Napa Travel Answers

Stay in the north end of the valley in Calistoga so you can take advantage of the mud baths/hotsprings. There is plenty to see and do there and you're just a short drive from St. Helena.

Have you checked out the North Bay section of Craigslist? The ads for vacation rentals usually describe nearby attractions. sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/vac... The big farmers market in Sonoma is in the Plaza on Tuesday nights, from May through September, so you might want to arrange your schedule accordingly.

The town of Napa is located at the beginning of Hwy 29 and the Napa Valley. The largest of the Napa Valley towns filled with restaurants and wine tasting stores. Looking for a great Farmers Market, then Napa is the answer. Held from May thru October every Tuesday and Saturday starting at 7:30am till 12 noon. The location is the parking lot next to the Oxbow Public Market, a wonderful cornucopia of food vendors. Next door to them is the Taylor's Refresher for the best Hamburger I have ever tasted. Oxbow Public Market website: http://www.oxbowpublicmarket.com/ As for a place to stay, check out the town of Napa, itself. See website:napavalley.com/regions/napa/... Outdoor space and a kitchen will not come cheap anywhere in Napa Valley. The website for Napa that I have given also has many hotel listings and rental companies. I think that one of the smaller units in Napa that would be ideal as as it is only about 3 blocks to the restaurants and shops of Napa is the Cottage Petite. See there website: cottagepetite.com/index2.php... A car or a tour bus is the only way to get up and down Hwy 29 from Napa to Calistoga and back via the Silverado Trail for all the towns, restaurants, gourmet shopping and wineries available for you to choose among. Have Fun! :-)

Consider the Napa Valley Lodge in Yountville. It's just outside of Napa proper and on the road to real wine country. A few miles more to Oakville cross over to the Silverado Trail and avoid the traffic in St. Helena. The Trail offers some great winery experiences. My favorites are Rombauer, Quintessa (reservations required), Clos Pegase (incredible art collection by Jan Shrem, owner). The Silverado Trail is much more pleasing for biking than Hwy 29. In Napa itself, the Bounty Hunter on 1st Street is a great place to check out different wines as well as have a great lunch. Joes just around the corner on Main is also a great lunch or dinner place. Unfortunately, a car is a basic necessity for getting around if you want to travel a bit. You can bicycle from Napa to Calistoga, check out wineries on the way, stay the night, get a mud bath, massage, etc, and bicycle back without issue however. Similar can be done in Sonoma.

Thanks to everyone for these great tips! We had been thinking of staying in the town of Napa because of the many restaurants, shops, and the Oxbow Public Market as well as the farmer's market you mentioned, but wanted some insight about the other areas as well. The rentals we've found are scattered around the town, and I can't tell which locations would be ideal (Cottage Petite is one of the places we've found). The areas where we've found places are: -Main St and Lincoln Ave -1st St (close to hwy 29) -Just east of the Silverado Trail Any input? Thanks again!!!

The quietest streets would be the one east of the Silverado Trail. Of course, this would put you further away from the downtown area of Napa. Both 1st Street and Lincoln are thoroughfare streets and that equals traffic. Main Street around 1st Street is the center of town for most of the restaurants within a 3 block area. The Oxbow Market is about 4 blocks east on 1st Street from Main St. I also have a website with the locations of restaurants. Click on the Brochure listing at the bottom of the home page for list. Trust this helps. I do have a short list of restaurants and wineries in the entire Napa Valley on my VT page for Napa. Have fun! :-)

The Napa Downtown website for the brochure is: http://napadowntown.com/index.html

Main and Lincoln will be closer to "down town" and more walkable for getting to bike rentals etc. There's a bike shop just off Hwy 121 near 1st Street. I'd not stay on the Hwy 29 side as that's quite a bit from "down town" and Hwy 29 can get rather noisy if traffic is heavy. The speed limit is still quite high there, whereas over by the Silverado and downtown, you'll just have "city traffic."

Still haven't made a final choice yet on which area of Napa we will be staying in. From everything I'm reading, Yountville seems to be kind of a culinary hot-spot...is that true of markets as well as restaurants? I have been weighing the option of staying in the town of Napa versus Yountville...thoughts? (If anyone suggests Yountville, lodging suggestions would be helpful as well.) Thanks again everyone!

As for towns, there are really only three that are full blown towns. Napa, St. Helena and Calistoga. I have had business relations with a firm in Calistoga and felt it was laid back and quaint. St. Helena is out of a story book with the boutiques and Victorian homes. Napa is a large city compared to the other two. It has the advantage or disadvantage of many things to see and do as well as wineries within the city limits. A Victorian section of the city is right behind the main street shopping with all the boutiques, wine tasting and restaurants. I guess it will be up to you to decide on what you want to spend per night in which section of Napa Valley as choices are not in the less expensive bracket in many of the towns. All of the other towns such as Yountville are mainly wineries and farmland with a few restaurants and motel/hotels scattered around. Yountville has a three to four block area of shops and restaurants mixed in with hotels and B&B's. Your key words to me was active area and for that Napa is the most active day or night. This does not mean that the other areas are not wonderful as well. Anywhere in the Napa Valley is a great place to sit back and relax over a bottle of wine, a little cheese and a taste of what money can buy. :-)

Well, there are actually more towns in the Napa Valley. Going from south to north, as most visitors arrive via the south, they are: American Canyon, Napa, Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena, Calistoga, Angwin, and Lake Berryessa. Highway 29 runs the entire length of the valley and it is very easy to visit the wineries just looking around as you drive north or south. The other major road is called the Silverado Trail. It also goes north or south but on the eastern side of the valley. There are less wineries on this road but quite scenic. The crossroads between Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail can be just as wonderful to see for the growing of grapevines and some wineries are located off the main roads. The three main crossroads are the Rutherford Cross Road, Oakville Cross Road, and the Yountville Cross Road. Although there are other roads that cross the valley, these three are the ones with more tourist value, as some wonderful wineries are along these crossroads. Kind of like getting off the beaten path or heavy tourist wineries. Your best bet for information from fellow VTers is to go to the Virtual Tourist Travel Guide for Napa and each town in the valley: Napa Travel Guide

Hello! I lived in the Napa Valley for almost 10 years and the addresses you have in the town of Napa for rentals are all on busy streets/corners so I don't know how idyllic they are going to be. It's a hard combo to find a vacation rental like you want, but not impossible. Also, maybe I missed it, but what month are you going to be there? Most of the farmer's markets (exceptions: Oxbow & St. Helena) are seasonal and run May to October. You asked about Yountville...it's OK, but mostly a town filled with higher end restaurants (French Laundry, Bottega, etc) and the grocery store in town is not very inexpensive or very interesting. Calistoga is a better choice than Yountville, but still a bit sleepy if you are in your 20s, however, there are some bars, nice restos (JoLe/Solage) and a brewery. And it has a good, well-stocked grocery store, but the farmer's market is seasonal. Well-placed rentals can be found here http://www.vacationrentalsnapa.com/ but they are not cheap. This place is a kind of a resort and located right near a bike/walking path and the river: http://riverpointeresort.com/ They are like little mobile homes, but I've been inside and they are actually pretty cool. You sound young and fit enough that you can bike down the path to central Napa where all the markets and restaurants are located...also Oxbow Market which is amazing. My go-to low-budget hotel in Napa is this one as it's well-positioned for getting on the highway north or south and you can bike easily to downtown: http://www.winevalleylodge.com/ For Sonoma, I think you might have better luck. The best place to stay would be near the plaza which is the hub of town or in El Verano which is close enough to bike into town. It will not be cheap to rent a house...here is another budget motel suggestion http://www.sonomacreekinn.com/rooms.htm You might also think about Healdsburg which is farther north and is also a great old town with a plaza. Try this site: vacationrentals.com/vacation... You are going to have fun no matter what you do or where you stay. Packing a great picnic you have gathered from the markets and shops then enjoying it at a winery is almost as nice as cooking so perhaps that could satisfy you while allowing you to stay in the location/budget you desire. Have a fantastic vacation!

PS I forgot to say...in Sonoma, make sure you eat at the girl & the fig. Really really good and a gorgeous garden to dine in if the weather cooperates: http://www.thegirlandthefig.com/ And do NOT miss Oenotri in Napa http://oenotri.com/