I'd like to take my husband on a visit to wine country.

Since vacation time is short, I was thinking 5 days - three over a long weekend and 2 weekdays.

We will be coming from the East Coast, so essentially, 2 of those days will be travel days.

We would restrict our time to Sonoma, staying in Healdsburg. We'd like to see a few wineries, do some biking, maybe a balloon ride, eat at some good restaurants, maybe drive over to Napa to check it out briefly...

My husband thinks this is pushing it, and we should table the trip until we can spend a full 5 days in the area (a 7-day trip). I told him we should just go and see what we can - we can always come back. We just don't want a whirlwind rush.

Is this doable, or is my husband right? Also, if we go, what are the best months to go that are not in "peak" season? We'd obviously like weather without rain, but also without alot of tourists.

Thanks.

Three days should be very nice. Healdsburg is a great place to stay. I recommend that you eat at Madrona Manor for a special dinner. Also, lunch at Chateau Souveraign is a treat. I have a journal on www.igougo.com that describes some of my favorite wineries and bike rides in the area.

It is a lot, just don't over do it. I would suggest a day in Napa, one in Sonoma & one to sight-see, perhaps Pt. Reyes. You might also consider the balloon trips, they are wonderful but take some warm clothes, it is already chilly out there.

I also live on the east coast and understand your question. I think 3 days is plenty. I love wine and loved the wineries, but I had enough after 3 days. We loved Cline Winery in Sonoma.

Also - go early as the wineries tend to get more crowded as the day goes by. We went to Cline at 10AM and had a personal tour given by the owner. It was very educational!

Did a very similar trip from boston, and it was fine. I would find it very hard to spend more than 3 days there anyway. I agree with the previous poster about Cline vinyard. you will have a great time,enjoy!

I found a week to be just right as we were more interested in trying the fabulous restaurants that are out there. I didn't want to eat at just a couple nice places and come home. We broke up our trip between Napa and Sonoma and saw a lot of wineries and ate at some incredible restaurants.

Three days is plenty. If you stay longer, take a jaunt in to San Francisco for the day.

3 days is perfect--I just returned from Napa staying in Calistoga. (I live on east coast). After three days of continual wine consumption and lavish meals 3 times a day, I frankly don't think my body could have handled much more time there.

Debbie, I just want to suggest that if you are coming just to visit the wine country you should try to fly in and out of Oakland Airport. It is much closer to Napa and Sonoma than SFO.

I live in Sonoma County and fall and spring are the most beautiful times of the year here. If you go to the Napa valley for one of your 3 full days, you might try to spend that day at the west (Calistoga) end of the valley--more relaxing than doing the valley from one end to the other. Also, I would go on a weekday as the valley is very crowded most weekends. Healdsburg is a great place to stay--charming shops, excellent restaurants and some great B&B's. The drive from Healdsburg to Cline Cellars is about an hour. The drive takes you through the charming little town of Sonoma. When visiting Cline, try to visit Viansa just across the highway--Italian style wines and a great gift shop and food market. Also, a wetlands for birdwatching just below the winery. The balloon rides in the early morning during the fall are wonderful, but I agree with previous post, dress warm! My husband & I did a balloon ride that included sparkling wine brunch after landing--lot's of fun! You could do that in the morning then wine taste in the Dry Creek Valley west of Healdsburg in the afternoon. Your short time here will be a sample of what the Wine Country has to offer (there's the Sonoma Coast, a variety of small galleries and museums, shopping is our towns, Russian River wineries, cultural events), but I think you'll have enough time to enjoy yourselves and make wonderful memories. Have fun!!