4 days in wine country. Where should we stay?
 

My husband and I will be in the California wine country from April 20 to April 23 or 24. We are not big wine drinkers. We do enjoy good food, nice scenery, charming towns and such. First, are we staying too long? Second, should we stay in Napa or Sonoma?

Thank you

Not big wine drinkers? What are you going for? The scenery is lovely, and there are great restaurants and a few charming towns -- all of which in my opinion can be seen in a couple of days if you're not spending your time visiting wineries.

Yes, I'm afraid you're staying too long.

Your first task is to pick a valley, Napa or Sonoma, most likely based on the restaurants you think you'll enjoy. (You can drive from one to the other, of course, but it's a tedious drive.)Then you can pick a town to stay in.

If you stay 4 days, stay 2 in Sonoma and 2 in Napa. Otherwise, two days will suffice.

http://www.ciarestaurantgroup.com/wi...ne-restaurant/

Eat here, we actually ate lunch here and asked to sit at the bar so we could watch the chefs. Everything was fresh and so good. We stay in Napa, I like the town and being able to walk around at night, have dinner, drink and not drive.

I think 4 days is too long also. Are you just coming here to visit the wine country - or other places too like San Francisco, The Marin/Sonoma coast, Pt Reyes, Carmel/Monterey & Big Sur? I ask that because some other Fodor traveler planned on too many nights in the wine country and too few in Carmel/Monterey and Big Sur coast, IMO.
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...long-beach.cfm

Stu Dudley

If you aren't into wine I even ask why Napa at all? Not that vineyards are the only worthwhile thing in the Valley -- but there is just as good or better scenery, just as good restaurants, cute towns, and more economical places to stay in other parts of Northern California.

But if you are set on this -- I'd personally stay in Sonoma Valley instead of Napa. W/ 4 days and not being 'winos' ;) I, probably do 2 days in Donoma or Healdsburg and 2 days on the coast.

Oops. That should say >>I'd probably do 2 days in Sonoma or . . . <<

Thank you all so much. We are starting in San Francisco visiting relatives and friends and then going to Mendocino with other friends for 3 nights at an inn. Since we are in the area, my husband, who will drink wine and will enjoy visiting some wineries (and I can be the designated driver) would like to visit the wine country before we fly back from San Francisco. We are definitely interested in the restaurants also. But thank you all for your suggestion to cut down the number of days. I really appreciate the help and suggestions.

I love the Mendocino area!

Since I wasn't specific before, I'll say that in Sonoma County I really like Healdsburg as a base for dining and exploring. The town square is nice, we love the restaurant Scopa, and the Dry Creek Valley AVA.

Enjoy your trip, sounds lovely!

I'd either split or stay in Napa. Better restaurants on the Napa side.

Thank you all so much. I appreciate the guidance.

The Sonoma Region is vast.If you are interested in the Sonoma Valley and the historical town of Sonoma, here is a list of cottages I gave to someone else which are within walking distance of the Plaza.

We stayed in Yountville at Hotel Yountville. It was lovely. We also enjoyed AdHoc for dinner which is practically next door. We also enjoyed visiting St. Helena and Calistoga from there. Mud bath anyone?

We found the scenery in Sonoma Valley much more beautiful than in Napa Valley which appeared to industrialized for us (railroad, big factory-like wineries etc.).

However, it takes 30 minutes or so to drive over the ridge from one valley to the other, so it does not matter too much where you stay. Calistoga has a nice little geysir to watch.

Sonoma is a charming historical town and we loved the village of Kenwood with its small, authentic wineries.

However, the most difficult part was to find a hotel which was nice but not breaking the bank (we found hotels which were unbelievably expensive). To be honest, in the end we made the decision where to stay by selecting a proper hotel (which was hard enough). We ended up with this one: http://www.kenwoodinn.com/

<i>We found the scenery in Sonoma Valley much more beautiful than in Napa Valley which appeared to industrialized for us (railroad, big factory-like wineries etc.).</i>

I don't think that is an accurate depiction of Napa Valley at all. For example, I would point out that there is nothing remotely like the Gallo facility outside Healdsburg in Napa. More generally, Sonoma produces roughly 50% more wine than Napa, despite slightly fewer wineries, making it very hard to argue that Napa has the more "factory-like" wineries.

Obviously traveller1959 didn't visit the outskirts of Sonoma. Plenty of warehouses to store all that wine. Tourists are generally visting tasting rooms and a small part of a winery. Not the storage areas for bottled goods.

Both areas are beautiful. Like trying to choose a favorite child.

<I>Both areas are beautiful. Like trying to choose a favorite child.</I>

Agreed.

I find a tendency on this board to cast Sonoma as some sort of "undiscovered" or "authentic" region, compared to Napa, which is cast as some sort of Disneyland. It simply isn't accurate at all.

If one wanted an undiscovered region and small scale producers, I'd point to the Anderson Valley, certainly not Sonoma.

Has anyone thought about the wineries and hot springs in calistoga? Add this town to the north coast visits! While in mendocino, don't forget the botanical gardens which has hundreds of varieties of rhodi's.

I agree both Napa and Sonoma are great. Napa is a narrower valley, hence more traffic because fewer roads, not such expansive vistas... Sonoma offers more of that backroads experience that some people read as more authentic. Really, it's just different topography.

I try to advise people on the basis of the kind of wines they like. When they aren't into wine but want the wine country experience, I find it more difficult to say where they should go, only because that's not the way we visit wine country. And because there are so many different kinds of wine country experiences...

I too vote for the Healdsburg area of Sonoma County. Think about staying in a VRBO (www.vrbo.com) instead of a hotel. There are no legal VRBO rentals inside the city limits of Hbg. but plenty of lovely places very close to town. Prices are better than hotels and you have more room to relax and enjoy. Near Healdsburg is Armstrong Woods a beautiful State park of old growth Redwoods. Less crowded than Muir woods outside of San Francisco. Plus along the Pacific Ocean and the Russian River are all beautiful drives. In my opinion, Napa is both boring and touristy.