Top Napa Valley Tips to Plan Your Trip on Any Budget
The famed Napa Valley. We’ve all heard of it – the best wines in America are supposedly made here. So with all that hype and notoriety, how do you plan a trip at any budget?
Follow the tips in each section below and you’ll be planning your trip to Napa Valley in no time.
Flights to Napa Valley
Napa Valley’s location gives you a few different options for flights, which is helpful on your wallet. The most convenient locations are Oakland and Sacramento. San Francisco is another option but is a bit further away. Below are the approximate driving distances from each airport to Napa Valley.
- Oakland to Napa Valley: About an hour and a half drive.
- Sacramento to Napa Valley: About an hour drive.
- San Francisco to Napa Valley: Almost two hours drive.
How to Get Around Napa Valley
When in Napa Valley you will definitely need a car to get around, unless you plan on staying in one small area and taking tours or catching Uber daily.
Napa Valley primarily consists of a number of towns up and down Highway 29. Starting in the south in Napa City, you’ll continue north through Rutherford and Oakville, on to St. Helena, and then Calistoga.
With two days in the area, we just scratched the surface visiting St. Helena, Rutherford and Napa proper.
I recommend renting a car to get the most out of your time. If the daily rental rate for cars seems too expensive, try checking out Turo. It’s a peer to peer rental service that tends to be a bit less expensive. We had a car delivered right to arrivals in Oakland.
Click here to check out rental cars in the Oakland area.
Napa Valley Weather
The weather in Napa Valley is great for most of the year. In the winter temperatures are mild, although it can get a little chilly. Spring and Fall are a great time to visit with weather in the 60 – 70ºF range. Summer can get up into the 80º range, but this could a be great time to explore those wine cave tours!
If you want to save money, travel in the off-season! The most popular time of year to visit Napa Valley is between August and mid-October.
Where to Stay in Napa Valley
Napa Valley accommodations are not exactly known to be super affordable.
My recommendation would be to find an area of Napa you’d like to spend the most time in and then start looking for where to stay.
Areas to check out:
Yountville, California is more upscale with the Michelin star restaurants. Napa “City” has a river flowing through it and more modern shops and restaurants.
The small towns of St. Helena and Calistoga are quaint and there will more than likely be less tourists at the end of the day.
Once you decide on the area, don’t forget to check VRBO, Booking.com, and Trip Advisor for the best options.
Click on the buttons below to search Napa Valley places to stay!
How to Pick Napa Valley Wineries
This is the hardest part! With over 400 wineries in the valley, how do you choose?
My advice is to break down the Napa Valley wineries by using five different factors to help narrow your choices. You can use all of them, or just a few!
- Location: Start your day by day itinerary by choosing the location you want to focus on. For example, we stayed around St. Helena one day, and then Napa proper/Rutherford the next.
- Wine Varietal: Many people come to Napa because it’s known for good quality Cabernet Sauvignon. If you like Cab, pick wineries based on that. Personally, I like a variety. I tried to choose wineries throughout the day that had varying varietals.
- Price Point: Some wineries in Napa are very expensive just for a tasting. You’ll see tasting prices anywhere from $30 – $90 per person. As you are looking up wineries, most will have a “visit” page where you can see what the tasting cost will be.
- Rating/Recommendation: As a last deciding option, check out the rating on Google. I tend to read a few at 5 stars, a few in the middle, and a few bad reviews for any given place to see what it’s like. Looking at visitor pictures can also give you a true sense of the experience. You can also ask on social media if anyone has been to the area before and if they have recommendations.
- Atmosphere: Since I just mentioned taking a look at visitor pictures, another way I narrow down my list is to figure out what kind of winery scenery and atmosphere I’m looking for. Do you want an upscale and grand? Boutique and quaint? A beautiful view?
If you really want the “easy button” – book a tour! I love Get Your Guide and Airbnb Experiences to book a tour.
Where to Eat in Napa Valley
There are so many options for food in Napa Valley! You can find upscale, casual, fast casual, food markets, and more.
I travel on a budget, so the places I will be recommending are based on a modest budget.
Oxbow Market: With so much variety under one roof, this really is one to check out. Food options include pizza, tacos, oysters, burgers, bakery goods, coffee, a cheese shop, and a small shop with produce. Highly recommend stopping at C Casa for breakfast tacos (one of the best I’ve ever had and I am from the breakfast taco state of Texas!). The coffee at Ritual Coffee was absolutely delicious as well.
You can pick up items to make your own picnic here, which is what we did! I grabbed cheese, salami, olives, grapes, and crackers – which is a great budget friendly option. Pro tip – tell the cheese shop at check out that you’re having a picnic and they will set you up with plates, napkins, and utensils!
Model Bakery: Locations include Oxbow Market and St. Helena. We stopped at the one in St. Helena for lunch to try to avoid some of the crowds. I had a veggie sandwich that was great, husband had a slice of pizza that hit the spot. We got a few takeaway pastries but they were a little dry by the next morning, so I recommend eating them same day!
Gott’s Roadside: Locations include St. Helena and Oxbow Market. If you like a good burger and fries combo, you’ll love Gott’s. They also have salads, tacos, and milkshakes. I got the falafel salad and tried a taste of the burger which was really good. Fries were also yummy.
Napa General Store: Part restaurant, part gift shop this is a nice stop. We had brunch here on a rainy Sunday. The food was fresh and the portion sizes were big. The skillet potatoes were the best part! I also bought a few gifts to bring home. I love dual purpose locations!
Other food recommendations in Napa Valley that I didn’t have a chance to check out, but heard good things about:
St. Helena: Goose & Gander, TraVinge, and Farmstead
Rutherford/Napa: Rutherford Grill, Bounty Hunter, and La Taberna
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Napa Valley Pro Tips
Here are some pro tips for Napa Valley to help during your visit!
- Make reservations! You will want to make reservations not only for every winery you visit but also for restaurants. Places book up weeks in advance, so plan accordingly.
- Allow a good amount of time between tastings – you’ll want to explore each property, and also have enough time to get in between each spot.
Conclusions
Napa Valley can be affordable if you take some time to research and plan a bit! I have to say it wasn’t as “stuffy” as I thought it might be, and I really look forward to going back again.
Don’t forget to use the tools below to help with your Napa Valley travel planning:
Hotels: Booking.com
Vacation Rentals: VRBO
Tours: Get Your Guide
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One Comment
Brandon
Lots of great tips throughout this entire post! Napa is such a magical place with so much to choose from. Definitely don’t skip out on making reservations, otherwise you’ll miss out on a lot of experiences.