I need some help. We have a timeshare at Clear Lake in Nice Ca. for 3 days in late August. Looking up old threads, very few had anything good to say about Clear lake. Since its 2004, has anything changed? Second, I enjoy a glass of wine and can see doing wineries 1 day, but not more. And I'm not a blue collar redneck and even if I were, I enjoy boating, but am not a fisherman so my question is this; Is the spa town of Cali something close by? Are the giant trees close by? We are coming into Oakland and will rent a car anf drive from there to Clearlake. Any little artist colony towns or villages nearby? Hope someone has some good news for me. And before you ask, why are we going there, its because we had to use timeshare points or lose them and the other half of the week is in Monterey.

It's been a while, but...as I recall Nice is on the upper end of the lake. I think your best bet would be to drive up 29 through the Napa Valley on the way. You have to go right through Calistoga and could stop for the hot springs. The drive from Calistoga to Clear Lake, while curvy and slow, is pretty.

If you're adventerous, get a California gazetteer and explore some of the smaller roads in Lake County. You can get from Nice over to Hopland and from there down to the Sonoma Valley.

There are also some nice wineries in Lake County, mostly down at the lower end of the lake, I think. If I'm off base here, someone will correct me.

Thanks for your reply. We could have stayed in a condo in Windsor in the Russian Valley. I don't know anything about it. Its not too late to change ( I don't think). Should we, is it nicer? Thanks in advance.

Windsor is near the Russian River Valley
It is just north of Santa Rosa at the edge of an area called Chalk Hill.
Windsor's downtown has gone through quite a nice makeover and there are nifty shops and places to eat. It would be very easy to go over the hill to
Calistoga (on Mark West Springs Road)-
not nearly the windy curvy from Calistoga up to Clear Lake. You could
see some redwoods if you go
south from Windsor on 101, take the Guerneville Road/116 West exit
west to Guernevile and visit the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. The trip along the Russian River is beautiful-if you follow 116 west you'll end up in Jenner and outstanding views of the Pacific.
So, I'm thinking Windsor if you can
re-route.
R5

Absolutely! Go for Windsor, if you can!

Windsor would be your best choice! Many more options regarding restaurants, etc. in that area - also, much more scenic.

I agree with the others. Windsor is much more centrally located. Napa, Sonoma and both valleys' wineries are close at hand.

Truly, take all the others' advice and CHANGE from Clear Lake to Windsor!! Last time we were at Clear Lake in the summer, there was so much algae or some such thing in the water that you couldn't BEGIN to see into the water (so much for the name of the lake!!). Apparently it is quite shallow for such a large lake, and when it gets really hot....the plant life flourishes. Windsor is very close to Healdsburg which is a charming little town full of good restaurants and interesting shops. It's also close, as already noted, to the Napa Valley asd well as the Alexander and Dry Creek Valleys, all very picturesque.