Weekend Itinerary For Napa Valley: Where to Drink, Eat, Stay, and How to Get Around -

Since living in Sacramento, we have been to Napa quite a few times since it’s only about an hour drive from us. Plus, when our friends or family have come to visit, they almost always want to go to Napa…which is why we started questioning if people are coming out to see us or to see Napa (LOL). Anyways, I’m happy to say I think we have finally perfected everything having to do with Napa, from which wineries, bars, restaurants to visit, as well as hotels to stay in, how to get around, and everything in between. We have your must-dos, we got you. Here is the perfect weekend itinerary for Napa Valley…

If you need help building an itinerary in general, check out The 9 Elements of Creating a Reliable and Perfect Itinerary. And PS now that we have perfected Napa, we’re going to start going to Sonoma because we hear it’s just as beautiful and a little less touristy. Although Napa is a must try, keep an eye out for a Sonoma itinerary too!

Anyways, let’s get to the good stuff – the actual itinerary for Napa Valley. The way we usually structure our trip is we stay in downtown Napa or close to downtown. This way, at the end of the day we come back to the central location of downtown and we can go out for dinner and drinks. We typically do one full day of wineries and one day of half wineries, half exploring or fully exploring downtown Napa but it’s up to you how to structure your days.

Let’s start with where to stay…

Where to Stay:

Where you stay in Napa fully depends on what your budget is. There are a lot of places in the downtown area, some cheap and some not so cheap. BTW we always book everything through booking.com. We find that they have the best prices and their loyalty program gives you extra discounts and free room upgrades occasionally!

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Hawthorne Suites: This is truly somewhere to just sleep. It’s not the nicest hotel you will ever stay in, but it’s also not the worst. It gets the job done – beds were comfy and it was close to everything we needed. (like walking distance from In-N-Out when we needed drunk food)

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Hilton Garden Inn Napa Valley: The Hilton is always a great option no matter where you are. I will say this is the farthest we’ve stayed from the downtown area but also the nicest place we’ve stayed in so far.

Riverpointe Napa Valley: This is where we stayed the most recent time we went and it was really really cute. You can rent out a cottage which gives you a bedroom, a living area (with sofa bed), a kitchenette, and a patio space. It’s close to downtown and easy to get Uber/Lyft from there.

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Archer Hotel Napa: This is where we said we will stay at some point in the future when we are celebrating something but this place is NOICE. I’m talking nice bathrobes kinda nice. You are not sacrificing anything here because you are literally in the middle of downtown Napa. It has incredible reviews and it looks beautiful.

Wineries to Visit

An itinerary for Napa Valley wouldn’t even exist without wineries, right? I’m also going to preface this by saying that these are the wineries WE have enjoyed going to most. It all still depends on your vibe and what you like.

Castello di Amorosa

Why you should visit: Every time we have friends or family visit and we take them around Napa, everyone’s favorite place is always this castle. It’s a whole experience and SO worth it. Since it’s further north, you should start your day here and work your way down back towards downtown Napa.
Things to note: Make sure you walk the grounds after your tasting. They have a farm with huge pigs, goats, chickens, and then of course you NEED to check out the actual castle. Walk upstairs to the main area and go up to the towers for incredible photos and alllll the views.
Recommended tasting: Standing reserve tasting ($55pp) is our favorite because it’s held in the downstairs cellar and it has a super cool vibe. The other option is the outside seated tasting and that one is held on their terrace. It’s up to you if you prefer being inside or outside but we prefer the inside tasting!
How to book: https://castellodiamorosa.com/tour-tasting2/

V. Sattui (mostly for lunch)

Why you should visit: Two words…THE FOOD. We typically don’t even do a tasting when coming here (I know, I know, this is an itinerary for Napa Valley, but hear me out). We will grab food and a bottle of wine from the market and go sit in their large picnic area with tables and benches. The market they have onsite is the best – they offer sandwiches, pasta salad, appetizers, salads, cheeses and meats a la carte, bread, wine, and so much more.
Things to note: I recommend getting the bresaola panini, pesto pasta salad (to die for), and the rice balls. You can easily spend about an hour plus here, recharge and regroup before finishing the day off with tastings! A little fun fact is that the owner of this winery is the same owner of Castello di Amorosa 🙂 Needless to say he’s done pretty well for himself. AND we always go here right after the castle because it’s on the way back downtown.
Recommended tasting: If you end up wanting to do a tasting here, I recommend the Terrace Tasting because of the ambiance and the views of the vineyard!
How to book: https://www.vsattui.com/visit/tasting/

Davie’s Vineyards

Why you should visit: This is the sister winery of Schramsberg, which specializes in sparkling wines. Since we weren’t able to get a reservation at Schramsberg, they recommended we try Davie’s and so we did and WOW was it good. We did the mixed tasting of sparkling and red wine just to get a good variety and the wine was some of the best I’ve had.
Things to note: We had a group of 6 and they sat us upstairs in a private room (we didn’t request this I think we just got lucky) and everything felt very personal. From the staff, to the room, to the custom note they let you put on the tasting menu, it was all around a 10/10. We bought 3 bottles there :). The outside is pretty standard, but the experience was amazing. If you have a large group, try asking to be seated in the upstairs room, they might accommodate you.
Recommended tasting: Sparkling & Red Wines Combination Tasting (you get 3 wines from Davie’s and 3 from Schramsberg)
How to book: https://www.daviesvineyards.com/visit/visitor-center/

Artesa

Why you should visit: This is by far one of the most aesthetically pleasing and beautiful wineries. When you walk up the stairs everything hits you – the fountains, the building structure, the VIEWS. It was featured in Netflix’s “Wine Country” movie but that’s neither here nor there. This place is beautiful at all times of the day, but we’ve been at sunset and nothing beats it.
Things to note: Make sure to sit on the outside terrace, you won’t regret it.
Recommended tasting: Seated Tasting (request to be outside)
How to book: https://www.artesawinery.com/visit-us/

Other wineries worth visiting + why

Del Dotto Estate Winery & Caves: This winery is “my people” as I always say. It’s a beautiful Italian property that offers quite a few different experiences spanning across their other properties as well. From classic wine tastings to cave tours, this name covers it all.
Chateau Montelena Winery: Another castle that will blow you away because of its beauty.
Domaine Carneros: If you want to feel fancy for the day, this is a mansion (chateau) that specializes in bubbly.
Beringer Vineyards: This property is beautiful! Get a tasting in the veranda for an outdoor, calm, exclusive feel then walk around afterwards.
Darioush: Extremely cool experience and this winery is Persian inspired which you don’t see every day.
Opus One: One thing to say here…FANCY AF.
Sterling Vineyards: You take a gondola up to the winery and the tour is through their entire production – such a cool experience! FYI this one is still closed as of June 2021.

Where to Eat and Drink Downtown (and in between wineries)

This itinerary for Napa Valley is perfect because I’m about to break everything down by meal type: brunch, lunch, dinner, and drinks. Is drinks a meal type? Who’s gonna tell me otherwise?

Brunch

Tarla’s

Cuisine: Mediterranean
Things to note: The burrata salad is by far my favorite thing they serve. You can share it with the table or get it as a meal. Tarla’s is also amazing for lunch, but their brunch menu blows everything else out of the water IMO.

Grace’s Table

Cuisine: American
Things to note: Nothing to note necessarily but the food is extremely chef driven and incredible.

Boonfly Cafe

Cuisine: American
Things to note: One word (or four): BYOB. If that’s your thing just remember that there is still a $15 corking fee. Oh and, get their donuts.

Lunch

Oxbow Market: Oxbow Market is great for so many reasons but mostly because it has something for everyone – coffee, drinks, oysters, sandwiches, snacks, bakeries, you name it.

Cuisine: Everything
Things to note: If you do anything in Oxbow Market, go get frosé from Bar Lucia. And coffee from Ritual if you need a pick-me-up before you really get your day started.

Gott’s Roadside: If you’re looking for a meal in the market, go to Gott’s Roadside. They have a location in the valley and also downtown.

Cuisine: California-inspired American
Things to note: This is also a super chill place to recharge and grab some good food. They have a wide variety of food and drink options (not just wine) and it’s reasonably priced. You can get a bottle of wine or beer and some food and sit down to enjoy it.

Contimo: This place is sandwich heaven, along with a lot of other great food.

Cuisine: Sandwiches
Things to note: If you go, make sure to try their roast beef sandwich or literally any of their biscuit sandwiches.

Dinner

Heritage: Their burgers are INSANE. They are covered in a cheese skirt and if you get them with fries, they sit the burger on a bed of w a f f l e fries. YUM.

Cuisine: Lil bit of everything
Things to note: We all got the classic burger and it was soooooo good.

The Forge: This is the perfect place to grab an oven brick pizza and bomb mule.

Cuisine: Pizza
Things to note: We got the cheese curds as an appetizer bc how can you go wrong with cheese curds. For our pizzas, we ordered the Fat Boy (sausage, bacon, pickled peppers, red onions, cream) and the Three Cheese (mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, garlic purée, red onion, arugula dressed with lemon vinaigrette). The Fat Boy was to die for.

Celadon: With a variety of choices from asian sticky ribs, to pappardelle, to Moroccon-braised lamb shank, this place has something for everyone and with a smaller menu, it really puts the emphasis on the food.

Cuisine: “Eclectic” whatever that means lol
Things to note: Their meat entree selection is insane, make sure to get a meat if you aren’t vegetarian 😉

Morimoto: SUSHI. I looooove a good sushi and wine moment. What about you?

Cuisine: Japanese
Things to note: They have food other than sushi but…get the sushi.

Drinks (!!!!!!)

If you go out for drinks, do yourself a favor and go to these bars.

Sky & Vine: Rooftop bar with a fancy shmancy ambiance. Amazing vibe all around.
Avow: Get the watermelon margarita. And sit on the rooftop.
Bounty Hunter: More laid back and chill environment and super cool.

How to Get Around

When I was putting together this itinerary for Napa Valley, I realized that THIS is a hot topic. One that I read up on A LOT. There are three ways to get around Napa County and the wineries: Uber/Lyft, drive yourself (only with a DD obviously), or get a private driver. You could also do the train wine tour but…that’s not what we’re talking about here. Let’s talk about each of the options one by one.

Uber/Lyft

Since these days you need reservations for wine tastings and you need to make them ahead of time, you most likely know which wineries you’ll be going to and when. For the wine tastings, schedule your Uber/Lyft ahead of time to avoid long wait times or possible no shows. Then, when you’re downtown, you can play it by ear but as long as you have to be somewhere at a certain time, always always always schedule your ride. This has never failed us.

Drive yourself

Another option is to drive yourself but it goes without saying that’s only if you have a designated driver.

Private driver

The third option is to hire a private driver however there are a few things to note about this option. First, 9/10 times you will need to provide your own car. And if you don’t, the price of the service is extremely high. If you don’t have an issue providing your own car, this is the way to go. The rates if you provide your own car are between $40-$60 per hour, which if you have a group of four is a great price.

Here are some great private driving services:

My Napa Valley Driver: http://mynapavalleydriver.com/
We Drive: https://www.wedrive.com/

HOT TIP: If you’re putting together an itinerary for Napa Valley and looking for a service with both a car and a driver, Groupon has incredible deals for Napa Valley Area. Just search “private driver” into Groupon and do your research.

Ok SO there is my itinerary for Napa Valley! I think I covered everything but please correct me if there are any details missing or I didn’t explain everything clearly. I hope you found this super helpful and easy to follow. If you are planning your trip to Napa and need details that aren’t listed here, please message me! I’d love to share more about my travels there.

Until next time friends!