Hull has unveiled its plans for next year, as UK City of Culture 2017. Coincidentally, one of the current European Capitals of Culture is another mid-sized maritime city: San Sebastian in Spain. So how do the two compare on a range of measures?
Population
San Sebastian 186,000
Hull 256,000
What Lonely Planet says about it …
San Sebastian It’s impossible to lay eyes on San Sebastian and not fall madly in love. This stunning city is cool, svelte and flirtatious by night, charming and well mannered by day.
Hull Though it’s not going to win any prizes for prettiness, the city has a gritty appeal for those who appreciate Britain’s industrial past and enjoy getting away from the beaten tourist path.
Average high temperature in January/July
San Sebastian 13/25
Hull 3/16
Aquarium
San Sebastian The handsome Aquarium, opened in 1928, features sea creatures that are not (yet) on the menu the city's restaurants
Hull The Deep is the city’s prime tourist attraction, a spectacular Millennium project that soars above the confluence of the Hull and Humber rivers — and focuses on aquatic enlightenment
Beaches
San Sebastian “The scallop-shaped bay of La Concha (‘The Shell’) protects a long, broad, safe and sandy beach” (The Independent)
Hull The nearby beach of Withernsea “is part of a strip of sand and shingle that stretches for miles in both directions” (RNLI)
Notable feature of football team
San Sebastian The name of the local team, Real Sociedad de Futbol, translates as “Royal Society of Football”
Hull The only top-flight English team whose name has no letters you can colour in is Hull City
Local dish
San Sebastian Pintxos, the Basque take on tapas, such as bites of steak or tuna in heavenly sauces.
Hull The Hull pattie: mashed potato with a pinch of sage, deep-fried in batter (or sometimes breadcrumbs)
Local drink
San Sebastian The rough-edged local cider, sagardoa.
Hull Uncertainty Principle IPA, brewed by Atom Beers
Notable twin town
San Sebastian Plymouth, Devon
Hull Szczecin, Poland
Access from the capital
San Sebastian Six flights daily from Madrid airport
Hull Eight trains daily from London King’s Cross
Notable resident
San Sebastian Queen Isabel II, who was chased away in the Glorious Revolution of 1868, leaving the property to serve as a casino, then a hospital, and now the Hotel de Londres y Inglaterra
Hull The poet, Philip Larkin, whose statue greets new arrivals at Hull’s Paragon railway station, and who wrote: “Sexual intercourse began In nineteen sixty-three (which was rather late for me).
Last featured in The Independent’s 48 Hours series
San Sebastian June 2016
Hull Never
