@Twoin18 Austin Hope is a favorite of ours along with J Dusi. We have a friend who has a house near the J Dusi vineyard.
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For people familiar with San Francisco -
We are planning to stay in the city for several nights before heading to Napa.
A friend has offered us her timeshare through Wyndham for a great price, and we could stay at the Wyndham Canterbury.
It’s at 750 Sutter Street.
Can anyone comment on that area?
Thanks
That is a fine location. You will be two blocks from the Powell Street cable car to the east, and two blocks from the California Street cable car to the north. If you head southwest from your timeshare you’ll get to a seedier neighborhood, but probably most of what you will want to access will be north and east. You’ll be in the Union Square neighborhood. Have a great time!
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Consider a ferry ride. You are within walking distance of the ferry terminal.
Sadly, the one running to Sausalito is currently out of service…but there is one that runs to Larkspur. It’s a fun ride with great views - especially of San Quentin :). Larkspur Landing has lots of shops and eateries.
Don’t take the ‘Red and White’ fleet which is the touristy ferry. The the commuter one. Much less expensive.
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Thanks for the suggestion.
What, no Sausalito ferry? One plan was to ride bikes to Sausalito and maybe even to Tiburon, and take the ferry back. I did this over 20 years ago.
Decades ago I felt like I was an “adult” when I took the ferry to Sausalito all by myself, and had lunch overlooking the water, walked around some, and then returned. I usually did not eat out alone, but I really wanted to do that trip.
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indian springs is THE BEST. Was just there a few weeks ago. Pure heaven.
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Following this with interest since the adult kids have proposed a NAPA family trip. Any thoughts on best time of year to visit or other advice for a first trip?
Summer is jam-packed, especially holiday weekends. Avoid July 4 weekend. If you’re going in the summer, try for mid-week instead of a weekend. In my experience, the most lovely times are in January (when it’s actually green) and the fall (though Thanksgiving is very crowded). Sonoma County is more spread out and almost always less crowded.
If you’re doing tastings, limit it to two or three in a day (three doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot more than you think! I prefer two, with lunch in between.). Don’t be shy about using the spit bucket at tastings. The cops are serious about drunk driving laws!
In general: the towns with the highest concentrations of good restaurants are Napa, St. Helena, and Calistoga – and Sonoma, just over the ridge from Napa Valley. (Not counting Yountville, which has the best restaurant of all of them – the French Laundry – but that’s a destination unto itself.)
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This is great advice -we also like late January and February - google photos of the vineyards full with bright yellow mustard plants at this time of the year.
For restaurants - plan ahead and make reservations far in advance if you would be disappointed if you didn’t get your top choices.
We spend time in the area at least once a year and never in the summer season. We do still get crowds when we have gone in early September, but since we know the area - we know the drill and it doesn’t impact us - still Feb is our favorite 
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We were in Napa the first week of March. Beautiful greenery (with those yellow mustard flowers!) and not crowded! We were able to make reservations at our favorite wineries one week out. Restaurants were not busy either. Highly recommend late February - early March in Napa/Sonoma.
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OP here. We are going to be a party of about 12. At least some in the group don’t care so much about food, but we will want to go to a couple of “nice-ish” restaurants. We are staying near Sonoma Plaza. Any suggestions?
Thanks
We had a nice dinner (and not super expensive) here:
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This place is a gem… Been going since the early 70’s
Great for picking up picnic or snack supplies. A fun place to visit.
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Second this! I love stopping by this place, and it’s a little off the beaten path, so it’s rarely thronged like some of the other olive oil stores.
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to Girl and Fig. -
a few blocks south of the Square: https://www.macarthurplace.com/food-drink/ Layla’s has an awesome brunch…so I’d expect no less of their dinners (have not had) Lovely patio, fun indoor seating.
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1/2 block off Square, this small place is for foodies: https://www.cafelahaye.com/
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We’ve always had tasty meals at https://www.lasaletterestaurant.com/
New Portuguese food They have patio, too. -
https://www.witandwisdomsonoma.com/ is about six blocks south of the
Square… while this has lovely indoor and outdoor areas, and the food is quite
tasty, it is on the spendier side (DH almost choked when he saw Lobster pot pie
on menu for $120!) -
A casual place on the Square, tasty but small menu. Only knock is that it has been
quite loud when we’ve been there. https://ososonoma.com/ -
This place is good for groups, and good, not great, Tuscan dishes. 1/2 block off
Square. https://dellasantinas.com/ -
while not close to the Square, https://www.elmolinocentral.com/ has some of the
best, authentic Mexcian food. Picnic tables. -
El Dorado kitchen: hmmm…they have such a high opinion of themselves (quite
snooty)…and not sure the food lives up to their supposed reputation, so we quit
going there. YMMV
Enjoy! We love Sonoma!
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Gosh, lots of great tips. We may need to think more about a CA trip someday.
OP here. Trip to Napa is next month, and the only decisions that have been made are place to stay and airline reservations. I sent a nice compilation of ideas from here and other sources a couple of months ago.
With a large party, it’s going to be hard to get reservations last minute. I considered just making reservations myself, but the first one wanted a credit card, and I’m not using my credit card for a bunch of reservations when I can’t control attendance.
Smile and nod, smile and nod…
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I think you will need to be flexible about your eating out choices!
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A couple of more casual options on the Sonoma plaza are La Casa (Mexican), Della Santina’s (Italian) and Tasca Tasca (Portuguese). La Casa and Tasca Tasca in particular are good for last minute large groups.
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