is also a general search tool at sagardoa.eus<\/a>, where you can filter by date and number of people.<\/p>\n One tip: if you can go on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, do. There is room, the dining room is less packed and the beef comes out sooner.<\/p>\n How long does a meal in a cider house last?<\/strong> Do you have to drink a lot?<\/strong> Can you go with children?<\/strong> Is it accessible in a wheelchair?<\/strong> Is it worth it outside the season?<\/strong> If you come between January and May you coincide with the txotx season, which is probably the hardest custom in the whole of Gipuzkoa to explain and the easiest to enjoy. Less than ten kilometres from the city there are farmhouses that have been making their own cider for centuries and that, for a few … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Aged](\"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/chuleton-sidreria-vasca.png\")
<\/figure>\nThe menu, which is always the same<\/h2>\n
\n
What it costs, and why the price is part of the tradition<\/h2>\n
The season<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sidreria-petritegi-astigarraga.png\")
<\/figure>\nWhere the cider houses are<\/h2>\n
How to get there and, above all, how to get back<\/h2>\n
\n
How to book<\/h2>\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
\nBetween two and three hours. There is no rush: you eat at your own pace and get up to the kupela whenever you like.<\/p>\n
\nNo. Each pour is a finger of cider and nobody counts how many times you get up. You can go at whatever pace you want, or not drink at all.<\/p>\n
\nYes, it is a family meal. Many houses have a children's menu, and children are fascinated by the moment at the kupela.<\/p>\n
\nIt depends a lot on the house: many are old farmhouses with steps and uneven floors. The large cider houses and the recently built ones tend to be better prepared. Ask when you book and explain what you need.<\/p>\n
\nAs a meal, yes. As an experience, it is not the same: with no barrel open there is no txotx, which is the reason for the trip. From our apartment<\/a> in Gros, going up in season is fifteen minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"