ag123

Hello,
My boyfriend and I are taking a last minute road trip and want to do some wine tasting in the Willamette Valley 8/13 - 8/15. Where is a good town to have our base? Right now we are considering Dundee Hills, would welcome other suggestions too.

We would like to stretch our dollar and aren't looking for luxury on this leg of the trip, can anyone suggest value lodgings (under $150 per night) in this area?

Thanks!
Amanda

Fodorite018

In the Dundee area you will only find B&B's, which tend to cost more, and besides, there isn't anything to do in Dundee. McMinnville would be my suggestion. There are several hotels along the lines of Best Western, etc but my first choice would be Hotel Oregon which is a McMenamin property. McMenamins are great places, each one is unique, and they are within your budget. The Hotel Oregon is smack in the downtown Mac area, so lots of restaurants,shops,tasting rooms within walking distance. But then just a short drive to many wineries.

ag123

I do like that idea, can you tell me anything about McMinnville? For example, does it have a country feel? suburban?

The gist of our trip is that we will be driving back from Seattle to San Francsico, leaving on 8/13 and back in SF on 8/16. That gives us 3 nights for the trip and we want to check out the Willamette Valley on the way. Perhaps 2 nights Willamette Valley then 1 somewhere in Southern OR before the long haul back. Does this make sense or does anyone think there is a better way to do this? We wanted to include some OR coast but that doesnt seem feasible now.

Fodorite018

I am in Mac quite a bit. The town...somewhat hard to describe, but I would call it a small town with a few twists. It is a college town, and the largest town in the middle of the wine region. The main downtown has some very nice restaurants, as well as ones that cater to the college crowd. It is a good mix, IMO.

You could definitely add a bit of coast into your trip. You can leave Seattle in the morning and be in Mac before noon. Explore the area, hit a few wineries, whatever you choose. Stay in Mac either one or two nights depending on your preferences. Then you could head over towards the coast from there, and drive down that and stay a night along the way. It just depends on how early of a start you get, etc.

ag123

I really appreciate the feedback, just a few more questions I promise!

I see Newberg mentioned some places, is this a big enough town to have some non-B&B lodging options?

Are there tasting rooms in Mac? I heard there was a town with a block of lots of tasting rooms and I can't recall which one it is.

Thanks!

Fodorite018

Newberg is larger than Dundee, and does have a couple hotels. I haven't stay at any of them since I live about 5 minutes away, but from what I can tell the only 2 that I would consider would be the Best Western and the Travel Lodge. Both look well kept from the outside. That said, Newberg would not be my choice at all. The only exciting thing the town has is the drive in theater, which is fun. It too has a college, but definitely not a college feel to it, or even really a downtown feel to it.

There are tasting rooms in Mac, but the other town that has more is Carlton. Newberg has a couple tasting rooms as well. Carlton has quite a few B&B in and around it, so you might check that out as well. It is much smaller than Mac, but is nice.

beachbum

Yeah, one could easily spend a day just tasting along Carlton's two-block-long main street. Pretty good wines there, too. And I know Ken Wright (who makes REALLY good wine) also has rooms near the winery for rent, but can't seem to find anything about them. Other than that though, as mms said, a B&B would be your only other option in Carlton.

That said, I agree with mms's first suggestion: Hotel Oregon. It's uniquely Oregon(ish). Also agree with everything she said about Dundee and Newberg, unless you want to spring for something like Black Walnut Inn: http://www.blackwalnut-inn.com/.

And it should be no surprise that I agree with mms about the coast still be a possibility, too, especially since most wineries don't open before 11:00am.

Hmmmm.... all that, and I don't know that I added to the conversation here.. :-B