Staying in San Francisco
El Nino has extended our rainy season into late May, something which three years of drought makes you forget about. What amazes me is how the grasses on the hillsides start turning from verdant green towards the light brown gold of summer even though it’s still raining. This is more obvious in Marin County, a place we’ve seen more often because we’ve had a series of tours starting in San Francisco.
As great as the wines of Napa and Sonoma are, the element that makes it a great tourist destination is its proximity to San Francisco. From the Golden Gate Bridge to the first wineries of Sonoma is just half an hour, to downtown Sonoma an hour, and to downtown Napa another 20 minutes. Because the wineries are spread out wine country is a traveling feast of delight.
If you have a particular winery that you want to visit, there are probably half a dozen wineries on the way to enjoy before and after. If you take the route via the Golden Gate Bridge the views of the country side are gorgeous. A large number of visitors come up from the city, so we’d like to offer our suggestions about where to stay.
Fisherman’s Wharf offers a number of good chain hotels, and if getting to the North Bay wine country is part of your focus then this is the most convenient city location. In the winter it can cold there, with the breezes coming in off of the water. In the Summer the north side of peninsula is often in sunlight when large parts of town are swathed in fog. Our other favorite spot is near to Union Square. There are numerous boutique hotels just walking distance to this great urban park surrounded by great shopping.
Our favorite downtown hotel is the Grand Hyatt. It’s one of these places that have everything, great location, fantastic staff, beautiful accommodations, and walking distance to some many wonders. We shy away from the hotels by Market and Mission and the Muscone Center. These are big convention hotels and they do a great job at that, but for a vacation there are so many smaller, more personable hotels.
The other spot to stay is just across the Golden Gate. At the foot of the Bridge is Cavallo Point. This is a spectacular resort built from an old Army base. The views are amazing, the restaurant is world class, the rooms are wonderful and the location is unique. Downtown Sausalito has a number of cute, small hotels that are very enjoyable. It is a very different experience from San Francisco, but remarkable in its own way. On our website www.AmicisTour.com are numerous resources for planning your vacation.
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guides, and owners of Amicis Tours. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com
