Napa or Sonoma? How to decide?
 

We live in England and this will be our first trip to California. We're hoping you can give us some advice as to which area we should stay? We'll spend 3 nights in wine country. If we stay in Napa, how long will it take to get to Sonoma? It doesn't look far but appearances can be deceiving.

It's only about 20 minutes or so to get from the Sonoma Square to downtown Napa. What time of year are you going?

X..<BR><BR>We are visiting in August this year. I've yet to book my reservations because I just wasn't sure what to do.

In Napa the wineries are ridiculously close to one another. In Sonoma the wineries are quite a bit more spread out. The wineries spread north from Sonoma to Glen Ellen to Kenwood to Santa Rosa to Healdsburg to Geyersville. My list include more than 75 wineries in the Sonoma area. I'm sure in the Napa area there are hundreds which include the areas of Napa Rutherford, Yountville, St Helena and then Calistoga.

i'm from sonoma county, and have found that most of the wineries in sonoma are, as earlier mentioned, a bit more spread out and also not quite as glamorous as Napa wineries. that being said, however, napa is a bit more expensive and touristy (clogged roads on weekends), and some often charge tasting fees, which you don't see as often in sonoma. the drive between the two areas, if you're up to it, is very nice though, so you can always stay in the sonoma county area and then take a short trip to napa.

Ok I just counted my list of Napa wineries and there are in the neighborhood of 330 wineries. Not all are open to the public or they may be open by appointment only but you get the picture. There are lots of Wineries in Napa and the tourists to match. I think what you might do to help decide is determine which wineries you really want to see or what type of wine you want to taste. Then arrange your stay around those wineries. You might want to stay on the edge of Sonoma say at the fairly new Lodge at Sonoma ( a marriott property) and your trip to Napa would be fairly brief. You'd be able to visit wineries in and around Sonoma but be within an easy drive of Napa too.