Looking for input on potential Napa trip

[Anonymous]

As a combination 40th birthday/belated honeymoon (husband and I eloped), we’d be taking our first kid-free trip early fall 2025. I’m interested in going to Napa but have a few questions:

-What’s a reasonable budget? Looking for luxury accommodations and eating out pretty exclusively. Five to seven days.
-Is there anything to do besides tour vineyards and drink wine?
-Is there a comparable but more off-the-beaten-track locale?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Go to Sonoma. Better quality vineyards than Napa. Go to downtown Napa for cute shops and vibes. Check out Calistoga while you're there - great spas plus obviously the hot springs. Figure $10k.

[Anonymous]

I love Napa and Sonoma, but wouldn't need 5-7 days there. That being said, you could easily do San Francisco for a few days, or Big Sur / Carmel / Monterey if you don't want to do a city, then head up to wine country.

Visit Hall Vineyards in Napa. It's wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Hire a private driver for the days you want to tour vineyards. They have great recommendations for wineries based on the experience and wines you enjoy and they’ll make the reservations and handle everything for you. Well worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Napa and Sonoma, but wouldn't need 5-7 days there. That being said, you could easily do San Francisco for a few days, or Big Sur / Carmel / Monterey if you don't want to do a city, then head up to wine country.

Visit Hall Vineyards in Napa. It's wonderful.

Have done a variation of this. Stay a night in SF, go to Napa or Sonoma -- it doesn't really matter where you base yourself, as you'll be driving / getting a driver plenty and going to both regions -- for 2/3 nights, then drive down the coast (we did Pebble so DH could golf) and then back out of SFO. Perfect 5-7 nights.

Haven't been in a few years but really liked the Solage in Calistoga as well as Carneros Inn (easy location to split driving between Napa and Sonoma). Auberge du Soleil is overrated IMO, but YMMV. Just do a Google on wineries that produce wines you know you like and plot a route. We like sparklings, so Domaine Carneros and J are great visits.

[Anonymous]

I live in CA but DH and I can’t usually get away from the kids. We did a trip up to wine country 6 years ago and really liked Healdsberg. We stayed at the Bella Villa Messina. We did not hire a driver - he’s not that in to wine and I can’t drink much. Our original plan was I would have wine at the tastings and then stop for a few hours at the hotel and drive to dinner, but we ended up getting a Lyft to dinner. We enjoyed walking around vineyards, eating ice cream and walking around the town, and olive oil tasting. (I think we went to a place called Tattore or something like that - I think it was in Guyserville).

Not too far away (maybe an hour or 90 mins?) is Point Reyes. I’ve posted here before but we just went for two nights and it’s my happy spot. If you like being out in more remote settings I’d highly recommend it. (We stayed in Inverness.)

[Anonymous]

Agree with lots of these tips! DH and I much prefer time in Carmel/Monterrey vs San Francisco, but if you've never been, you might enjoy a day there.

Napa and Sonoma valleys are divine. Definitely indulge in a spa day - Solage is fabulous. Check out napadrivertours.com for a car service - these folks are wine educators who drive your rental car and will help tailor an experience for you, and help you learn more about wine along the way to the extent that you're interested in. We've used Ryan 3 times and couldn't recommend him more! He helped us find Amizetta, which has become one of our favorite vineyards, and there's no way we would have learned about it without him. I'm sure there are many, many more that fit different tastes, but point being that while the well-known shops are great (Stag's Leap is beautiful with a great tour; Schramsburg is very cool to see how champagne-style bubbly is made), the smaller places are as well. You'll likely find a more laid-back vibe like these in Sonoma, but they exist in Napa as well.

Great foodie options in Yountville. Several cute little towns. No kids and time away with your hubby ... you're going to have a great time!

[Anonymous]

Sonoma, particularly Western Sonoma is much more low key than Napa. As for wine, Merry Edwards is a must to visit IMHO. That said Indian Springs in Calistoga with its hot springs is lovely to stay at. Besides wine tasting? Whale watching (depending on the season) in Bodega Bay and clam chowder, hot air balloons, ride horses on the beach, lots of hikes, bike rides, cheese tour/tasting, lots of live music, thrifting In Sebastopol, etc

[Anonymous]

A friend and I did it relatively affordably (nice, but not luxury accommodations, but a fair amount of fine dining) for 8 days in 2022 for ~4K/pp. For luxury accommodations add at least 1K pp.

We flew into SF, drove to Napa, stayed there 4 nights. From Napa visited Muir Woods one day (definitely do this, it was a trip highlight for both of us) we Ubered into Sonoma one day and did the trolley wine tour and a dinner there. Another day we shopped, another we toured around Napa itself in the downtown. Then we drove up to Calistoga and spent three nights there. We did the mud bath spa treatment PPs mention, went for brunch at Solage (we thought it was beautiful but food overrated) and spent a day cruising around downtown Calistoga (wine tasting rooms, shopping, etc.) Then drove back to SF and spent the day there down at the wharf before flying home the next morning.

Our highlights were the Sonoma wine tour, Muir Woods, Wilfred's Wilfred's Lounge (huge tiki bar in downtown Napa), Calistoga in general, and meals at Ad Hoc, Bottega, the Girl and the Fig, and Evangeline.

Wineries we particularly enjoyed were Domaine Carneros (Napa, bubbles, gorgeous view) JAM Cellars (Napa, cool tasting room downtown), BR Cohn (Sonoma, pretty grounds and beautiful outdoor amphitheater as it was owned by the manager of the Doobie Brothers), Tank Garage (Calistoga, probably the coolest most unusual tasting room we went to, plus good wines and unusual blends), and the Vault (Calistoga, more of a wine bar/not tied to a particular winery so you can try multiple things in a gorgeous setting full of antiques. )

[Anonymous]

For more off-the-beaten track - other California wine regions - Paso Robles, Solvang, Temecula.

If you want more to do than just drink wine, could combine a Paso Robles or Solvang trip with a few nights in Santa Barbara (we're doing this this summer) or Temecula with San Diego or Palm Springs (we've done this, but note your options for luxury lodging in Temecula are fewer).