More marketing silliness:
We are now Sonoma CountRy

http://tinyurl.com/2d58at

R5

Thank you all - you've given me a lots of good stuff to consider and I will check out Mendocino and Healdsburg as suggested. Have any of you stayed at the Harvest Inn?

In Healdsburg, we stayed at the Grape Leaf Inn and the Camellia Inn. Two great places, Camellia being a good bargain and Grape Leaf being a splurge. You can walk to town from there to great restaurants such as Willi's or Cyrus and lots of tasting rooms. You can spend an entire day doing that. One time, we stayed at the Best Western Dry Creek to save some $$. It was nice...about a mile to the center of town. However, for a first timer nothing compares to the personal touch and help of good innkeepers.

bookmarking!

LindaC - I have always wanted to go to Mendicino... someday we will get there and I will have to ask you about where to stay!

Okay Dawno! I have a special column on www.tripadvisor.com called "Mendocino for a second and third honeymoon"

It has some great ideas and links!

just got an email from Travelzoo that sonoma mission inn is having a rate sale. go on travelzoo.com and look at this week's top 20

Start out with a "search" on this site--with
"Napa-Sonoma" in search box,,,

We stayed at Harvest Inn for 4 nights last summer. The close proximity to a wedding at V. Sattui was the main reason.
On the good side: The grounds are lovely to walk through. The location was good for wine tasting.
On the bad side: We found the rooms to be a bit dark with a slightly dated feel. It was definitely pricey (though we were staying at peak wedding season).
My conclusion: I wouldn't build an itinerary around it.

We stayed at the Harvest Inn last fall and the facility and grounds are very nice, but we enjoyed the Camelia Inn in Healdsburg much better! We like Sonoma much better than Napa and Healdsburg is our favorite place to stay. And 5 night is NOT too many!!!! But by all means drive to the redwoods and do some hiking.

Hi Centralparkgirl. Seems like you have gotten lots of great advice! I will add my two cents in the for what it's worth category. While I don't mean to argue, I actually really like the Sonoma Mission Inn - particularly the Mission Suites - though the comment that it is in a rundown part of town is semi accurate - it's sort of a small town area. Having said that the grounds are nice, the hotel has a shuttle service to Sonoma until 7pm and a taxi can bring you back for about maximum $10... Another nice place in Sonoma is "The Lodge at Sonoma" though it has gone downhill a bit and is under newish management. Also, there are some great places to eat in Sonoma town - el Dorado Kitchen; Cafe le Haye; Ledson, etc. Having said that, Healdsburg is also nice - and while some people have reacted aghast! that tourists will show up if Healdsburg becomes known, believe me, it already is - in fact, this is just my opinion, we stopped going to Healdsburg because it has taken over as the "snob appeal" center of Wine Country. I have written before on this forum about Hotel Healdsburg - I would not stay there - they definitely have a service problem - I gave them several chances and the service is just awful. Les Mars Hotel is beautiful, but extremely pricey. One place people seem to have left out is the Hotel DuChamp - it is a wonderful little place in a modern art, cubist sort of way. And, the food in Healdsburg is nice. As for Napa - it is a nice place as well. I agree with the assessment of the Harvest Inn as a little dark and dated but there are numerous other places depending upon what you're looking for. Napa town is now "the" place to be - the Oxbow Public Market has just opened and is a great place to visit; several new restaurants have opened in Napa as well - Ubuntu is wonderful; Pillar is just great; Bounty Hunter is good as well. And, if you can deal with construction - the Napa River Inn is a good base to stay - if you get one of the "Historic Deluxe Rooms." So, to answer your original question, five nights is not too much, depending upon what you're looking for. Though I agree with one other writer who said perhaps five nights in SF and three in Sonoma/Napa or four in each place? Have you decided where you will stay in the City? Hope above helps - I know it's long but wanted to give you a flavor for Wine Country. Please ask if you have an questions!

Thanks Perigrinator - my planning has evolved since I first posted (also have a different thread going). This is what I'm thinking:

Fri - arrive SFO at night - pickup rental car and stay overnight near airport.
Sat - early am drive taking Stu Dudley's scenic route north of SF - visit Muir Woods, Pt Reyes and stay one night in the area maybe near the water.
Sun - Tues stay in Napa three nights - since hotel check-in is late after noon, we would drive thru some of Sonoma and have lunch in Healdsburg on the way.
Wed - Sat stay in SF 4 nights - leave Napa on Wed and drive thru either Berkley or Sausalito and have lunch.
Sun - take redeye to NYC - gives us another full day in SF

I'm considering Vintage Inn in Napa and Huntington Hotel in SF (could use reward points). Are you familiar with either?

I've read what so many have posted favoring Sonoma, but looking at the new hotels in Healdsburg, I'll bet that town is undergoing a gentrification - seems to happen everywhere. Also, as far as Napa wineries charging fees, we will probably visit not more than three or four so I'm not too concerned about paying. We also want scenic drives, natural sights, visiting little towns and great eating - and I must admit, the choice of restaurants in Napa is fantastic. I have never heard of the ones you mentioned, but will now check into them.
One of the things that I've been trying to discern on line is what type of grounds the wine country inns have. I was avoiding inns on the main street of a town because I thought it would be nice to stay in a place that overlooked a vinyard (on the other hand, it could be argued that we'll be driving around and see plenty of vinyards - maybe I'm thinking about Tuscany which is not a fair comparison).
So, what do you think?

BTW, the views about Sonoma vs Napa remind me of NYers discussing the various Hamptons on the east end - a lot of different views.

Forgot to ask - after picking up a car at SFO is there any EASY place to drop off in SF? Thanks so much!

FYI for All:
Pilar Restaurant in Napa town is closed as the building they are in is being seismically retrofitted. Do look to dine there when they re-open.

R5

Unless you get WAY off the 2 main drags in Napa (29 and Silverado Trail) most of your scenic views will include semi trucks and stalled traffic. If you love gorgeous scenery and beautiful drives, Sonoma wins hands down.

Centralparkgirl: Your plan sounds ambitious! As for the Huntington Hotel, yes, it is nice if you can get one of the remodled rooms or suites. The Harvest Inn is another of the "bit run down" types, but is, nevertheless, nice. Also forgot to mention "The Carneros Inn" in "Carneros." It is a bit removed from Napa town and is in the southern area of Napa County bordering Sonoma - but they do have rooms practically in the vineyards... However, the complaint has been that it it so far removed from everything in the middle of nowhere.

As for car drop offs, I know Hertz has drop offs all over SF - in fact there is one just down the street from the Huntington Hotel.

And to dwell on the Napa vs. Sonoma thing - yes, sometimes Napa is crowded and if you are in Napa town you will get traffic! Sonoma is more bucolic but both have their negatives and positives.

Hope this helps! If any other questions occur, please ask!

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ONE more place to check out is madrona manor as an alterntive. It is outside healdsburg and is an elegant step back in time.