La Concha Bay is widely considered one of the most beautiful urban bays in Europe. The island visible from the shore — Santa Clara — has long been a landmark for the city, housing a lighthouse and offering refuge to seabirds and day-trippers alike. The sweeping bay and its promenade took their present, celebrated form during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when San Sebastián became a favored summer retreat for the Spanish royal family, drawing visitors who shaped much of the elegant architecture that still lines the waterfront.

Late summer and early autumn bring the most dramatic skies to this coastline, when warm Atlantic air collides with cooler evenings to produce exactly the kind of sunset captured here.