For our 5 year anniversary, my husband and I decided to explore NAPA VALLEY for the first time, and it was so incredible. Here is our itinerary + tips we would give anyone planning their first trip to Napa too!
Even though I was only about 3.5 months postpartum, we really wanted to find a way to get away for the weekend to celebrate US. The two that started it all. Here’s some really good words on that and really prioritizing your marriage above all — which can be hard in this season of littles for sure. And we are SO for bringing the kids with you too, I mean my 2yo son had been on 40 flights and to 4 different countries before his first birthday. But I also am seeing how important it is to get away as just husband and wife for short periods too. I think there are “family trips” that are for the memories together as a whole unit. And then special trips for strengthening and refreshing your marriage, to just have fun together vs being in mom and dad mode – at least for us! Not to mention traveling with a toddler is a littttle harder, so if we’re going to line up care for him for some of the trips, might as well leave her too!
Anyways, with not being pregnant anymore, I really wanted to sneak in a trip to Napa Valley before ever getting pregnant again, and this was a perfect location that was still in the country/not TOO far away from our little ones, and could be done in a long weekend (since that’s about the frozen milk supply I had and length I feel ok leaving them for right now!)
My husband is the PLANNER in our marriage, so I can’t take much credit for our itinerary except for writing this post to share it with you all haha, same goes for our Europe trip when our son was just 6 months old (took him with us!), that I shared all the details of right here. So if you’re wanting to bring your baby with you, that post outlines ALL the must haves for baby travel too. But for this solo trip as just parents, I wanted to write down what we had PLANNED and then what we ended up actually doing, plus what we would change or add to our next trip that we didn’t have time for this time!
My husband is a BIG planner, so after a lot of research, here is both our PLANNED Napa Valley first timer itinerary, any changes we made while there, and what we would 100% recommend vs not do if we could do it over!
We had SUCH a blast, and would 10/10 recommend a trip here if you haven’t and you like wine (or want to gain a greater appreciation for it!)
Some up front Napa Valley tips:
- We splurged on where we stayed, and it was 110% worth it! Some of our favorite memories of the trip was just the early mornings we spent walking the absolutely stunning property or biking into the nearby town for coffee and breakfast, before starting the planned out day! It was super secluded and almost felt like you were in North Carolina or something. The service was also great!
- We were told only do 2 wineries a day, and after putting 3 on the calendar one day just because it was our one full day for them, I’d agree with that rec! It just felt a little rushed, and by the 3rd, you were kind of past the point of wanting to do a tasting again.
Our 5 Year Anniversary Trip Itinerary:
- Location: Napa Valley
- Date: May 24th-27th
- Fly Into: San Francisco airport
- Hotel: Meadowood Napa Valley – a splurge but totally worth it!
- Weather: was PERFECT this time of year, chilly in morning and evening but warm during day.
- Also not TOO crowded like it is in Fall.
- Some travel Amazon favorites right here
- As a breastfeeding mama away from her 3 month old, I love THESE wearable pumps and followed the same schedule I’d nurse her back home, pumping about every 3hr!
view from The Bar at Auberge du Soleil
Our Planned + Actual Itinerary:
Friday:
PLANNED: 7am flight from FL with 1:30pm arrival in San Fran for time for lunch/ to visit Pier 39 – and explore a little before driving into Napa for our 4pm winery reservation
- ACTUAL: Both flights had major delays and didn’t get in until close to 4pm. We just parked and walked through pier 39 for a short time. I will say, San Fran is like any big city, and that’s not really my vibe/desired vacation, so I didn’t mind not having much time to spend here. Brandon did get a pier corndog as we saw the stinky seals all sunbathing lol, and we also stopped at the sourdough bread company on the pier to get a little cute turtle sourdough roll to tie us over until dinner.
PLANNED: Drive 1.5hr to Napa for Domaine Carneros Winery: reservation at 4pm
- ACTUAL: missed this reservation due to flight delay and then rush hour traffic — do NOT try to arrive in SF during rush hour, it doubles your driving time from 1.5 hours to over 2.5 hours.
- We did drive by this winery and it is certainly stunning, but it was definitely a tourist hot spot due to it’s beauty vs some of the more intimate tastings we did other places. But if you want a pretty photo, it’s a beautiful spot!
PLANNED: Check into Meadowood hotel before dinner to freshen up first, right down the road
- We had to change from travel clothes to dinner clothes in our rental car before heading straight to dinner because of the flight delays haha, and then checked in after dinner!
PLANNED: Dinner- The Bar at Auberge du Soleil 7pm
- We actually made this one! First real meal of the day and it did not disappoint.
- Amazing food and views! The bar area is less fancy and not a coursed meal like the restaurant is.
Every night we lit the fireplace in our room to fall asleep to the warmth and crackling of the fire – and I still dream about it today haha! They would also leave a new little treat of some kind on our bed nightly.
Saturday:
PLANNED: morning hike or walk before first winery reservation at 9:30am
- Actual: we did an early morning quick walk to see pool + fitness center (after I got up and pumped since I’m away from my 3mo old – I did this every 3hr!), then biked (hotel had these available!) into St. Helena between 630-830am. It was SUCH a fun little bike ride and exploration morning, still one of my favorite memories of the trip because it was just such a last minute little fun thing! We grabbed coffee / light bites at Model Bakery (basically the only thing open that early, even though we didn’t have time to shop anyways!). Their lavender latte is delicious and so is their turkey and brie sandwich which they serve at breakfast even though it’s on their lunch menu! We split that to have some good food in our body but not overdo it since we were going to want to grab little bites at many places throughout the day!
PLANNED: Caymus– Tasting *$50/pp at 9:30am – 1.5-2hrs
- Actual: We made this one and it did NOT disappoint. I would 10/10 recommend this as anyone’s first winery stop of the day if you haven’t been before. It was a super intimate, secluded experience, and the woman who did our tasting had been with Caymus for over 20 years so we learned a TON, which we were both really wanting out of it! Not to mention their wines are incredible. We ended up buying their special bottle since it was delicious and made in 2019, which was our wedding year, and plan to age it for 10 years before opening on our 15th! They also will put your $50/pp towards any wine, so you basically get your tasting for free if you buy a bottle!
PLANNED: V. Sattui for light bites/marketplace (not the wine though)
- Actual: I’m glad we stopped in, but we heard at other wineries it’s not the best wine, and I’d agree just from the looks. The sandwiches we grabbed to go were great though! We are just more of a “don’t go to the touristy places” type people when traveling (as you see in our europe trip too), and this one was definitely a more tourist stop.
PLANNED: Louis Martini – Cheese board + tasting $55/pp – 1pm
- Actual: another incredible stop and 10/10 recommendation. We got the cheeseboard with this tasting and it was delicious paired with the wines. They are also known for their cabernets, and they did NOT disappoint. The man who did our tasting was more our age with one little kid too, but had just passed his level 2 exam in the wine world, so knew a lot and was able to answer ALL the questions. We also bought their top 2019 bottle here too, and they shipped for free back home to us, again comping our tasting fee.
PLANNED: Chateau Montelena at 3:30pm – Tasting $60/pp – 45min-1hr
- We did make this one too, but this was the most touristy, less intimate tasting of the day. Now it WAS a beautiful castle-like building and property, but they definitely capitalized on that and made it a more touristy stop. Tasting experience was more rushed and wasn’t as intimate as first two which was my favorite part of the others (learning about the wines 1-1 with someone and really enjoying each one). Also having a 3rd winery stop was a little much, we were a bit over wine by that point. If we had a full other day, we would have put two one day and two the other — I think two is the perfect amount each day!
PLANNED: Explore Calistoga/St. Helena for a little – cute little town to walk around
- We fit this is really quickly even though we didn’t have much time before dinner!
PLANNED: Dinner at Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch 6pm
- Actual: we ended up getting a ton of apps at Farmstead to split, and even though it wasn’t “bad”, it wasn’t anything super amazing either (both of our opinions). Their mac n cheese, goat cheese and beet salad, wings and ham sliders were what we got — and everything else was pretty good!! But the ham sliders were a little disappointing since they were actually prosciutto type ham, which brandon doesn’t really like — just wish they would have told us that it was that type of ham haha. Brandon was still hungry after all the apps, so we walked across the street on the way back to hotel and he grabbed a Gotts Roadside Grill Burger — the big mistake haha.
- Unfortunately he then proceeded to get food poisoning from the burger around 2am (we shared everything else all day long and I didn’t get sick so we narrowed it down to that haha).
the big food poisoning mistake lol
Sunday:
- We planned to do:
- Explore Yountville – stop in at Bouchon Bakery
- Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars: Cellar Tour + Food ($125/pp) 10:30am
- Explore downtown Napa – Oxbow Public Market/Riverwalk
- BottleRock VIP Concert (Norah Jones – 5pm, Ed Sheeran – 8:15pm)
Butttt, because Brandon had food poisoning and wasn’t feeling hot that morning at all, the plans changed drastically, even though we made such a good day out of it anyways and he thankfully did a full 180 by concert time which was the most exciting plan of the day!
Actual Sunday:
- I did an early morning walk around property by myself and let him rest a little + he rallied to do our short bike again into St. Helena, but we didn’t stop at the cafe since I could tell he was not feeling good at all. My trusty tripod and me:
- He was still sick and severely dehydrated, so I called around to every IV bar place and found an IV bar in Sonoma that was open, so instead of going to Stag’s Cellar Tour (they thankfully let us cancel and refunded us!) & Napa for the day, we drove to Sonoma and I dropped him off at the IV bar while I walked around the cute little area and found a fun little tasting room.
- ps: if you ever need IV whether it was food poisoning like B or too much to drink or get any kind of sickness, Vital Fusions in Sonoma was amazing, and the man and woman there were so sweet! Those things truly do bring you back to life if fully out of it – like after a stomach bug or food poisoning, it’s the only reason B was still able to enjoy himself later in day thankfully!
- Explore Sonoma / Pangloss tasting room
- Sonoma wasn’t on our itinerary this trip at all, but hey, everything happens for a reason and it was fun getting to see a little of Sonoma for the day even though I’m sure the cellar tour would have been AMAZING. Sonoma is known more for their chardonnay and pinot noir, which are actually my favorites!
- While he got the IV, I walked around Sonoma for a little to all the cute stores and then came across Pangloss tasting room for a little wine tasting
- Brandon began to feel good enough post IV to stay out and about with me, but definitely wasn’t eating or drinking much that day. So after I did the tasting at Pangloss, I got a quick casual lunch across from next winery we wanted to quickly stop by for the views
- Gloria Ferrer: I didn’t want to do another tasting, but I just grabbed a glass of wine so we could enjoy the beautiful view out back in the lounge chairs for a little and relax in the breezy fresh air — what I love and B needed haha! They are known for their champagne, but since I don’t love champagne, I got the chardonnay which they are also known for, since that is what they make their champagne out of!
- BottleRock Concert VIP (Norah Jones – 5pm, Ed Sheeran – 8:15pm)
- thank goodness Brandon began getting a second wind and feeling better later afternoon, just as we were suppose to head into Napa for the concert. And by the time we were walking in, he felt like a new person and great again — answer to prayer because we were both SO excited to see Ed Sheeran and I really wanted him to be able to enjoy it!
- Ed Sheeran is SO GOOD LIVE. 10/10 recommend seeing him in concert if ever possible!!
Monday:
Leave hotel early to get to SFA around 7 for our 9am flight.
Thoughts/Tips Post Trip:
- The trip seemed a little short only because of our huge delay and long travel day Friday, which took away most of the day, had it gone as planned, and the food poisoning hadn’t happened, I think it would have felt like the perfect amount of time there!
- Avoid rush hour – it’ll double your 1:30hr drive to Napa from SFA airport.
- Most wineries offer just a tasting, a tasting + charcuterie board, or a full tour — I would do a full tour (more expensive) at least at one of the places and then just do tastings at most others.
- Things we missed that we would want to do next time:
- Explore downtown Napa
- Stags Leap Wine Cellars – Cellar Tour: I would have LOVED to do a cellar tour at one of the places, and we were supposed to do it here but it was the food poisoning morning and that was the last thing B could handle doing while actively clearing his entire system out. We did hear this one is no longer family owned, so I don’t know if another would have been a better one to do the full cellar tour?
- Domaine Carneros winery – we drove past it and it did look a little touristy, but was a beautiful place so I see why! Rush hour traffic + flight delays caused us to miss this one the first night in Napa.
- Wineries we LOVED:
- Caymus and Louis Martini: we had amazing people who walked us through each wine at both and it was honestly just such an amazing experience all around from the actual wine, to the conversations and things we learned about wine, to just a more intimate secluded area we got to enjoy being together.
- If you’re looking for good views: Domaine Carneros is a good more touristy stop! But almost all wineries have beautiful vineyards to look out to!
- Wineries not on our list this time, but would love to try next time:
- Kenzo! This was a top rec from my brother in law who’s been out to Napa Valley multiple times, and would love to visit that next time
- Macrostie: this one was far away from all others so it just didn’t make sense to go to, but it looks STUNNING
- Recs from my sister who lives in CA and has been often!
- Ashes & Diamonds for lunch and tasting
- Scribe (Sonoma)
- Far Niente
- mumm napa (if just one champagne then domaine carneros, but good second)
- Duckhorn
- Frog’s Leap
- Del Dotto (lots of wine my sister told me haha)
- Artesa
- Donum Estate (Sonoma)
- Meals: restoration hardware Yountville, Charter Oak in St Helena, Bottega (Yountville), Bouchon, Ad Hoc Yountville, Girl & The Fig (Sonoma)
- Ones someone at the other winery told us to consider that don’t need reservations:
- Sterling
- Rhombauer
- Sequoia Grove
All in all, this area has over 400 wineries and you really can’t go wrong — they all are great! But I would 100% recommend the things above and planning your own trip to Napa Valley – it was so fun! Come say hey over on instagram right here 🙂