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Ok, maybe this post belongs on the San Francisco board and not this forum, but there seems to be a lot of nice CA folks here as well as many well traveled Raleigh residents so I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction on this one.
My wife and I are going to be in San Francisco in June for 3 days. We have already explored the City of San Francisco on previous trips and want to spend our three days doing wine tasting up in Napa Valley and I am looking for recommendations on Hotels and vineyards to check out. Are there any special tours we should investigate that wouldn’t necessarily break the bank? Any good recommendations on places to check out or websites to visit to help plan this excursion to Napa from Raleigh would be greatly appreciated.
I can help you with this as my husband and I are two former Marin County dwellers! MIL is also here at the moment so we will discuss your trip over dinner tonight and i will get back to you with suggestions
Regardless of vineyard, the tours are "priced to sell", as it were. I don't think you'll have issues in that regard. The Napa Valley, though, is notoriously expensive lodging and food wise. I think the cheapest meal I ever had there was $100 for two - and that price included two glasses of wine, two salads and two entrees total.
I'll check with the BF and see if he or any of his family members can make recommendations.
If you get a chance and have a rental car you can check out Mendocino wineries on HWY 128. It's a ways but it is a beautiful drive. There aren't as many crowds, snobby people or traffic. Not to mention most wineries in Mendocino don't charge $$$ for wine tasting.
If you are really for a driving adventure try staying at the Albion River Inn in Albion (1 1/2 - 2 hour drive from Napa-HWY 128 through the redwoods and then it dead ends into HWY 1 on the ocean bluffs) or the Little River Inn in Little River just south of Mendocino. If you have never toured this part of Northern California I HIGHLY recommend it. You get the best of both worlds, vineyards AND the Pacific ocean. www.albionriverinn.comwww.littleriverinn.comwww.mendocino.com
Ok, maybe this post belongs on the San Francisco board and not this forum, but there seems to be a lot of nice CA folks here as well as many well traveled Raleigh residents so I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction on this one.
My wife and I are going to be in San Francisco in June for 3 days. We have already explored the City of San Francisco on previous trips and want to spend our three days doing wine tasting up in Napa Valley and I am looking for recommendations on Hotels and vineyards to check out. Are there any special tours we should investigate that wouldn’t necessarily break the bank? Any good recommendations on places to check out or websites to visit to help plan this excursion to Napa from Raleigh would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much for any input!
By the way, if you get a great idea to drive HWY 1 from San Francisco up North to Sonoma or Mendocino county DON'T DO IT! It is a terrifying 2 lane hwy with potholes on sheer cliffs (guess how I know). I white knuckled it heading South (cliff side) all the way into San Francisco. Never again. I have driven North of there and it's much easier. If you get on HWY 1 from HWY 37 or HWY 128 then it's a nice drive and beautiful.
By the way, if you get a great idea to drive HWY 1 from San Francisco up North to Sonoma or Mendocino county DON'T DO IT! It is a terrifying 2 lane hwy with potholes on sheer cliffs (guess how I know). I white knuckled it heading South (cliff side) all the way into San Francisco. Never again. I have driven North of there and it's much easier. If you get on HWY 1 from HWY 37 or HWY 128 then it's a nice drive and beautiful.
I have to jump in on this. Yes it is a two lane hwy, but the scenery is nothing you want to miss. Nature at its best.
The wine train is so nice as well. Very relaxing and yummy. REally you cannot go wrong at any winery. They are so beautiful. My suggestion is to surf the web and read about every tour. I don't know how long you will be on vacation, but a drive to Yosemite national park would be a great couple of days. I have yet to see anything as beautiful as Yosemite National Park. Unbelievable.
Thank you to each of you who responded. Any input is great and if you have friends or relatives that can provide some help I am all ears. My wife and I are really looking forward to our trip to CA and it is great to get tips from folks who haved lived there or visited these places already!
Quote:
Originally Posted by deuterdu
By the way, if you get a great idea to drive HWY 1 from San Francisco up North to Sonoma or Mendocino county DON'T DO IT! It is a terrifying 2 lane hwy with potholes on sheer cliffs (guess how I know). I white knuckled it heading South (cliff side) all the way into San Francisco. Never again. I have driven North of there and it's much easier. If you get on HWY 1 from HWY 37 or HWY 128 then it's a nice drive and beautiful.
Oh man..... Actually our time in San Francisco or Napa is only PART of our CA trip. I know this sounds totally crazy, but we are actually Flying into Arcata, CA to spend a few days with relatives. We are then going to rent a car and make the loooooong drive down to NAPA. After a few days there we are going to continue our journey along the coast all the way down to LA to visit with some other relatives (We are flying out of LAX back to Raleigh). I know, I know, that is a huge hike! But we love road trips and have actually driven from San Fran to LA before just a few years ago. Last time we stopped at some vinyards in the Santa Ynez Valley along the way!
We took a trip to San Fran recently and absolutely loved it. For your trip down to LA - since you've done it before, you may already know these. We drove down to Carmel and Big Sur. Carmel is great - just beautiful, and a really cute area with shops and restaurants to walk around. And of course Big Sur (and the drive down the coast in general) is breathtaking - lots of great photo ops.
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I appreciate the input!
Carmel and Big Sur
