Halloween and Gau Beltza in San Sebastián 2026: what to do from 29 October to 1 November

San Sebastián comes to Halloween with an advantage over other cities: here, nobody invented a horror week for the occasion. The Fantasy and Horror Film Week has occupied these dates since 1990, and it drags the whole city along with it.

As everywhere in the Basque Country, it helps to know that Halloween has a local predecessor here: Gau Beltza, the black night, celebrated with hollowed-out turnips long before the pumpkin arrived. It was lost, and it has been coming back for years. You will see the two happily coexisting.

Akelarre literally means "field of the male goat" in Basque. A show by that name in a neighbourhood centre on 31 October is not importing Halloween: it is the thing itself.

The spine of the week: fantasy and horror cinema

The San Sebastián Fantasy and Horror Film Week takes over the last days of October. The full programme keeps shifting until the end, so it is best checked on the day.

One screening deserves its own mention, on Friday 30: "Hyakki yagyô: the night parade of one hundred demons". This is the procession of spirits from Japanese folklore — the yōkai taking to the streets on a summer night — and it is probably the most genuinely unsettling thing in the city those days.

Akelarre: the word is Basque, by the way

"Akelarre", by Virginia Imaz (Oihulari Klown) — Saturday 31, 19:30, Imanol Larzabal Aretoa (Lugaritz).

If you want the plan with the deepest local roots on this list, this is it. Akelarre literally means "field of the male goat" in Basque, and it is the word Spanish borrowed for a witches' sabbath. A show by that name in a neighbourhood arts centre on 31 October is the opposite of importing Halloween: it is the thing itself.

Thursday 29: Egia's black night

"Noche negra" — Thursday 29, 18:00, Egia K.E. The name does not lie. An early-evening plan in the civic centre of one of the city's liveliest neighbourhoods.

The same night: Samantha Hudson (20:00, Intxaurrondo K.E.), A.Chal + Restinga (Dabadaba), Lipe Court (Altxerri Jazz Club).

Saturday 31, the big night

• "Techno Pop: a journey through the classics" — Kursaal. The large-scale plan of the day.
• Erik Urano — Dabadaba. Experimental rap; the room where the no-costume crowd will be.
• "ELEKTRO-FESTA #6: DJ Fresa Morango" — Tabakalera.
• "La luna de hambre" (Tora) — 19:00, Larratxo K.E.
• "Melón pelado" (ButacaZero) — 19:30, Gazteszena, Egia.
• Saul Andreu Quartet — Altxerri Jazz Club.

With children

"Grimm anaien parkea" (Erre Produkzioak) — Saturday 31, 17:00, Aiete K.E. The Brothers Grimm, in Basque, mid-afternoon. The original Grimm tales are considerably more frightening than any supermarket costume, which is precisely the point.

On Friday 30 at 17:30 there is the Kux-kux comics reading club at the Central Children's Library.

Sunday 1 November

A holiday, and quiet. At the Kursaal, "Julio Iglesias Experience"; at Intxaurrondo, "Zein da zure hitza?". And the classic plan of the day: cemetery and flowers in the morning, roast chestnuts in the afternoon — Gaztainerre.

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Times change, and this week more than most. Check the San Sebastián agenda before heading out; it is updated twice a week from official sources. Cinema is gathered at /en/cine.

Another city? The same guide for Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Hendaye.