Hey guys, so I'm going to Napa this weekend with this girl... we are going for one day (Saturday) and are staying at the Silverado Resort. This will be my first time checking out Napa, even though I've lived in the Bay Area all my life, so I'm not exactly a "tourist" I guess. I know it's kind of late in the year to check out Napa, but the weather forecast looks sunny this weekend. I've briefly visited the Napa website on things to do, but wanted your guys' opinions as well. I plan on doing some wine tasting of course (any recommendations on which wineries to visit would be helpful; nothing too fancy though! I'm not too big on wine). Recommendations on anything is more than welcome -- what to see, do, where to eat, anything! I'm assuming it's worthwhile checking out St. Helena and Calistoga as well? Thanks guys!

 

my friend used to live up there she said theres nothing to do but wine and expensive restaurants. take a nice drive up there in the z have a nice dinner with some exquiste wine, and end the night with a bang(maybe literally depending on the girl and how ricco suave you are). enjoy napa i hear its a nice relaxing place to go.

 

My favorite breakfast spot is a place in downtown Napa called Gillwood's. Not expensive or fancy, more of a neighborhood spot, but get there early as they gets crowded on the weekends. For dinner try Cole's Chophouse just down the street. They serve up a mean black and blue steak. I've done the Napa wine train for a team event I setup after we finished a long project. Folks had a great time mainly due to the train ride - food and wine was so so but the scenery was pretty cool.

 

Brunch at Brix

 

Definately Brix, also if you have the Z take a drive to Berryessa its a beautiful for her and a fun one for you. Also you have Sonoma not to far away with a nice downtown shopping center(square).....I am not into wine so I cant tell you if the train ride is any good.

 

Many VERY nice small wineries depending on where you'll be. I really enjoy Praeger Portworks (because I love port, and they have a fantastic chocolate port), as well as Frank Family Vineyards (Good champagne, good rose, they owners/vintners regularly serve customers themselves). Sawyer cellars is very small, and was by far one of the friendliest I've been to (good whites - their reds are a bit weak - cool converted old barn). Cosentino also small and good (friendly servers).

The tour @ Rutherford Winery is truly a sight, and the tour at BV is also quite good (both have a real caves).

If you go over to Sonoma as well, have dinner at The Girl and the Fig, and visit Imagery, Arrowwood and Ledson.

 

Wow people come to Napa? Wierd haha (I live in Napa).

In the city of Napa there isn't much to do, you want to head north. City of napa actually has a place called Copia which is a food and art and wine tasting place, and its pretty cool. Good place to relax for a little while and it's home to world famous Julia's Kitchen.

I suggest you go to Yountville after that on highway 29 and just drive through the town. Maybe park the car and take a walk. It's just a small city, but very very very expensive and nice!

Then you can just head up 29north and find some wineries you want to stop at. Mondavi is popular because it has a great tour. Stering has a cool tram ride up the mountain side and in my opinion has one of the best views of the Napa Valley once you get to the top of the mountain (via the tram).

Calistoga is pretty nice as well, just like Yountville--small town, shopping, walking, etc.

Same goes for the city of Sonoma which is in the opposite direction but has a great downtown square and is popular for chillaxin

Oh and as for the Winetrain, its "ok." I think your money is better spent on gas and touring the valley on your own. Winetrain just goes up the valley and back and serves dinner/lunch depending on what time you go and what pass you buy. I have a family friend who works as the manager of the wine train and she hooked me up with some passes last year which was the top of the line dinner train but I wasn't terribly impressed. Maybe because I didn't have the right company? I don't know

Plus I'm not one for the fancy foods, give me a bowl of cereal anyday you know? Haha!

Hope it helps, PM me if you need more info. I'll give you my celly too if you need it just in case if you get lost, etc etc.

Good luck!


P.S. Clean your car up and bring your camera, you will def find some good spots for photoshoots of your car & girl!

 

Oh for eats, Trancas Steak house in napa and Red Hen Cantina (I think its in the Napa City limits) is also very popular. I'd actually suggest the Red Hen (down to earth kind of food--good eats!) but you might run into a wait on the weekend.

It's right off of 29 north, let me know if you need directions!

 

Urban,

Thank you SO much for your recommendations! I was just about to ask you for food recommendations until I saw your second post. Thanks also for the heads-up on the wine train. I think I'll just drive around rather than take it.

Got a question for ya. Everyone has given me recommendations on what to do during the day, but not during the evening/night. How's Napa's night life?
Recommendations? I'm not looking for a hip-hop club or anything, lol. Maybe just a cozy place where we can go and have a drink or two and relax? Doesn't really matter; I'm open to anything really. Thanks!!

 

Napa doesn't really have an exciting night life at all. What seems to be popular with the tourists are the wine bars here in town. Near the corner of 1st and Main St. there are a few wine bars that you should check out. They are "warm" places that everyone seems to love. The place I suggest is called "The Bounty Hunter" (http://www.bountyhunterwine.com/).

Let me know if you need anything else!

 

Hey all, thank you for the excellent recommendations on what to do/see in Napa. Just wanted to give a review of everything (as late as it may be )

Started out the day by going to Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in downtown St. Helena. Wow, all I can say is EXCELLENT FOOD! Very "homey" and cozy atmosphere. The food was decently priced and so yummy!! I ordered their blue cheese/mayo burger and she ordered some kind of salad. Their french fries were honestly one of the best I have ever tasted! It's definitely home-made and very "buttery". I may have to go back just for the fries.

Went to three wineries next. Started off with Praeger Portworks. Very nice port and their tasting room is very unique. Money from all over the world (mostly dollar bills) are stapled/taped everywhere. Next, went to v. Sattui winery. I was surprised at how popular that place is! Their parking lot is pretty big and was pretty much packed. There is a pretty big grass area outside with some tables and benches to have a nice picnic since they let you buy cheeses and breads inside to go with their wines. The place was packed inside and very busy and we did some wine tasting here as well. I would not recommend this place if you're looking for something more quiet and romantic; I wasn't, so I enjoyed my visit there and ended up buying a bottle of their wine. Lastly, we went to Rutherford Hill winery. Did the 45 minute tour of their winery and got to see their very neat "cave system" for storing and aging wines. Their winery was beautiful and I enjoyed the tour a lot. By time the tour ended, it was around 4:45pm so we decided to call it a night.

We checked into our hotel (the Silverado Resort) first . We enjoyed our stay there, but in my opinion there wasn't anything too special about it. Not saying I wouldn't go back, but there wasn't anything about it that made me say "wow", that's all. Lastly, we went to eat dinner at Trancas' Steakhouse in Napa. Very nice restaurant and liked how they had all the TVs with all the football games on. Food was great and people were friendly. The food in my opinion is somewhat of a cross between your typical "American food restaurant" (e.g. TGI Friday's) and a slightly more upscale restaurant.

Woke up on Sunday morning and went to eat lunch at Downtown Joe's in Napa. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the TVs with all the football games on it. I ordered the buffalo wings and she ordered the fish and chips. HUGE portions! All the food was awesome and was very, very yummy. Probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but I'll worry about that later.

Napa is a cute little town, but way too small and quiet for me. I definitely enjoyed my short trip there (from SF/Oakland) and look forward to going again in the future!

 

Hah, sounds about right, welcome to my world

I'm glad you had a good time though, next time you should def check out Sterling if you want a more "romantic" type of winery. It's pretty small compared to the others.