My husband and I are planning to go to San Francisco and wine country. Can you give us some guidance on how many days we should plan in each location?

Thanks.

How many days do you have?

You can hit the highlights of SF in a couple days. If you have more time, there is enough to keep a person occupied for as long as you want to stay.

We were in San Francisco last September for four days and didn't get to see everything we wanted to see. At least six days would have been better.

That's a subjective question. If you are more Disney World or Vegas types, then 2 or 3 days would be enough. If your taste lean more to NYC or Paris, then a full week would be better.

I spent 3 nights in San Fran on a buisness trip last Dec - stayed near FW. It was enough to tell me that I wanted to go back and spend more time. I would think (for me) 3 or 4 full days in SF would be good. Wine country is a diff. story. Although I've never personally been there (but am in the midst of planning our trip for this Sept), if you are into spending time at the vineyards (rather than being the mad tourist from hell, racing through and not really experiencing the atmosphere) then you'll probably want to give yourself more time. Do you want to see Napa and Sonoma, or just one?

We did a 4-day weekend, renting a car on one day and spending it in wine country. If I had it to do over, I would spend 2 days (1 night) in wine country.

Thank you for your responses - we are not looking for a Vegas or Disney type vacation which leads me to believe we will really enjoy San Fran. As far as wine country, not sure if it will be Napa or Sonoma. We do like our wine - I am sure we would love both!

lilbabs,

1 or 2 nights in SF should be plenty of time along with another 2 or 3 nights in the wine country. SF is actually not that big of a city. You may want to split your time between Napa and Sonoma. Napa tends to be a bit more touristy than Sonoma. We also enjoy the town of Healdsburg as well.

"You may want to split your time between Napa and Sonoma. Napa tends to be a bit more touristy than Sonoma."

I would avoid Napa like the plague. It has become so touristy that you are likely to spend more time sitting in traffic than actually visiting wineries. The wineries are so overrrum, that few will let you taste anything verygood because of the large number of people. Sonoma and Russian River are far better. They will pull out the good stuff if you are luck.

Sigh - I still pine for the good old days when you could actually drive a 30 mph through Napa and the wineries gave away sample of their top stuff. And it was free. Then the tourist hordes hit.

"I would avoid Napa like the plague"

Give me a break. I just returned from Napa (have been to both Sonoma and Napa several times and love both) and traffic was not bad at all. Granted, May is not exactly high season, but I have also been in September and traffic, while much heavier, is manageable.
To avoid Napa is to miss some of the finest wines in the world. You can taste almost anything you want at any winery (some tastings will cost more than others) and the tasting fee is waived if you make a purchase.
I agree that Sonoma is more laid back than Napa, but both valleys are wonderful.

We stayed 3 nights in SF and 4 would have been 1 too many.

Took a 1/2 day Greyline tour the first day to orient us and went on our own the rest of the time. Stayed in the Fisherman's Wharf area. Could walk to restaurants and look at seals (and people).

2 nights in Napa Embassy Suites, but toured the Npa Valley 1 day and drove over to Sonoma for the next day. No need to change hotels. We started out early and the crowds were behind us.

Have fun!

Thanks for the input!