Time needed for San Fran, Sonoma, Napa
 

Hi-

My husband & I are planning a return trip to San Fran at the end of May for our 1 year anniversary. We honeymooned there, but didn't get to see a significant part of San Fran (up near the bridge & into Marin, etc) & also didn't get to either Sonoma or Napa. I am inquiring as to the following:
How much time would be recommended to see all of this?
Which are the best spots in Sonoma, Napa, SF that would be worthwhile to visit?
Would prefer wineries that are more homey than huge & would probably not visit more than 10 over the course of our trip. Any help here would be great

Also, where would be the best places to stay?.
We are mulling over whether to stay again in SF (we had stayed at the Ritz) or stay in the wine country (probably in Sonoma). My husband likes the idea of being able to stay in wine country & be on the coast as well. Any recommendations as to which would be best? Should we stay more inland if in the wine country?

Would greatly appreciate any & all responses! Thanks!

I much perfer Healdsburg over the town of Sonoma as a place to stay. Better restaurants, nicer town square(IMO), better vineyards in the Dry Creek Valley & Anderson valley, and much better access to the coast than either Sonoma or Napa. You'll find the the wineries in the healdsburg region to be much more "homey" than in Napa. Ten wineries is a lot, however.

Here is something I posted about things to do in San Francisco and the wine country. Look for the "north of San Francisco" section to find a scenic route to get to Healdsburg from The City.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

How much time in SF & wine country??? For an infrequent visitor who thinks that they would enjoy the variety of stuff the City has to offer - I would appropriate about 5-7 nights in the City & 2-3 nights in Healdsburg. You'll really never run out of things to do & see in SF unless you'll be here for 2-3 years. But I get a little bored with the wine country after 3 nights. If you also stay along the coast, maybe 4-5 nights in the wine country/coast.

Stu Dudley

By "better vineyards", I was not referring to the quality of the wine produced by the vineyards - just how scenic the Russian River, Dry Creek, & Anderson Valley is compared to the Sonoma Valley/Valley of the Moon and the Napa Valley.

Stu Dudley

Oops - another goof by me. I meant the Alexander Valley - not the Anderson Valley. The Anderson Valley is near Healdsburg too - and quite nice, but not as scenic as the Alexander Valley from Healdsburg towards Calistoga - past Jimtown.

Stu Dudley

Stu's link to his recommendations for The City and environs north is perfect! I would only add that you might want to visit Armstrong Grove near the town of Guerneville--a beautiful place to experience old growth redwoods. Here's the website: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=450

Wow, Stu thanks for your very thorough responses. I will have to review your things to do post quite thoroughly. At the most we will be spending 6 nights & 5 days overall. Not sure if we will stay in one place or two. I think if we stayed in the wine country we would stay on either the coast or more inland, and not both. Only if we stayed again in SF also would we stay in two different places, but again not really sure about this. So given this info, how much time would you recommend in each?

Where exactly is Healdsburg located? Where are the Dry Creek, Russian River & Alexander Valleys located? More inland or closer to the coast? Are they near each other? How about in terms of nearness to Sonoma & Napa? In regards to Sonoma & Napa, though I do want to at least drive through the region of Napa, I was more focused on going to Sonoma because I have heard that it is more "homey" there than in Napa. But what about compared to the valleys & towns that you referred to? We just want to get the most out of our visit to wine country as possible. Visiting 10 wineries probably won't happen. I think keeping it to the most 6 over the course of the trip probably is a better option. So any places & areas that would be better than others to see would be helpful. Any more input would be greatly appreciated.

We also want to be able to spend time (maybe a day or two at the most)covering the parts of SF that we didn't get to see. As you said you could live there for years and never see it all, but would like to see what we can in the time that we have. So will review your post on things to do to see what would work best for us. I will probably have more questions.

Wm, thanks for your response, too. Where exactly is Armstrong Grove & the town of Guerneville located? Are they really up north from the wine country? We did want to experience the redwoods, so we planned on visiting Muir Woods closer to SF, which I've heard is beautiful as well.

You need to get a map of California. If you belong to AAA, get the Central California map.

Healdsburg is north of San Francisco and north of Santa Rosa - closer to the coast than the town of Sonoma and the Napa Valley. The Dry Creek Valley is northwest of Healdsburg - running between West Dry Creek Road on the west side of the valley, and Dry Creek Road on the east side.. The Alexander Valley is along Alexander Valley Rd north of Healdsburg, then swings east & hits Hwy 128 & turns south going directly into Calistoga and the Napa Valley. This is the best way to get to the Napa Valley from Healdsburg. The Russian River Valley Vineyards area is roughly along the northern part of Hwy 116 between Sebastapool and Forestville, then north on Mirabel Rd, right (east) on River Road along the Russian River, north on Wohler Rd, then left/northwest on Eastside Rd across the Russian River on a one-way bridge, then right on Westside Rd till you hit a junction of Westside Rd & West Dry Creek Rd at the Madrona Manor Inn - then right into Healdsburg. The Rissian River vineyards are all around this region - but I think this is the best driving route.

Stu Dudley

Made this trip many. many times and StuDudley's advise is right on the mark.

You may want to see my other post for a similar topic, below is a link describing my favorite wineries:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...omment-5659659

Everything Stu Dudley et al write is correct, esp the part about ten wineries being too many.

It is easier to explore Napa Valley and the Sonoma area from Healdsburg than vice-versa, and the back roads are well worth exploring. The Oakville Grade road is a real adventure.

You keep coming back to the coast, and that is worth listening to. You are right. The Sonoma coast is breathtakingly beautiful, and the country between there and Healdsburg is gorgeous. You must see Point Reyes.

You don't really tell us what you want to see in SF itself. That would help us know how much time to recommend you spend there. I would certainly suggest that you not have a car there. Do SF first or last and pick up/drop the car on the way in or out of the city.

Our trip is coming up in just a couple of days. We are flying into SF on a Sunday & will be driving up north & staying in Santa Rosa until Thursday. Then we will drive back to SF & stay there until Sunday. Based on what on I have already posted & have received responses to I just have a couple of more questions.

We were thinking of maybe taking Hwy 1 up & stopping off along the coast & maybe Guerneville & maybe do the Armstrong Redwoods (or should we do that another day?)before heading into Santa Rosa. Any place in particular we should consider stopping? Is Healdsburg far from here? Been looking at maps, but just want to know for sure.

Probably going to go to Geyserville one day. (My husband has to see Francis Ford Coppola winery). Would it be possible to do this & maybe do Healdsburg area in the same day? Any recommendations on the wineries in this area?

Any other places, towns, wineries we should consider visiting? Will probably do Geyserville, Healdsburg, Sonoma. & want to try & do maybe one winery in Napa, but will be focused mainly in Sonoma County. Also, at least one day (or part of one day)my husband wants to do something other than visit wineries. Anything else that might be interesting to do? Maybe any nice parks, etc? We will have 3 full days so what would be the best way to cover this all?

Will probably stop in Marin & GGNRA on the Thursday we head to SF. Will leaving for SF in the morning give us enough time to do this ? Once in SF we will have 2 full days so we will be visiting the GGNRA near the bridge & the entire area there. Probably want to do Coit Tower, too. Any other recommendations? Planning to head back to Fishermans Wharf, North Beach, etc. Any place else that's a must?

Many thanks for any & all responses!

<Planning to head back to Fishermans Wharf, North Beach, etc.>

You mean you've already been to Fisherman's Wharf the first time you were in SF and you actually want to go back?? Geez, that place is the epitome of a Horrible Tourist Trap that's best never repeated, IMO.

If you want something a little more off the beaten path, we oftentimes stay on the Coast around Jenner. From there you can enter the 'back door' of Sonoma & in fact that area now has its own appellation I believe. http://www.wineinstitute.org/resourc...ies/article339
http://www.russianrivertravel.com/jenner.htm
http://www.russianrivertravel.com/towns_occidental.htm & this place is really cool - http://www.osmosis.com/