Napa Valley & Sonoma, between the rows
An hour north of the Golden Gate, two valleys share a mountain range and little else in temperament – Napa runs formal along Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail, Sonoma keeps its oaks and its town square at Healdsburg.
An hour north of the Golden Gate, two valleys share a mountain range and little else in temperament – Napa runs formal along Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail, Sonoma keeps its oaks and its town square at Healdsburg. The hotels here are estates rather than towers: a hillside inn that began as a restaurant, a private club from 1964, bungalows under the oaks, a resort with its own winery. We kept only the addresses where the service holds up to the setting. Four made the cut.
The collection
4 hotels
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley
Five-star · Napa Valley
A working winery with a resort around it, at the top of the valley in Calistoga.
From $1,100 per night
Montage Healdsburg
Five-star · Sonoma & Healdsburg
Bungalows scattered through 258 acres of oak woodland – the only five-star address in Sonoma County.
From $900 per night
Auberge du Soleil
Five-star · Napa Valley
A Provençal inn on a Rutherford hillside that started as a restaurant with a view.
From $1,600 per night
Meadowood Napa Valley
Five-star · Napa Valley
St. Helena's 1964 private club, back at 36 rooms and rebuilding after the Glass Fire.
From $1,000 per night
Napa Valley
The valley floor from Napa to Calistoga, Highway 29 on one side and the Silverado Trail on the other – Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga, where three of the four addresses sit.
The neighborhoods
Napa Valley
The valley floor from Napa to Calistoga, Highway 29 on one side and the Silverado Trail on the other – Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga, where three of the four addresses sit.
Sonoma & Healdsburg
Over the Mayacamas to the west, Sonoma County's oak woodland and its plaza town, Healdsburg – the Dry Creek, Alexander and Russian River valleys meet at its edges.
Good to know
Where should I stay – Napa Valley or Sonoma?
Napa Valley is the formal side: three of our four addresses sit along the Silverado Trail between Rutherford and Calistoga, ten to twenty-five minutes apart, with St. Helena and Yountville for dinner. Sonoma is the looser county over the Mayacamas – our one address there sits above Healdsburg, whose plaza is the best small town in wine country to walk after dinner. Highway 128 links the two in about forty minutes, so a stay can take in both.
When is the best season for wine country?
Harvest, from late August into October, is the valley at full stretch – warm days, cool nights, crush under way and the restaurants booked well ahead. Spring brings the mustard bloom between the rows in February and March and the quietest roads; summer is hot and bright by mid-afternoon; winter, which the locals call cabernet season, is the time for fireplaces, rain on the vines and rooms that are easier to come by.
Do the hotels have vineyards of their own?
Two do. The Four Seasons in Calistoga is built around a 4.7-acre organic Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard with a working winery, Elusa, on the property; Montage Healdsburg has a 15.5-acre estate vineyard among its oaks. Auberge du Soleil sits in olive groves and oaks on a hillside above Rutherford, and Meadowood's 250 acres go to golf, croquet, tennis and trails – in each case the wineries begin at the end of the drive.
How do I reserve a stay?
Enter your dates on any hotel's page to see rates and availability, then book the room you want. A concierge is on hand throughout – to weigh Napa against Healdsburg before you book, and to arrange tastings and tables once you have.
