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Where to Stay in Napa and Sonoma Wine Country
Napa and Sonoma are two big agricultural counties and one of the biggest tourist draws in California, or as we say, ‘Farming country with great restaurants’. Deciding where you stay will color your entire experience, and some insight about the area is helpful. Unlike cities, where you want a muscular hotel to insulate you from the chaos outside, Wine Country is a very livable place where you’ll feel quite comfortable. So, small hotels and Bed and Breakfasts are especially appealing here and often a very good deal.
The difference in quality between an expensive hotel stay here and a bed and breakfast may be minimal. We’ve been to many B&B’s around the country and those in Wine Country are exceptional in their charm and locations.
Click to these links to find Bed & Breakfasts and Small Hotels by region. Southern Sonoma, Glen Ellen & Kenwood, Northern Sonoma, Downtown Napa, Yountville, St Helena, Calistoga.
Where to stay? The five most charming and convenient areas are downtown Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Healdsburg, Yountville and Calistoga. With all five towns many of the restaurants and shops are close, so at the end of a day of wine tasting you can walk, or take a very short drive to get a bite to eat. When it comes to B&B’s and small hotels historic downtown Sonoma does a great job, but not as much with big hotels; the reason being that the town resists that kind of development.
There are a dozen charming places to stay within walking distance of the famous plaza, but they are all small. Of the hotels the Sonoma Inn and the Best Western both offer great locations and good values. The bigger hotels are all driving distance. Additionally the bigger hotels have a hard time maintaining high quality staff because the area has a small population and the average age in the town is forty-five. The B&B’s are family run and the small hotels like employing mature folks.
The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, about fifteen minutes north of the plaza, is southern Sonoma’s biggest hotel but it is in a poor location surrounded by second-hand stores and a working class neighborhood. When the original hotel was built in the 1920’s that area was a well known hot springs resort. The 1906 earthquake saw the springs recede and focus shifted south to the plaza. It’s a beautiful hotel but clients often ask where else they should stay the next time they visit. Location, location, location!
Glen Ellen is the smallest of these towns, about twenty minutes from the Sonoma Plaza, but places like the Glenelly Inn, the Gaige House and the luxurious Kenwood Inn just up the road make it a stand out location. It will require a little driving at the end of the day, but it is a wonderfully convenient location in a very pretty valley.
Healdsburg (Sonoma) and Calistoga (Napa) are the two farthest north from San Francisco but both are worth the ride. In Healdsburg many of the B&B’s are outside of town, but there are some very nice places walking distance from their plaza. The Healdsburg Inn sits on the edge of the plaza and offers a wonderful experience and location. The Hotel Healdsburg is more expensive but very trendy, with an equally good location. Calistoga, which is known for their hot springs, has a wonderful array of B&B’s and for the quality of experience Calistoga may be the best deal in Napa.
Right around the corner are two very high end resorts, Solage and the Calistoga Ranch. These are part of the same company that owns Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford, and the El Dorado Hotel on the Sonoma Plaza. Of these only the El Dorado could be called moderately priced, although it has the most convenient location and is the most fun, catering to a younger crowd.
Yountville is a charming little town that owes its style to the creative input of wineries, hotels and restaurants that have moved there over the past twenty years. It is a lovely place to stay, convenient, pretty, walking distance to many of the county’s best restaurants, as well as many shops and tasting rooms.
Small hotels like the environmentally exceptional Bardessonno, Villagio, Yountville Inn and Vintage Inn offer a true hotel experience, while there are many charming, and quite reasonable B&B’s in between them. You can walk the entire length of the downtown in half an hour, yet it is packed with wonderful diversions.
There are of course many other places to stay in Napa and Sonoma, downtown Napa has some wonderful B&B’s and the areas best big hotels, Santa Rosa has a number of very good, larger hotels and business hotels, American Canyon is home to some moderately prices chain hotels, Guerneville in the Russian River Valley and surrounding area has many small hotels and B&B’s spread out over a wide area.
But the places we’ve highlighted here combine convenience to the wineries, intimate charm, numerous B&B’s and small hotels and good value. These are the places where you can see the personal stories that make this region so special.
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis, Amicis Tours, Sonoma California
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