Introduction

Alfred Hitchcock would hardly recognize the fishing village he made famous in The Birds in 1963. The lunch counter where the movie’s villagers took refuge from the murderous seagulls has been transformed into a tourist-destination factory restaurant. Kite shops and salt-water taffy stands line Hwy 1, and hardly anybody ambles down the clackety old fishing docks anymore—least of all, fur-clad ladies in white gloves.

But the dramatic coastal landscape remains. Plan to spend time outdoors; otherwise it’s not worth coming here. Hike atop windswept Bodega Head, alongside the San Andreas fault, and peer down 275 feet to fog-shrouded coves. Ride horseback up forested canyons where salmon still spawn. Laze on a sandy beach with your sweetheart—but know that the ocean here is treacherous: a torrent of rip currents makes it unsafe for swimming. Danger aside, the roaring waves are mesmerizing.

The town has no center point, nowhere to stroll, and frankly there isn’t much to do. But if you’re short on time, Bodega Bay is close enough for a one-nighter, and far enough to make you feel you’ve gotten away. And if you have to, you can be back at work the next morning.

When you’ve two nights to spare, head further north, up the Sonoma Coast toward Mendocino, where you can truly disappear.

See & Do

It’s all about the outdoors in Bodega Bay. Head west of the bay to stroll the wide-open bluffs atop Bodega Head, and trip out on the drop-dead vistas of land and sea. Shaped like a giant crooked finger jutting into the Pacific, the Bodega Head peninsula separates the town’s eponymous bay from the ocean. Look south and spot the geologically related Point Reyes, looming on the horizon. Bring binoculars, and hold on to your hat—there’s a reason they call it ‘Blow-dega Head.’ Pick up a stunt kite at Candy & Kites to fly along the trail.

Check it out: In the mid-1960s PG&E stupidly began building a nuclear power plant on Bodega Head—smack dab on the San Andreas Fault. Duh. Fortunately they hadn’t bothered to secure the necessary permits, and the Atomic Energy Commission shut ‘em down.

But they dug a giant pit—still visible today—before construction was halted. Locals call it the “Hole in the Head.” Nature has transformed the pit into a lushly banked pond, which has become a magnet for migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway—small miracles sometimes come from big mistakes. Take Bay Flat Rd east about 3mi to the bay side of Campbell Cove. Read more about how locals saved the Marin-Sonoma Coast from development; it’s a great story.

The craggy coastline of Sonoma Coast State Beach extends for 17 miles, from Bodega Head to four miles north of Jenner, where the Russian River pours into the sea. My favorite spot is Goat Rock Beach, where a nearby harbor-seal colony lazes on the rocks. For more on the beaches, read my write-up in our Sonoma-Mendocino Coast guide.

Ride horseback along the beach or up Salmon Creek canyon with Chanslor Riding Stables. Kids love the pony rides. (Alas, the ranch is for sale and because of its zoning, it might soon be developed into a hotel. Bummer. Call ahead.) Bodega Bay Surf Shack rents bicycles, kayaks, and surfboards, and also teaches surfing. Near town, there’s great kayaking on quiet inland waterways perfect for bird-watching; Bodega Bay Kayak knows the best spots. Or take to the sea aboard a fishing vessel or whale-watching tour (December through April) with Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center.

In town, there’s little to do other than peruse the collection of contemporary Japanese art at the Ren Brown Collection Gallery; or taste wine at Gourmet Au Bay, where you can sit on a waterview deck and sample local vintages—a great end to the afternoon, but come before 6pm.

Like scenic drives? This one’s a beauty. Head to Coleman Valley Road, one of California’s most spectacular back roads (really)—the landscape looks like a plein-air painting come to life. Read more about driving Coleman Valley Road in our guide to Occidental.

Hitchcock fans: Head five miles east of Bodega Bay to the little town of Bodega. Snap pix of the Victorian Potter Schoolhouse, and get chills as you recall the scene in The Birds when screaming schoolchildren fled beneath a sky blackened with attacking ravens. Head up the hill for the best shots.

Shop way-cool galleries and an awesome vintage-European-clothing store in nearby Occidental, a hippie-dippie 19th-century main-street town tucked in the redwoods, just 20 minutes from Bodega Bay. Best of all, you can park your car and walk everywhere, something you can’t do in downtown-less Bodega Bay.

Bodega Bay Restaurants

The best reason—by far—to visit Bodega Bay is to eat at Seaweed Café, hangout of local bohos, art freaks, and food fetishists. French-born chef Jackie Martine is obsessive about the seasonal-regional credo of the Slow Food movement, and she exclusively uses organic ingredients sourced from farms within a 30-mile radius of the restaurant. Even the wines originate from west of Hwy 101. The Euro-Cal menu features unusual cuts of local meat—quail, squab, lamb, and wild salmon—all perfectly prepared using only a handful of ultra-fresh ingredients so the food’s natural flavors shine through. Ask about art-centric events, including readings by local writers. Open Thursday to Monday, dinner only. Weekend brunch. Reservations essential.

What a find! The classic West Coast crab shack, Spud Point Crab Co. uses its own boats to fish for crab, which it unloads right in front of the restaurant. In season, order the succulent crab sandwiches and cocktails. Otherwise, choose the clam chowder or wild salmon. The place ain’t fancy—it looks more like a fish market than a restaurant—and seating is outside at picnic tables overlooking the boats in the adjacent marina. Arrive before 5pm, closing time.

If you’re craving fried fish and tartar sauce, skip the touristy Lucas Wharf and the Tides, and instead head to Sandpiper Dockside Cafe & Restaurant, where the locals eat. Think lemon wedge and parsley sprig. There’s breakfast too. Take the kids for hot dogs, hand-cut fries, and old-fashioned milkshakes at the Dog House, overlooking the Marina. It’s off Hwy 1, behind the Bodega Coast Inn. NB: it closes at 6pm.

Bodega Bay Hotels and Inns

Fog horns blare all night in Bodega Bay, romantic to some, annoying to others. Pack ear plugs if you’re a light sleeper. Alternatively stay in Occidental.

On the budget end, the family-run Branscomb’s Bodega Bay Inn ($–$$$) is part B&B, part local-art gallery, with scores of paintings adorning the walls. The converted house feels more like an up-market hostel than a coastal inn, but the rates are good and there’s a big backyard garden where you can take your continental breakfast. It’s a bit folksy, but the Branscombs works hard to maintain the place, and they’re nice people. If you require anonymity, choose somewhere else.

Bodega Harbor Inn ($) has the best rates in town, but needs a serious fluff job. It’s basically a motel with rooms in blue-and-white-shingled cottages. It’ll do in a pinch if you’re tight on cash. The motel’s rental houses ($$–$$$) are not well maintained. If you really want to rent a house, you’ll do way better in Sea Ranch, up the coast.

The top digs in town, the Bodega Bay Lodge and Spa ($$$–$$$$) has ocean-view rooms in several satellite buildings clustered behind a marsh and nature preserve. The business-class amenities include all the usuals like down pillows and triple-sheeted beds; there’s also a good-sized pool and outdoor hot tub. Upgraded rooms have wood-burning fireplaces; book an upstairs unit for the best views, or splurge on a suite for wide-open ocean vistas. NB: The hotel is getting a much-needed renovation; book a room that’s been redone or expect lackluster furnishings. Skip the Duck Club restaurant.

Alas, the Chanslor Ranch is no longer renting rooms in its farmhouse. The place is up for sale and may be turned into a hotel. Fingers crossed that developers don’t build something hideous on this gorgeous site.

Introduction

I’m torn about Napa. Its wineries produce some of the world’s most regal wines, but charge upwards of $20 (or more) for tastings. The valley is jaw-droppingly beautiful, but gets jammed with summertime traffic (in fact, it’s the 8th-worst-congested non-commuter road in the country). The food scene is second only to San Francisco’s, but good luck getting a table on a Saturday—and you’d better have room on your Visa card.

How on earth did this happen? You need backstory to understand Napa.

To prevent the valley’s farmland from disappearing under suburban tract homes, as had been happening in the Central Valley, in 1968 Napa Valley designated itself an ‘agricultural preserve.’ You could no longer build a home on the valley floor on fewer than 40 acres (160 acres on the hillsides), which set the stage for a land boom. Then in 1976 the wine world got turned on its head when a prestigious panel of French judges chose two Napa wines over several venerable Bordeaux vintages in a blind tasting, now referred to simply as the Paris Tasting of 1976.

Enter the nouveau riche. In the 1980s, the parvenu arrived en masse, committing cultural genocide in Saint Helena, transforming the pretty little Main Street town into a rural Beverly Hills. Now there are two Napas. You’re either an up-valley snob, or you’re a ‘Napkin’ from the down-valley city of Napa. (When a new-money snob learns you’re a Napkin, the typical response is to raise an eyebrow and say, ‘Oh, you live in Napa proper,’ then walk away, as if you had just announced at a conservative-Republican dinner party that you’re gay.)

Napa looks like an agrarian Shangri-la (never mind the Hummers), but farmers all grow grapes now—they can’t afford not to. Nothing fetches so high a price as the fruit of the cabernet sauvignon vine. Vineyard owners still call themselves farmers, but lately multinational corporations and arrivistes have taken over. What’s the ultimate status symbol? Your very own winery. Just ask Francis Ford Coppola.

The news isn’t all bad. If you’re into expanding your food-and-wine repertoire, Napa is hedonism central. And when you want to ditch the kids, what better place to do so than at a 30-mile-long wine bar?

But timing is everything. Don’t come on weekends in either summer or during ‘crush’ (autumn harvest). For the full Napa Valley tour, drive north on Hwy 29 in the morning before traffic kicks up, then return south along the parallel, less-traveled Silverado Trail, down the valley’s east side. Alternatively, approach from the north, via Calistoga.

I’m covering Calistoga separately because its character and culture are so dramatically different from the rest of Napa.

Meanwhile, call the bank and increase your credit limit: you’re going to Napa.

See & Do

Wine-tasting is the primary reason to visit Napa.

The once dumpy city of Napa is reinventing itself with a revitalized riverfront area, great restaurants, and some pretty good shopping. Now when Hwy 29 jams up, there’s finally something to do at valley’s south end. Alas, Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts has closed due to lack of endowment (Napa socialites are notorious for donating money for ostentatious gala openings, but not for long-term maintenance of arts institutions). That’s why we’re especially grateful for the new, Ferry Building-style Oxbow Market.

No self-respecting food-lover would come to Napa without swinging by Oxbow Public Market, if only to stock up on hard-to-find spices at Whole Spice. Not since I lived in France have I ever found eggs with such deep-orange yolks as those at the Fatted Calf, a top-notch charcuterie in the finest Gallic tradition. Pica-Pica Maize Kitchen imports Venezuelan street food to Northern California with its griddled corn-flour tortillas (wheat- and gluten-free), topped with simple grilled meats and veggies, best liberally drizzled with piquante sauce. And when the kids get cranky, bribe them with the promise of burgers and shakes at Taylor’s Auto Refresher.

The art is astounding at DiRosa Preserve, a 217-acre indoor-outdoor collection of 2300 works of art, all by Northern California artists. Art snobs: Trust me, you won’t be disappointed; this is one of the most happening collections in all California. You can visit the Gatehouse Gallery without a reservation, but for the money shot, the permanent collection, you’ll need reservations. And it’s ideally located in Carneros, at the valley’s far-southern end, closer to the city.

Read full-length reviews of some of my favorite Napa wineries.

No time to trek to the wineries? Head to Vintners Collective, a multi-winery tasting room representing 18 small-production premium wineries, such as Melka, Ancien, Vinoce, and Showket. Tastings run $15 to $50—welcome to Napa—but these are great wines. The staff is not only knowledgeable, they’re fun. No snobs here. (Ask for Doug if you like to laugh.) If you’re feeling flush, drop $50 on the ‘private sensory tasting’; it’s like a lap dance with wine. Fabulous.

Shoppers: For kitchen gadgets, head to Shackford’s Kitchen Store, a better and less-expensive mom-and-pop alternative to the shop at the CIA Greystone—and they carry everything from madeleine molds to replacement gaskets for stovetop espresso makers.

Window-shopping in St Helena is comical. Woodhouse Chocolates charges $68 a pound for its confections. They’re exquisite, but c’mon—it’s candy, for God’s sake. (If you can afford that much, La Maison du Chocolat in Paris is better. And they ship.) Forgot your Manolo Blahnik strappy sandles? Fret not: Head to Footcandy for shoes that would do Carrie Bradshaw proud. Erin Martin Design carries a stellar collection of one-of-a-kind home furnishings, from sofas to sculptures. It’s gorgeous stuff, well worth a look, especially if you’re redoing your house.

The only reason to go to Yountville is to eat or sleep. Otherwise it’s a tourist trap—unless you’re shopping for gifts for your Midwestern grandmother.

Napa Restaurants: Cheap Eats

Downtown Napa: Start the day with breakfast or lunch at Alexis Baking Company, the local favorite for brunch, scrambles, focaccia-bread sandwiches, big bowls of coffee, and the NY Times. Pick up a boxed lunch for the car. For a retro flashback and breakfast with the blue hairs, Buttercream Bakery is the best deal in town: $5 for eggs and hash browns, served by lunch ladies with beehives and heavy eye shadow. Look for the pink-and-white-stripe paint job. At lunch or dinner, everybody loves Pizza Azzurro. Good Caesar salads too, if you’re not tired of ‘em yet.

Up-valley in Yountville, winemakers and bicyclists share the big communal table at Gordon’s Cafe and Wine Bar. If you really wanna know what’s happening in the valley, you’ll get the skinny here. The menu: homemade baked goods, croque madame sandwiches, scrambles, and awesome crispy buttermilk-chicken salad.

For strawberries in season, look for the stand on the west side of Silverado Trail, just north of Trancas St. (Up until a few months ago, you could find better berries at a little stand on the other side of the road, but it was recently torn down.)

The Oakville Grocery isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s a must-see. The cheese selection is stellar, and the deli case a charcuterie-lover’s fantasy. Alas, it was just bought by the purveyors of food-as-fashion-accessory, Dean & Deluca, so it may become even more tony in coming months.

Long before Dean & Deluca, the Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufacturing Company ($) was the place for Italian salami, stinky cheeses, olives, balsamic, prosciutto, and of course olive oil. And it still is. Open for 70-some years, this is where the cognoscenti go. Borrow a knife and sit outside at weathered old picnic tables beneath wisteria vines. NB: Don’t confuse this with the place of a similar name on Hwy 29; the real deal is at the end of Charter Oak St.

Wondering how all the Mexican laborers can afford to eat in Napa? They head to La Luna Market ($) for fat burritos with homemade hot sauce. In St Helena, wiggle your toes in the grass while you feast on all-natural burgers at Taylor’s Auto Refresher, an old-fashioned drive-up hamburger stand. They’ve opened a branch in the Ferry Building, but that doesn’t diminish the fun of the original. Expect long lines at peak times.

Napa Restaurants: The Midrange Spots

For updated classic American cooking, head to Boonfly Cafe. Think homemade doughnuts at breakfast, roast chicken and mashers, spinach salad, handcut fries, and grilled rueben sandwiches. Its location at the Carneros Inn makes it an ideal stopover en route to the valley, and it serves continuously throughout the day. In downtown Napa, Angèle ($$$) is my first choice when I’ve a hankering for French-provincial cooking. Snag a seat on the river-view patio, and order the beef bourguignon. Great burgers, too.

Dinner at Bouchon ($$$–$$$$) is like a night at the opera—theatrical, exciting, and fun—and it’s one of my favorite valley restaurants. Every design element was imported from France, from the cafe chairs to the zinc bar. Celeb-owner Thomas Keller even flew a Frenchman in to paint the place. It’s a bit too Disney-esque, but the spot-on brasserie fare—steak frites, plâteau de fruits de mer (seafood platters), and perfect profiteroles—makes up for the ersatz surroundings. If you prefer less fanfare, head down the street to Bistro Jeanty, which serves an earthier menu, with hearty dishes like cassoulet. And the chef is actually from France. Order the tomato soup.

The once-great Bistro Don Giovanni ($$$–$$$$) has lost its luster and become a factory. But if you’re with friends who insist on eating here (as many people do), request tables 50 to 59, or 70 to 79, for the best vineyard-view seating.

How refreshing: a new restaurant that’s neither French nor Italian. Go Fish ($$$–$$$$), brainchild of celeb chef Cindy Pawlcyn, doubles as a sushi bar and seafood restaurant, with a snappy blue-and-white color scheme, and not a bit of stucco or terra cotta in sight. The sushi is off-the-boat fresh, but the kitchen is skimpy with the portions and they’re overly expensive (think $7 for two pieces of red-tuna nigiri). Good alternatives: the surf-and-turf spinoffs (ahi tuna and crispy veal sweetbreads, or scallops and foie gras), butter-poached shrimp, and seafood salads. NB: The service so far this summer has been sketchy, with inexperienced waiters and bussers who don’t know enough to clear empty glassware before bringing another round of drinks. The floor managers can likewise be ineffectual in their handling of problems with customers—too bad Ms. Pawlcyn can’t be everyplace at once.

Locals favor Cook St Helena ($$–$$$), a spiffy little storefront eatery with a marble lunch counter, a dozen tables, and a straightforward menu of honest cooking. At lunch order the BLT or burger (both made with all-natural meats, of course), or the homemade fettuccine bolognese. At dinner, the braised short ribs melt off the bone. Though they’re not listed on the menu, ask for the butter-braised Brussels sprouts—carmel-y edged and sprinkled with parmesan, these aren’t your mom’s sprouts!

I love the retro-Americana look of Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen ($$–$$$), with its black-and-white booths and candy-colored glassware. The menu matches the comfy surroundings, with curried-chicken salad, fried calamari, and pork chops. The small brick patio is perfect for an al fresco lunch, but don’t expect to score an outside table during peak meal times. Locals sit at the bar and sip mojitos (which are best when Marty is tending bar).

Napa Restaurants: The Top

You don’t need me to tell you about the French Laundry. Instead, let’s talk about one of the valley’s unsung heroes, Ken Frank, the master chef behind La Toque ($$$$+). Nuance and seasonality are his watchwords, and he’s particularly adroit at eking out the essence of every ingredient he touches—particularly truffles and foie gras. Sommelier Scott Tracy is genius with his pairings, which echo the food’s subtlety; order the tasting menu and surrender to Scott. Request a table by the fire.

Farm ($$$–$$$$) is the new face of cool in Napa. Adjoining the Carneros Inn, the dining room echoes the inn’s ag theme: it’s shaped like a dairy barn. But instead of cows and hay, you’ll find purple-velvet banquettes, hardwood floors, and dramatic orange-glass light fixtures hung over white-linen-draped tables. The California-now menu features big and bold flavors, designed to pair well with Napa wines. One complaint: there’s only one style of wine glass, and it’s not for Bordeaux. If you’re a purist, bring your own Riedel.

High on a hill overlooking the valley, with the San Francisco skyline twinkling on the horizon, the terrace at Auberge du Soleil ($$$$+) is hands-down the most romantic spot in Napa. Thank goodness Chef Robert Curry’s sure-handed, elegant French-California cooking lives up to the view. If you can’t quite swing dinner, take heart: Auberge also serves breakfast ($$) and the valley’s definitive long, lingering lunch ($$$).

Japanese-born, Italian-trained chef Hiro Sone wows diners with his elegant melding of Franco-Italian-Japanese cooking at Terra ($$$$), one of the valley’s most (deservedly) famous restaurants. Sister to SF’s Ame at the St Regis Hotel, Terra’s signature dish is sake-marinated black cod with shrimp dumplings, but really, you can’t go wrong with anything here. The 1884 stone farmhouse lends high romance and marvelous drama to the dining room.

The Pat Kuleto-designed dining room at Martini House ($$$$), an impeccably restored 1923 California Craftsman, is handsome and stylin’, but for my money the romantic garden is where it’s at. How often do you get to hold hands by candlelight beneath persimmon trees? Chef-owner Todd Humphries does amazing things with mushrooms in season, but you don’t need a culinary degree to appreciate the food here—simple, straightforward, delicious. Check out the downstairs brick-and-stone bar, the perfect place to whoop it up with—what else?—martinis.

Napa Hotels and Inns: Budget & Midrange

Make reservations as far in advance as possible. Demand exceeds supply in Napa, especially at less-expensive places. Prices skew (way) high in summer.

Surprisingly there are still a couple of up-valley lodging bargains in St Helena. El Bonita Motel ($$–$$$) has predictable, but well-maintained motel rooms. Smack dab in the middle of downtown, the Hotel St Helena ($–$$$) has reopened after a much-needed refurb that stripped much of the Victorian clutter off the walls. There are still cases of Hummel figures, and the Victorian flowered carpet remains, but tell me, where else in St Helena you can score a room for under $100 on a weekday? NB: Not all rooms have bathrooms. Those with bath spike to $225 on weekends, but drop to $145 Sunday to Thursday. But these are published rates. You can often score better deals at the last minute: few people realize that the hotel has reopened, and rooms are going empty, even on weekends. (They also let their URL lapse—and have zero web presence—so call 707-963-4388.)

Down-valley, chain-style hotels line the freeway north of downtown Napa (yes, there’s a freeway in Napa, but only at the valley’s southern end). Of these hotels, the John Muir Inn ($$–$$$) provides the most bang for your buck, with spotless rooms and extras like marble baths. It’s like the Marriott across the way, sans pretension. The second-choice Chablis Inn ($$–$$$) has plain-Jane motel rooms, but they’re clean and have better-than-average furnishings. A pool and hot tub sweeten the deal. Next door, the grungier Napa Valley Redwood Inn ($–$$) works in a pinch, but not for skirt-and-sweater travelers.

On the riverfront in the historic Hatt Building (Napa’s entirely forgettable version of Ghiradelli Square), the business-class Napa River Inn ($$$–$$$$) has the usual four-star amenities like bathrobes and triple-sheeted beds. But best of all, because of the building’s landmark status, the rooms provide a lovely sense of place. Dogs welcome; request an amenity kit for Fido.

Of the B&B inns, in downtown I most like the Blackbird Inn ($$$–$$$$) for its beautiful Craftsman architecture. And there’s no innkeeper on site watching your every move, so you can enjoy the house as you like.

In Yountville, walkable to town’s top restaurants, the romantic, ivy-covered-brick Maison Fleurie ($$–$$$$) was built at the turn-of-the-20th century as a farmhouse and carriage barn. Some rooms are smallish and a bit dark, but the sunny, French-provincial design motif brightens them up beautifully (but you had better like floral prints). Alternatively, the Burgundy House Inn ($$–$$$) has five simple rooms in a vintage-1870s stone farmhouse, also done in French-provincial style.

Okay, so it’s a skosh beyond the midrange, but I love the Rancho Caymus Inn ($$$–$$$$) and its Spanish-style architecture. Rooms in the two-story, red-tile-roof inn face a central courtyard with a gurgling fountain, and feel more like Santa Fe than Napa, with kiva fireplaces, knotty-pine ceilings, and hardwood floors. Some details need sprucing up (especially the Regan-era bathrooms), but the service is wonderful, and the mid-valley location perfect for winery-hopping. Splurge on dinner at the adjoining La Toque (see Restaurants, above).

Napa Hotels: The Top End

The Carneros Inn ($$$$+) sets the new standard for chic in Napa. The idea was to build a sort of village, with a fashion-forward ag theme, and details such as corrugated-tin horse-trough fountains, and barn-style architecture. Rooms are in freestanding cottages with rocking-chair porches, cherry-wood floors, poured-concrete fireplaces, and private outdoor decks. Bathrooms are fabulous: all have indoor and outdoor showers with Frisbee-sized rainfall shower heads, and the heated tile floors are thermostatically controlled, ideal for yoga or l’amour par terre. Surrounded by thousands of acres of rolling pastureland and vineyards, the inn sits in one of Napa’s most beautiful locales; soak up the unobstructed views from the gorgeous pool deck.

The grande dame of Napa’s lodging scene, Meadowood ($$$$+) is the valley’s only true full-service luxury resort, with a nine-hole golf course, top-end spa, croquet lawns, five miles of hiking trails, and an enormous swimming pool perfect for a game of water polo with 20 of your friends. Think country club tucked in a lushly wooded dell: Wear linen in summer, cashmere in winter, and blend right in. Rooms are in freestanding cottages scattered about the vast property, some on hillsides shaded by hundred-year-old oaks, others in New England-style lodge buildings abutting the croquet lawns; most have wood-burning fireplaces, perfect on a chilly Napa evening. All are conservatively decorated in muted earth tones, and have the requisite amenities, from robes and slippers to sumptuous beds with gazillion-thread-count linens—some of the best in the valley. One caveat: though some rooms are among the best in the valley (specifically the Estate Rooms, which are fit for royalty), others need a bit of updating. Because of the vast array of accommodations, be sure to talk with reservationists about your preferences. If you have kids, stay near the pool or croquet lawn. If you’re on a date, request something more secluded. Don’t miss the recently overhauled Restaurant at Meadwood, which bests even the venerable Auberge du Soleil. (Editor’s note, 9-18-07: I’ll soon be adding reviews of Auberge, as well as the Restaurant at Meadowood. In the meantime, if you’re planning a trip and need to know more right now, post a comment at the bottom of the page. I’ll reply right away.)

Don’t let its in-town Napa address fool you: Milliken Creek Inn ($$$$+) is one of the cushiest spots in the entire valley. A former stagecoach stop on the banks of the Napa River, the inn’s ten rooms sport a vaguely British-Colonial style, with rattan and leather, Indonesian hardwood furnishings, soothing putty-colored walls, and zillion-thread-count linens. And oh, those enormous bathtubs. Book an upstairs room overlooking the river. Don’t be surprised when you come back from dinner to find tea lights burning in your room. In all my years as a travel writer, I’ve never seen that anywhere, and I loved it—it felt so dangerously romantic. There’s also a small onsite spa.

The gardens are spectacular at the Harvest Inn ($$$$+), where several Tudor-style buildings house guest rooms that abut hundreds of acres of vineyards. The best front directly on the fields, but all have fireplaces (either gas or wood-burning), and many have Jacuzzis on private decks. The newest rooms lack character, but they have the most up-to-date amenities, such as flat-screen TVs; alas they’re entirely predictable. Better to stick to the older rooms. The executive suites have the most space and they’ve just been renovated this past spring.

Two of my favorite high-end places to stay in the valley, the Chateau de Vie and Meadowlark Country House, are located just north of St Helena in the town of Calistoga. Read full details in our Calistoga guide.

More Napa Valley trips, hotels, hiking and restaurants.