Napa Valley Hotel
 

Going to the Napa Valley this summer. What hotels would you recommend. Budget is not a consideration, as location and amenities are.

If "budget is not a consideration", then

Auberge Du Soleil or Meadowood

This is really a bigger question than you might imagine! There are a LOT of really nice accomodations in "Napa", i.e. the valley. It depends on where you want to be (Highway 29 is long, and sometimes slow). I would recommend figuring out where you want to have dinner/sleep and zero in on that area. You can travel about during the day. Also consider whether you want a B &B (some very nice upscale ones), small inn, large resort etc. You can easily spend significant money on any of these, or less, but there will something of what you want in any catagory and in most of the areas.

I stayed at the Inn at Sonoma, in Sonoma and really loved it ! A luxury B&B.

Either location listed would be very nice, plenty of amenities and well located for adventuring in any direction in the Napa area.

After looking at the price of the Auberge, I guess price does matter. Does it pay to split time between hotels in Napa & Sonoma or just use one as a base?

we stayed in the Castle in the Clouds B&B... http://www.castleintheclouds.com/

this is a georgous spot high atop a hill with amazing views of the velley. it isn't in the same league as the auberge in terms of luxury(the interior is a little older feeling) but the location can't be beat, and its about 1/2 the price. its right on the st helena highway between yountville and oakville.

i preferred using one location as a home base and exploring from there. we chose this place but toured all over the valley, including a one day bike tour in sonoma, which i would highly recommend.

this location is close to great restaurants in yountville (bouchon, french laundry), st helena (market grill is a great local spot), mustards grill along the highway isn't far. not to mention the oakville grocery is very close to grab an afternoon picnic.

hope this helps, have a great trip

You might want to check out the Villagio in Yountville, very nice rooms and amnenities, but not nearly as expensive as Auberge du Soleil or Meadowood. Yountville is very centrally located in the Napa Valley and it is only a 45 minute drive to Sonoma, so I wouldn't bother changing bases. You can easily tour both from the same location.

I like the idea of staying in 2 places. We always do that if possible. We stayed at the Cottage Grove Inn and the Foothill House in Calistoga and loved both. The Foothill House was great- we got fabulous breakfasts and lots of personal attention. I'd always chooses a B7B or small privately owned property for that reason. Lots of good insider tips, etc. Also liked the Grape Leaf Inn in Healdsburg and it's a great location to base a trip. Great town. If you're going this summer, you better hurry up and book something!

We really liked the Vintage Inn in Yountville: rooms are done in French Country, baths are large and cleverly decorated, and the breakfast would feed an entire football team several times over.