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Surrounded by promenades and gardens, the Hotel María Cristina is housed in a five-storey Belle Epoque building located by the Urumea River, three blocks from the Old Town and four blocks from La Concha Beach. The 136 guestrooms feature cherry-wood reproductions of Napoleon III-style furniture, marble-topped tables, brocade curtains, historical gilt-framed prints, and Westin Heavenly beds with custom-designed mattresses and five goose-down pillows. All are equipped with satellite TV, Internet connections, phones with voice mail, minibars, and safes. Bathrooms have surfaces of black-veined marble from the Pyrenees, double sinks, hair dryers, heated towel rails, and toiletries.
Guests arriving at the hotel are welcomed into a large, Belle Epoque-style lobby with marble floors and columns, a black-and-gold staircase, glass chandeliers, gold-leaf cornices, and antique furniture. The hotel houses five meeting rooms, some with terraces, all of which are equipped with audio-visual facilities. The largest can accommodate up to 300 people. The Easo fine-dining restaurant opens onto a terrace during summer months. The menu offers Basque flavours and international dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Café Saigon is a Vietnamese restaurant with bamboo walls and framed photographs of Vietnamese scenes. The Gritti Bar serves beer, wine and cocktails. Framed photographs of famous actors who have attended the San Sebastian Film Festival line the walls. Within four blocks of the hotel guests can visit the Neo- Gothic Buen Pastor Cathedral, with its 75-metre spire, or relax on the crescent beach of La Concha. The San Telmo Museum, 500 metres from the hotel, houses an array of prehistoric Basque artefacts, dinosaur skeletons and art by El Greco and Rubens. Biarritz International Airport is 40 kilometres away and can be reached by car in approximately 45 minutes.
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