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-   -   San Fran / North Sonoma : 6 nights -- Seeking Advice! (https://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/san-fran-north-sonoma-6-nights-seeking-advice-339543/)

Chiara Apr 8th, 2008 12:18 PM

San Fran / North Sonoma : 6 nights -- Seeking Advice!
 
In June we will be heading to San Francisco and the Russian River Valley region in North Sonoma for a family wedding.

I am trying to settle on an itinerary that will allow enough time to: visit San Fran, travel up the coast and east to Sebastopol for the wedding, and then north a bit to visit a few wineries before heading back to SF Airport.

Right now I am thinking 2 nights for each part of the trip.
Does anyone have good suggestions for reasonably-priced hotels in the city, and also for wineries worth checking out near Windsor, Healdesburg, Santa Rosa, etc.

I have read in some posts about Hotel Monaco- which is full. Any godd tips for these areas would be great. Thanks....

starrs Apr 8th, 2008 01:01 PM

I love the Monaco. It's part of the Kimpton Group. Check out their website to see what other hotels in the group have availability.

skopman Apr 8th, 2008 01:11 PM

We went to SF and the Russian River Valley a few years ago and got a decent room in a great location on Priceline. We didn't spend much time in the hotel room, so we didn't care that the room wasn't the greatest.

We loved Healdsburg and the surrounding area. We stayed at the Camellia Inn and loved it. Some of our favorite wineries were Porter Creek, Dutcher Crossing, Foppiano, Bella (cool wine cave) and Thumbpring (in town square). Roshambo has pretty good wine and a cool gallery with great views. Rochioli and Hop Kiln are beautiful too. You can't go wrong just wandering up and down Westside and Dry Creek Roads.

Enjoy!

Chiara Apr 8th, 2008 08:18 PM

Well! I have been delving into some threads about this area we are to be visiting and have discovered a lot of good information ~ including Stu's most awesome driving adventure ~ which just about follows our intended route.

Not sure we'll have enough time to do both the Russian River Valley AND Napa ~ what do you think? It sounds like there are plenty of wineries in Sonoma and the towns of Sebastopol and Healdsburg deserve some time.

Any tips? and also, any hotel ideas for the wine days ~ we will hopefully have our 2 adult children with us, and hotels and B&Bs don't seem to accommodate 4 in a room?

Thanks again ~
Chiara

FamilyTravlin Apr 8th, 2008 08:30 PM

The Hotel Boheme, www.hotelboheme.com, is a wonderful hotel in North Beach an dis very reasonable and is in the center of the action of North Beach surrounded by side walk cafes, coffee houses and wonderful Italian Restaurants. My husband and I stayed there for our anniversary last fall and we loved it. The White Swan Inn and La Petite Auberge are wonderful small hotels near Union Square, every room has a fireplace! These hotels are sister hotels and can be found at this website www.jdvhotels.com.

Just my advice, don't do Priceline for a special trip like this. You can get a reasonable small boutique hotel in a good neighborhood with a lot of charm that is great!

Chiara Apr 9th, 2008 02:20 PM

Thank you, FamilyTravlin ! Boheme has no availability for our dates.
We may possibly have one of our adult children with us, and so, booking a room for 3 is proving to be a bit more involved.

I did access the jdv hotel group and would love to hear comments from you or any others regarding the Hotel Drisco, or another - Hotel Majestic.

?????

suzanhh Apr 9th, 2008 04:36 PM

Well, I can't help much with S.F but what time of day is the wedding in Sebastopol? There is a Holiday Inn there (707) 829-6677 which is probably priced well if you want to stay in Sebastopol to be near family? Not much to do there.

If you want a nicer place to stay try the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel & Spa (707)636-7200. They are in Santa Rosa (7 miles E. from Sebastopol) and you could go easily to Sonoma or Healdsburg and Sebastopol from there. Prices there I think are good and its newer, well kept, nice pool, close to mall and antique shops. We go there to the spa and have stayed in the rooms, very clean and nice. Good restaurant there. They seem to cater to wine country visitors.

Healdsburg is a lovely place to stay while you visit local wineries. (25 min. N. of Santa Rosa) as well but personally I don't like all the moving around so if you stay in Santa Rosa you will have easy access to everything.

Ck out Healdsburg Inn, Healdsburg Hotel, anything near the square there since all the food is wonderful in that town and you could walk around town after winetasting. Ferrari Cerrano is a beautiful winery with lovely grounds. Madronna Manor is lovely as well, an old Victorian mansion with cute rooms and delicious food two minutes from Healdsburg.

No! I don't work or own any of those places, just live in the area. What about 3 nites in SF and 3 in SR?

zootsi Apr 9th, 2008 05:48 PM

We just got back from a similar trip. We stayed at the Kabuki Hotel in Japantown (slightly west of the downtown). The hotel was wonderful, and we were able to get a very good rate on this web site -
http://www.jdvhotels.com/
Even if you're not Japanese (we're not), the Kabuki is a real fun place to stay, in a clean safe neighborhood.
As for wine country, we did one day exploring Dry Creek Valley, and one day in Anderson Valley. Both areas were extremely beautiful. Our favorite wineries were Preston in Dry Creek, and Navarro in Anderson; but we enjoyed many others. As you head farther south below Healdsburg, you will encounter more commercialization and strip malls. We based ourselves in Cloverdale at the Best Western. It was simple, basic, and good base for all parts of Northern Sonoma. Cloverdale is VERY low key and small - not much to do in the evening.

FamilyTravlin Apr 10th, 2008 08:07 AM

Hi Chiara,
We stayed at the Hotel Majestic about 5 years ago, it was nice, the rooms a bit small as to be expected in historic hotels. The restaurant and bar downstairs were awesome! The art deco design was like something out of an old movie and authentic! I just read on there site that the restaurant and bar and been recently restored. The Hotel Drisco is also very nice and we stayed there, too, the neighborhood is incredible. Hope this helps! Also try the Four Sisters Inns for places to stay in the wine country. They are reliable and nice. http://www.foursisters.com/ Hope this helps!


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