How to Plan a Trip to Napa
Sharing some of my tips and tricks to planning your perfect wine country vacation in Napa Valley!
While living in California in 2014, I had the absolute pleasure of taking a dream vacation to Napa pretty often. Since then, we’ve decided to travel back to California Wine Country every year and, I clearly can’t get enough because we’re heading back for a week in July!
As I’m planning out my perfect wine country vacation in Napa, I wanted to share some of my favorite tips and tricks with you!
First things first:
List out ALL of the wineries you are interested in and then go back and star your top choices
If you could only see my running list of wineries to visit! Ha! I have a LONG list and it’s pretty amazing that after going 10+ times I haven’t even scratched the surface of everything Napa Valley has to offer! Even though you obviously won’t be able to visit all of the wineries you’d like to in one trip, I highly recommend keeping a list of all of your favorites for several reasons…
By writing them out and starring your top choices, you can prioritize which wineries you most want to visit so you can try booking those first.
You may not be able to book a reservation time at one of those top choices, so having this full list will help you easily select a backup option.
Having this list handy will help you plan your next vacation to Napa (once you visit I promise you’ll be back!)
Plan for 3 wineries a day and make reservations!
After making that list, I know you’ll want to visit them all and you’re probably thinking the best approach is to book as many reservations in one day as you can.
While I’m all for squeezing in as much as you can in one vacation, I’m going to need you to reconsider this approach!
There are two reasons you don’t want to book more than three winery visits in one day… and trust me, I found this out the hard way…
You want to get the most out of each and every visit! These wineries are beautiful and offer unique experiences and delicious wines, so you want to make sure you take it all in! It is no fun to feel rushed when you’re in Wine Country, so don’t overdo it. Also let’s face it, wine tasting is not exactly cheap, so make the most of your experience and savor it all!
I have found that if you visit more than three… you will be LIT. This is especially problematic if you’ve got a fancy dinner reservation later that evening and wake up 5 min. before you have to leave for it on the couch because you overdid it on the winery visits… so really, take it from me and just keep it to three visits per day.
Find a Place to Stay
There are SO many options of places to stay! Identify where you want to be first (what is close to those priority wineries you want to visit?) and start there. Look at the many hotels and AirBNB. I would also say it’s OK to stay in an area that is a little bit of a drive if that’s what you can find. Just make sure you map out those wineries and start with the one furthest from where you are and work your way back to maximize your time.
Map out your desired wineries and itinerary before you start booking
Napa Valley consists of 16 different AVAs (American Viticultural Area) and it can take you about 45 min. to drive from one end to the other (and that’s without traffic)! It’s a large area with a lot to see and some of the wineries can be really far apart. Make sure you map out your itinerary before confirming! The last thing you want to do is drive up and down Napa Valley trying to make it to your next tastings. My advice is to stick to wineries that are close together or if you want to venture out further, start with the furthest winery and work your way back to where you’re staying or wherever you’ll ultimately end the day.
Call ASAP to schedule your tastings
Most places in Napa require reservations! Although there are some wineries that will accept walk-ins it is VERY rare and I would not try this approach if you want to make sure you have a fun time with zero stress. Back to the map tip from earlier - you don’t want to end up driving all over the place trying to find a place to walk in. So… take some time, go through your list and CALL to make reservations. As you make reservations, your schedule will start to take shape. Remember, you can always cancel reservations, so I often find it’s easiest to book the time slots I can find for priority wineries and go back and edit your itinerary from there (just don’t forget to cancel).
Plan to EAT!
Okay this is Wine Tasting 101. DO NOT FORGET TO EAT. And I highly recommend not skipping out on breakfast! Make sure to include time in your itinerary to stop and eat. It can be easy to overlook because you just want to get in as much tasting as possible, but you’re going to need those carbs! There are some really easy lunch stops (I have to stop at Gott’s on every trip for a burger!) if you want to maximize your tasting times and several wineries have picnic areas also. For dinner, make reservations but consider leaving yourself enough time to take a quick nap and freshen up!
Plan out your Transportation in Advance
Driving after drinking is NEVER a good idea and that’s obviously the case for a day spent in wine country. You may think ‘Oh, it’s just three wine tastings - I’ll be fine.’ BUT let me tell you, those tasting pours can sneak up on you quickly, so have a transportation plan in place BEFORE the entire group is too tipsy to drive. Here’s what I recommend:
Have a group DD. This is probably the easiest-to-coordinate plan and if you’re out there for multiple wine tasting days you can take turns being the DD. Make sure to notify the winery in advance that you’ll have a non-drinker in your group to see what their policy is on tasting fees.
The more fun option for everyone (ha!) is to rely on someone else to get you from point A to point B! You can use ridesharing services or book a car/van/mini-bus for the day with a driver! With transportation companies, you’ll get drivers who are so knowledgeable about the area which makes for an even better experience. While Uber and Lyft do operate in Napa, if you want to venture off the beaten path a bit (for instance to Howell Mountain wineries) I recommend going the driver route as it can be tough to get service and get someone to come pick you up in the harder to get to wineries.
One thing we’ve done before was had a DD in our group in the morning to visit a more remote winery and then we finished the day off in the Valley where Ubers were more accessible!
Select Your Outfits & Pack Your Bags!
One of the most fun parts of planning your trip obviously! I know you want to look cute and take ALL the pics, but just remember you’re going to be walking around for tours, it could be really warm, etc., so make sure you’re comfy! For this reason, I do not recommend heels! If you do go heels - just be sure to look for something with a block heel as you’ll probably be walking across a lot of grass.
Here are some things I’m eyeing for my upcoming trip!
