Trip Report: Backroads Bike Tour of CA Wine Country
Oct 4th, 2007, 12:58 PM
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Trip Report: Backroads Bike Tour of CA Wine Country
(Note: trip report of SF portion of trip posted separately.)
This was our first experience with Backroads, a company that specializes in bike and walking tours. I posted several questions on this board to try and get feedback, but it didn’t seem like anyone reading had actually taken one of their trips. So if you’ve ever thought about it, read on. . .
We took their 6-day tour of California Wine Country, Casual Inn Option, and it was a wonderful experience and well worth the cost. Backroads provides almost everything: bikes, van support, all meals except alcohol and one lunch and one dinner during the week, nice accommodations, and, most importantly, pickup of wine purchases made along the route. Our group was 17 people, from 40 to 70 years old, from all over the US and Canada, mostly couples, 2 pairs of sisters, and one single woman. Everyone was very friendly, many Backroads repeat customers, no uber bikers just average riders. We ended up riding between 20 and 40 miles per day but there were shorter and longer options available. We found it a bit more difficult than biking at home, probably due to the dry heat and some steep hills, and wanting time to visit wineries! Backroads provides route directions, options for winery visits, pick-up spots, and expertise to answer just about any question you could think of. Their planned route allowed us to see most of Napa and Sonoma Valleys, plus the coast at Bodega Bay, and redwoods at Armstrong Redwoods State Park.
All the accommodations could best be described as small hotels. The rooms were nice with comfy beds and all had outdoor hot tubs/spas/pools for soothing those sore biking muscles at the end of each day. Backroads transfers your luggage each day and you generally arrive to your luggage already in your room. We stayed the first two nights at the Mount View Inn and Spa in Calistoga. Dinners were at two local restaurants: the Calistoga Inn and Brewery and the Wappo Café (?). Breakfasts were at the Café Sarafornia – fabulous omlets!
The third night was at the Best Western in Sonoma. Although it sounds like a chain motel, this was independently owned and very nice. Dinner that night was on our own and we made reservations for the tasting dinner at the General’s Daughter. It was an elegant splurge with excellent food and wine pairings.
The fourth day we rode toward the coast and spent that night at the Inn at Tides in Bodega Bay. Meals were at the Tides Restaurant across the street, right on the bay and excellent choppino! The fifth day we headed north along the coast, lunch in the redwoods, and through Healdsburg. We spent the last night at the Geyserville Inn and had dinner at Santi – a wonderful Italian restaurant in Geyserville. After a short ride in the morning we had lunch and said good bye to our wonderful trip leaders.
Our lunches were picnics provided by the capable Backroads trip leaders at wineries or in the redwoods park. The food spreads they put on were incredible: fresh local ingredients and lots of choices!
Our favorite winery was Quintessa in Napa. This wasn’t part of the Backroads itinerary, but we had some knowledge of their history and got a private tour. Their story is a bit unique and their red wine is out of this world, and the vineyard is beautiful! (Bonus: harvest started a bit early this year so was in full swing during our late-September visit. The weather was beautiful although a bit hot for biking in the afternoon.) Other wonderful wineries: Artesa, Mantanzas Creek, and Bouchaine Vineyards. Favorite towns: Calistoga and Healdesburg. These seemed to be out of the way a bit and therefore less crowded. Both had nice shops and restaurants and were close enough to the vineyards. Another highlight was visiting the Culinary Institute of America Greystone campus in the former Christian Brother’s winery, complete with a huge collection of corkscrews!
All in all this was a wonderful trip and we will definitely travel with Backroads again. The perfect combination of physical activity, service and a bit of pampering.
This was our first experience with Backroads, a company that specializes in bike and walking tours. I posted several questions on this board to try and get feedback, but it didn’t seem like anyone reading had actually taken one of their trips. So if you’ve ever thought about it, read on. . .
We took their 6-day tour of California Wine Country, Casual Inn Option, and it was a wonderful experience and well worth the cost. Backroads provides almost everything: bikes, van support, all meals except alcohol and one lunch and one dinner during the week, nice accommodations, and, most importantly, pickup of wine purchases made along the route. Our group was 17 people, from 40 to 70 years old, from all over the US and Canada, mostly couples, 2 pairs of sisters, and one single woman. Everyone was very friendly, many Backroads repeat customers, no uber bikers just average riders. We ended up riding between 20 and 40 miles per day but there were shorter and longer options available. We found it a bit more difficult than biking at home, probably due to the dry heat and some steep hills, and wanting time to visit wineries! Backroads provides route directions, options for winery visits, pick-up spots, and expertise to answer just about any question you could think of. Their planned route allowed us to see most of Napa and Sonoma Valleys, plus the coast at Bodega Bay, and redwoods at Armstrong Redwoods State Park.
All the accommodations could best be described as small hotels. The rooms were nice with comfy beds and all had outdoor hot tubs/spas/pools for soothing those sore biking muscles at the end of each day. Backroads transfers your luggage each day and you generally arrive to your luggage already in your room. We stayed the first two nights at the Mount View Inn and Spa in Calistoga. Dinners were at two local restaurants: the Calistoga Inn and Brewery and the Wappo Café (?). Breakfasts were at the Café Sarafornia – fabulous omlets!
The third night was at the Best Western in Sonoma. Although it sounds like a chain motel, this was independently owned and very nice. Dinner that night was on our own and we made reservations for the tasting dinner at the General’s Daughter. It was an elegant splurge with excellent food and wine pairings.
The fourth day we rode toward the coast and spent that night at the Inn at Tides in Bodega Bay. Meals were at the Tides Restaurant across the street, right on the bay and excellent choppino! The fifth day we headed north along the coast, lunch in the redwoods, and through Healdsburg. We spent the last night at the Geyserville Inn and had dinner at Santi – a wonderful Italian restaurant in Geyserville. After a short ride in the morning we had lunch and said good bye to our wonderful trip leaders.
Our lunches were picnics provided by the capable Backroads trip leaders at wineries or in the redwoods park. The food spreads they put on were incredible: fresh local ingredients and lots of choices!
Our favorite winery was Quintessa in Napa. This wasn’t part of the Backroads itinerary, but we had some knowledge of their history and got a private tour. Their story is a bit unique and their red wine is out of this world, and the vineyard is beautiful! (Bonus: harvest started a bit early this year so was in full swing during our late-September visit. The weather was beautiful although a bit hot for biking in the afternoon.) Other wonderful wineries: Artesa, Mantanzas Creek, and Bouchaine Vineyards. Favorite towns: Calistoga and Healdesburg. These seemed to be out of the way a bit and therefore less crowded. Both had nice shops and restaurants and were close enough to the vineyards. Another highlight was visiting the Culinary Institute of America Greystone campus in the former Christian Brother’s winery, complete with a huge collection of corkscrews!
All in all this was a wonderful trip and we will definitely travel with Backroads again. The perfect combination of physical activity, service and a bit of pampering.
Oct 4th, 2007, 02:33 PM
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Thank you for posting! Sounds like your trip was wonderful. We love that area. (I'll have to check out your SF trip report as well!)
My husband and I have considered one of Backroads Europe trips. Do you stay w/ the group the entire time or is there down time to just go off on your own? Anything else you'd advise for someone else considering such an excursion?
My husband and I have considered one of Backroads Europe trips. Do you stay w/ the group the entire time or is there down time to just go off on your own? Anything else you'd advise for someone else considering such an excursion?
Oct 4th, 2007, 04:29 PM
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pijeta - We did talk to several couples who had done Backroads trips in Europe, mostly Italy and France. They said that the biking can be harder than our trip, so look at the route rating numbers in their trip descriptions. I think ours was rated 2- 5 out of 5, depending on how much you rode vs. using the van support for shuttling. One couple said that the Tuscany trip was hard because at the end of the day each town was at the top of a hill, so most people decided to shuttle that part! As for staying with the group, we all pretty much rode the same route to help the leaders provide support for flats, etc. However, we never rode very far with anyone else, we were either a bit faster or a bit slower or people stopped at different places. Personally I felt that it was a good balance of being with the group at meals, etc. and being on our own and you could probably make it more or less either way by the choices you made during the week.
I would recommend looking at backroads.com and getting one of their catalogs. Then the people at customer service on the phone are very nice and helpful in answering any questions.
I would recommend looking at backroads.com and getting one of their catalogs. Then the people at customer service on the phone are very nice and helpful in answering any questions.
