Adam

My wife and I are planning a 8 day trip to San Francisco, Napa, and Sonoma in September or October.

How should we plan the weekend? Better spent in wine country or S.F.?

Any other advice/personal experiences you'd like to give would be appreciated.

Lena

Adam, what are your interests? For myself, a couple of days in San Francisco would be plenty to see all the standard sights. Same with the wine country unless you are staying in a really nice hotel that you just want to relax and enjoy. Or in you want to seriously sample wine from every winery! lol

Karen

I think a trip to Napa at that time of the year is an excellent choice. I think that is around harvest time too. There are lots of fantastic restaurants and unusual shopping as well as beautiful scenery and wine tasting. If you love to cook, you will be surprised at how many cookbooks are based on the Napa Valley. You can shop at Dean & DeLucca, have dinner at the French Laundry or tour the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). I love shopping for unusual ingredients to take home. There must be 300 different kinds of mustards alone!

It is a good day trip but a better weekend. Have fun!

deb

Personally, if you have 8 days, i would spend some of the weekdays in wine country. It's much less crowded at that time, the traffic won't be so congested and you may be able to get better prices on hotel rooms. Stay in SF or do some other side trips on the weekends. I suggest you book now though, fall is very busy up there!

Adam

Thanks for the advice!

Our tentative plans now are to spend Friday thru Tuesday in S.F. and then head up to wine country to spend the rest of the week.

That should allow us to see the "standard" sites in San Fran but get good hotel rates in Napa or Sonoma.

We want to do a little of relaxing and touring. I was thinking of visiting Mondavi and Beringer (those are the two we're most familiar with), and then hit the highly recommended ones I've read about on the message boards.

Debi

I recently spent some time in San Francisco and went to the Kirkland Ranch Winery for a tour, tasting etc. in Napa. It was really great- very informative, the people were friendly- a great time. The number there is 707-254-9100. We also went to a not so great winery= Vianssa- probably spelled wrong- in Sonoma. I didn't enjoy it too much. The people were far less knowledgeable and they were frankly rather snobby. The gift shop seemed to be the focus of the tour and it featured pottery and gourmet spreads and mustards etc. more than the wine. Kirkland Ranch was a winner though- they really took the time to teach you about the wine making process and they have a few award winning wines that made it a great experience.

lawry

Just back from a 8 day trip.Do the wine valley early in the week, Sanfran on the week end, and if you can do carmel at the end of the week. So 3nights wine valley, 2 nights carmel, 2 nights Sanfran. Iwill give a post about our trip very soon.

Monica

Debi: Oh my gosh, how could you not like Viansa wine?! It's italian style, and they've got some great ones like Prosecco that I don't believe you can get anywhere else. Yes, that is quite a gift store but the picnic stuff is great considering you can look out over their private wetlands reserve as you eat!

Wino

Joseph Phelps vineyard was beautiful.. great wines, knowledgeable guide.

kam

Four day weekend in SF and then the rest of the time in Napa or Sonoma. You can do a daytrip from Napa over to Sonoma. I wouln't try to go down to Monterey on this same trip. Save it for another time.

sonomalover

You can't ignore beautiful Sonoma County! Try The Russian River area for unsurpassed beauty. Travel down West road for a look at our fall colors. Travel Dry Creek Road to Lake Sonoma Winery for a view of the valley. The Ferrari Carino has the most beautiful gardens ever-the winery looks like it was picked up right from Italy and put down in this valley. Don't overlook Sonoma County!