Need Tips: Trip to Sonoma/Napa/San Francisco California

[Tanya]

My dad is planning a trip to California (with my mom). The tentative plan is to land in San Francisco and stay there a few nights and then drive to Sonoma/Napa for a few days.

So any tips? For example, he is looking for ideas on hotels where the cost won't be at a premium (not dirt cheap but he is ok to drive a bit outside of the "higher cost downtown" sorta hotels in San Francisco (and Napa/Sonoma or if one of them is better). The only plans would be a guided tour of San Francisco and of the vineyards. Possibly 3 nights in Sonoma (or Napa or near vineyards).

Any tips, advice, etc would be appreciated

Thanks

[MightyThor]

Since I lived there and didn't stay in hotels I can't give any specific advice there. However, one thing I would warn them about is that staying outside of the city would require them to get into the city. And if they are doing that in the morning and evening they'll be stuck in awful commute traffic. Driving or public transit both are terrible from about 6:30 am - 10 am in the mornings and ~3 pm- 7 pm in the evenings. I mention it because people often don't take that into account when they find a hotel that's $25 cheaper down the peninsula or up in Marin, then they waste 4 hours a day in traffic or spend $40 on train tickets. Sometimes it's worth sucking up the more expensive hotel in the city and walking everywhere.

Wine country is spread out, so there are a lot of regions to choose from. I prefer the north end of Napa valley around Calistoga. If they have a few days they could move regions - maybe 1 night in Sonoma, 1 night in southern Napa Valley, and 1 night in the north end of Napa.

[arentspowell]

We just went in April. We were trying to save money on the hotel front so we redeemed some credit card points on the Andaz which would have been way out of our price range otherwise. We really liked the Rutherford region of Napa valley. Our two favorite wineries that we toured were Cakebread and Frog's Leap. We didn't have time to tour V. Sattui but we had a nice picnic lunch there before high tailing it to another winery.

There are tons of wineries to choose from, I highly recommend making an appointment. Another tip is you can "share" a tasting between two people and only pay one person. We did it at one winery that we visited later in the day, they still gave us our own glasses and the pour was generous.

[Abulafia]

I lived in the Bay Area for 7 years; we were in Berkeley, but made frequent (well, as frequent as a grad student can) trips along the coast.

Ditto MightyThor on hotels and traffic.

What I would do is fly into Oakland airport, then stay in Oakland or Berkeley (it won't be cheap, but will be cheaper than SF), then BART into the city for any sightseeing. And of course, Berkeley / Oakland hills are nice to check out as well. Lots of good food, and good walkable areas.

For wine country, we favored Sonoma to Napa. Napa has great wines, of course (as does Sonoma!), but it was more touristy by several degrees. Tour busses take huge loads of tourists up to Napa, so you have to pay for tasting, stand in lines, etc. In Sonoma you can drive along, meet smaller winemakers, linger and talk to them about their wines, and so on. We much preferred this. It's really a matter of taste. Great places both.

But again, as an ex-local, I hugely caution against trying to stay either in SF, or to get into and out of it via car. BART is a very good option, and the E Bay is great.

[Shelley]

I love this part of California!!
Here are my thoughts, I really suggest staying in the city, so you get a feel for the energy there. The East Bay is a wonderful area, great restaurants, and so many things to do, it's really best done as a totally separate trip.

Holiday Inn Express San Francisco Union Square or the The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square, they are both nice hotels, usually under $200 a night, within walking distance of a lot of attractions, and centrally located for public transportation.

For Napa, this place is super cute, on the river, free wi-fi breakfast, has a microwave, mini fridge and coffeemaker in the room, usually only $140/night. Hawthorn Suites By Wyndham Napa Valley. The Calistoga Inn is also a great destination, it’s a hotel, restaurant (great food and ambiance!) and a brewery.

While in San Francisco, have them think about a ride out to Alcatraz, or a Blue and Gold boat tour of SF, and look into tickets for a show, The King and I, Lion King, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, and there is always the Opera, and Beach Blanket Babylon (hilarious!).


V Sattui is great because they make a lot of wines, and you can taste a lot of them. I also like Sterling because there is a arial tram that goes up to the tasting room, really pretty scenery. Silver Oak and Duckhorn are also favorites because of their superior red wines. Gloria Ferrer for Champagne in Sonoma, or Domaine Chandon in southern Napa. The Bear Republic brewery is also a favorite when they are weary of wine, great food too. Lagunitas brewery in Petaluma also has great beer and food.


West of the Napa Sonoma area on the famed Tomales Bay is a really fun place for fresh oysters, called Hog Island Oyster Company. They recently started requiring advanced reservations, but well worth the trip out there. The French Marin Cheese Company is pretty amazing too, really nice cheeses, like Brie from really happy California cows. The bonus here is a really pretty drive.

[Jeff]

At San francisco I stayed at the Holiday inn Fishermans Wharf. I think it was around 160 a night. My room looked out over Alcatraz. Like shelly, I found plenty to walk to, Pier 39 is right by there with all the seafood restaurants there. Some museums and things there. $20 cab ride down town. The Cable cars start here on Fishermans wharf so you can take them all over as well. They need to just ride them as well and see the city. I actually got this awesome cab driver one night. I was asking her to show me things. I spent $60 on the cab ride but she listened to local music in her cab, she knew the history of a lot of the streets, she could easily answer all our touristy questions. Quite honestly you could easily spend a couple weeks really enjoying San Francisco. There is really a ton of things to do. This city is up early in the with fresh avocado toast and eggs with a healthy quinoa salad to start your morning doing Thai Chi in the park to Sipping whisk and enjoying smooth Jazz late at night. Its very hard to tell you exactly where to go the city has it all. If that want to go to Alcatraz book it now. I never got to go they were booked out weeks in advance for a tour. Just tell them do not eat at the hotel or like some chain restuarant. The food there in the city is awesome. Sometimes it is hard to know where to go. Like when I went to china town I picked the restaurant that had the most Chinese people in it and it was awesome.

Here is a link to a good site describing some of the different districts and what they contain. It totally amazes me at the culture combined there. If the place wasn't so expensive I would move there in a heartbeat.
San Francisco Neighborhoods & Districts

[jacksonsmommy]

Lot of good tips on SF options above. I will add that while SF is walkable, it's very hilly, so bring comfortable shoes. Weather changes rapidly here and can vary (it was 60 degrees at my house this morning and 75 degrees a 10 minute drive away), so layers are a good idea. It's also difficult to hail a cab just on the street, so get your parents signed up for Uber or Lyft in case they can't find a taxi on the street.

On Napa vs. Sonoma, a lot of that is personal preference on what types of wine they like. They are both really big regions and while they are geographically next to each other, it can take upwards of 45 minutes to drive from Napa to Sonoma. If they plan on driving themselves to wine tastings, I generally recommend no more than 3 visits / day (I personally prefer only 2 + a nice lunch) and to be very mindful of tasting + driving. This website has a list and map of most of the Napa wineries and also important info (like which ones require appointments, which ones allow picnics, etc.). Here's a similar map for Sonoma. Happy to provide specific winery recommendations if you know what varietals they like / what vibe they're looking for.

[Labradorks]

Have you looked into AirBNB at all? There are some excellent options! I've rented apartments, guest houses and stand alone homes and always had great experiences. We are using AirBNB in Italy for nearly our entire trip and not only are we saving loads of money, but we're getting two bedroom two bath apartments in city centers for 1/2 of the cost of a mid-range hotel room with two side-by-side twin beds and one bathroom to share. I don't rent rooms or anything like that or couch-surf. I only rent places with five stars and several reviews and I read each and every review word for word. You might want to give it a shot!

[Shelley]

Just be aware that San Francisco levies heavy taxes (14%) and home owners have to file for a business license edited to change to Business Registration Certificate to list their homes on AirBnB. It has reduced the availability of homes,because it is such a hassle, when you want one, if you can find one, makes it expensive still. Worth a try though!

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/...-francisco--ca

[Tanya]

Thank you everyone great info, i'll pass it along and likely will have more questions!

They were looking at the organized wine tours to not have to drive, i guess it's either deal with the crowds/cost of doing that in napa or my dad does the driving in sonoma...interesting choice. would there maybe be any tour in sonoma (we can always google that)!