Hello,

My boyfriend and I are planning a two-week trip to the San Francisco area for July. After a few days in Yosemite, we plan to drive to Wine Country for 3 nights and two full days of sightseeing. We are not sure how to best plan our trip.

In your experience, does it make more sense to choose a home base hotel in one valley and then leave from there each day? Or is it better to pick accommodations in each of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys and switch halfway through the stay? How hard is it to get back and forth between the two valleys? Since we will be there for a short period of time, I want to be in the best location possible to maximize our time at the vineyards!

Also, we are looking to spend about $90-120/night for accommodations. Do you have a good suggestion for an inn, B&B or hotel that could fit the bill?

Thank you, in advance, for your suggestions.

Search Napa or Sonoma on here, the debates of one v. two bases have already been discussed, ad nauseum. I am in the two base camp, personally.

Well, the distances aren't all that great so on the one hand you can settle in and get easily to both valleys. On some of the roads, traffic can get pretty bad on the weekends so depends on the days your are staying. On the other hand, if you do a lot of tasting you might want to be closer to the wineries you are visiting. You do need to watch yourself while tasting...it can creep up on you if you aren't careful. I find it interesting to watch people "tasting". Some of the wineries will pour a fairly large "taste". I'm a cheap drunk so I tell them to pour about half their normal pour and sometimes even that is too much and I pour the rest out in the container provided. You have to remember, you are TASTING!!! I am not preaching...or at least I don't mean to, but I have seen a lot of people totally "loaded" in the tasting room. Sometimes a group will get together and hire a limo to take them around so they don't have to drive. I saw a lot of that when I went down to the winter wine tasting year before last. You'll just have to figure out what works best for you. If you haven't been to the area before, you will love it. Just a beautiful, beautiful area.

& remember, you can always spit...lol

For a couple of reasons, I'm with SAnParis on the "two base" camp. I'm
a local living in Sonoma County and we
take little mini getaways and stay overnight in either Yountville or
Calistoga and play tourist over in Napa Valley. The roads in-between, say the town of Sonoma & Yountville, or Healdsburg & Calistoga are best travelled in daylight sans drinking.

The other reason, is that there is a major, and I mean MAJOR, construction project on Hwy 101
through Santa Rosa. From the junction of Hwy 101 & Hwy 12 north for the next 3 years. The impact on some of the on/off ramps and cross town connectors
(Hwy 12, College Ave, Steele Lane,&
Mendocino Ave) is considerable in the evenings. We locals will be jamming up the alternate routes. Save yourself the misery of driving back and forth.

One plan may be to stay in Yountville, tour the Napa Valley-then head over to either Healdsburg or Sonoma town.
In Yountville, the Napa Valley Railway
Inn is probably the closest to your budget.
http://napavalleyrailwayinn.com

On your way up to Yountville, you could
visit Sonoma town and surrounds, then head up to Yountville. After Yountville,
head upvalley through Calistoga
on Hwy 128 through the Alexander Valley to Healdsburg-it's a beautiful drive.
In Healdsburg there's a decent Best Western for you
http://drycreekinn.com

Make reservations soonest !

R5

razzledazzle, what does upvalley mean? we are headed to wine country in august... I am narrowing in on our accomodations... either a house in glen ellen or a house in what is called upvalley?? (in napa valley).

Does that mean beyone Calistoga? or is Calistoga considered upvalley?

I like the idea of being a little off the beaten path, but just not TOO far off...

thanks!

mamadadapaige:

To me (and the majority of my friends here) "upvalley" is only used for the Napa Valley and would be St.Helena to Calistoga. It gets a tad mountainous
if you go to "upvalley" toward Lake
County or some of the road between
Calistoga and northern Santa Rosa.

I love both Calistoga & Glen Ellen !
If you told me what experience you are
shooting for I would be glad to help-of course a coin toss may be required


Do you have websites I could look at
or addresses ?

R5

thanks so much for the info.... and also for your offer to give advice (which i sorely need!!)

we are looking at renting a house through beautiful-places.com in sonoma (unfortunately their more reasonably priced houses are already booked, so we are looking at HUGE bucks for a house for a week). the house in napa is through a local napa realtor... and actually is MUCH nicer and about $5000 less expensive for the week... yes, $5000 less - so this is a major difference we are talking about and also for a nicer house (from what I can see on the websites).

I had originally thought Sonoma would be better for us since we will want to use this as our base for day trips to the coast and for other places (which we are still figuring out - any ideas??). We will be travelling with our children and parents so we are really looking for R&R with a nice pool, possibly some golf close by - maybe tennis, a bit of wine touring (will get babysitters for those days - won't be hauling the kids around to the wineries). The Point Reyes area looked worth checking out. We have all been to SF a number of times so that won't be a priority. We are thinking a week out there - give us enough time to tour around while still giving us time to hang out (the climate even with August heat will be much nicer than Boston where we are from - which is very humid in August).

So, it seems Sonoma might give us more variety for day trips, but is it worth all that extra money to have proximity to things to see???

hi razzledazzle, found out the house we are interested in is in calistoga - is there a cut through road between calistoga and healdsburg?

i would opt for sonoma except that the accomodations in napa are off the charts for much less money...

any thoughts??

mamadadapaige:

The road between Calistoga and Healdsburg is Hwy 128 which takes you through the Alexander Valley.
Follow 128 to Jimtown, then take Alexander Valley Road over to Lytton Springs or Healdsburg Ave. Don't take 128 all the way to Geyserville as the bridge over the Russian River is out
indefinetly. The Jimtown Store is a cool stop ! The drive is about 35-40 minutes.

For the days you want to go to the Sonoma Coast, take Petrified Forest Road
to Porter Creek Rd.
which becomes Mark West Springs Road
which becomes River Rd-turn left on Mirabel for about a mile and you will run into 116 which you can take out to
Jenner and the coast. The mapquest directions for Calistoga-Healdsburg
are good. This drive is about 1 1/2 hrs.
Jenner to Pt. Reyes is another hour,
then it all depends on where you want to go within Pt. Reyes.

All things considered, have you looked at homes in the Guerneville-Russian River area ? The River has swimming beaches,
kayaking, tubing. Armstrong Woods has
good hikes, you'd still be convienient to terrific wineires and your drive to the coast would be shorter. Other places to consider for housing might be Sebastopol, Occidental, Forrestville,
or Petaluma.

Back up on the Mark West Springs Road is a very marvelous place called Safari West. It's a wonderful place for all ages-the safari's are super !
http://safariwest.com

Yes the weather will be less humid in Boston-I lived there for a year,BTW.

Let me know if you have other questions.

R5

R5...
thanks for all of the info and directions - very helpful.

am still undecided on where to stay. will investigate the towns you suggested.

a question: what are one or two of the best golf courses (preferrably private) in the napa/sonoma area?

my in-laws say they can get the pro at our club (myopia) to make reservations for them. i haven't a clue what is out there in terms of golf.

I am wanting to book a private limo tour of the wineries for one day. I read someone else's post that they really liked Eclectic Tours. I think we would be happy to visit some of the smaller wineries producing very nice wines which aren't readily available on the east coast (sort of the interesting wines that show up on the wine lists of nice restaurants, but you would never see in a wine store). I think if we sign on with the right tour company this might be a possibility. Any suggestions??

thanks so much. where in boston did you live?

mdp:
My golf crazed neighbor suggests the following for your in-laws:
Silverado-Napa Valley: considered quite prestigious and has all the bells and whistles of a country club

Mayacama-north of Santa Rosa near Windsor, is so exclusive it may not
offer reciprocity.

Sonoma National-east-side of Sonoma town,not as fancy, yet great place to play. He says these are all beautiful courses to play.

I think a private limo tour would be fun.
Why not start with Eclectic and see where they go-I agree the small vintners with passion would be so much more enjoyable than the large corporations. I would think they could tailor a tour for all of you.
We can discuss further when you talk with them.
Also LLindaC has a very good list-search for her last trip report here-
I teased her that she is really a Sonoma
local since she knows many of the
fine small places that most visitors never bother with.

In Boston, I has a marvelous 3rd floor
flat in a row house on Yarmouth-
Copley Place and the Back Bay at my
Front Door !

R5

hi razzledazzle,
thanks for the reply. i had looked around online and found a travel and leisure golf article with a "private gems" section regarding courses in wine country. mayacama was on that list. sounds super swanky. I looked at their website. I thought it was hysterical that vintners are invited to be members, but only if their wine scores a 92 or better with Robert Parker. only in wine country!!! Am I alone thinking that is hysterical???

The pro at our club made some calls and can get us tee times at Mayacama and Napa Valley CC. I did not ask him about Silverado, but will.

I emailed Nannies of the Valley about babysitting. They did not get back to me... I may have scared them off. I am not accustomed to leaving the kids - have never left them with someone on vacation. We'll have to see.

We lived in Boston, but now we are in the suburbs (Manchester, Ma) as we are parents of little kids.

When in boston we lived on Beacon Street in Back Bay and then Clarendon Street in the South End. I miss it!!! You probably can't say the same, given where you are currently residing. - can't wait to be out there. My husband and I spent a few days in wine country as part of our honeymoon. We loved it.

If you plan to golf at Silverado (it is a great place), it's a good idea to get on their mailing list as they frequently have specials. Another great golf course in Napa is Chardonnay which is east of the town of Napa.

You can find some good deals on lodging in Napa if you can travel during the week. Silverado (golf course and resort) is a lovely place to stay but it's definitely more epensive than you mentioned wanting to spend. A possible good deal would be RiverPointe, which is a time share resort (the only one in Napa).

There are great wineries with far less people, complimentary wine tasting, and less expensive places to stay than Napa and Sonoma. El Dorado County, Amador County, and Calaveras County in the Sierras are particularly good places to visit with some outstanding wines. They would also be closer from your Yosemite excursion.

Cheers!
Kathy
http://www.cheers2wine.com

Hi

My wife and I are interested in spending 2-3 days in October in Napa, Sonoma or Mendocino and wish to do some hiking as well as the usual sightseeing. Does anyone have any recommendation for a place to stay that has hiking as part of their normal programs??

Thanks in advance

You don't need a special hotel with hiking for Mendocino. There are several state parks and wonderful hikes. There are also some hikes in Napa/Sonoma (they are valleys, you know) Lake Sonoma area has some awesome trails. But back to Boston Teacher, where in the world will you stay for that money, hmm. Well, having done all the fancy places, last year we stayed outside Healdsburg at the Dry Creek Inn (Best Western) Certainly no frills, no atmosphere, not even an easy walk to the town, but a great location to the vineyards and just fine for a place to flop. I would suggest that for 2 days only, you skip Napa and just concentrate on Sonoma. There's not THAT much difference, truly,except Sonoma os more scenic, better marked and less crowded. Of course, sometimes you want to experience something like Opus One, which I admit was really cool. Once. If you do stay near Healdsburg, that's a great little town for eating, shopping and they have several tasting rooms when you're tired of winery driving. That Best Western is on a bus route- that's worth looking into.