San Fran/Napa/Yosemite

So it looks like the next trip my bf and i take will be in august to san fran/napa/yosemite..

Does anyone have any hotel recs?
Wine recs?

Also..when you go to Napa, I know we'll prob be drinking a decent amount, so I'm pretty sure driving isn't the greatest idea-how do you handle this?

tia!

Re: San Fran/Napa/Yosemite

We stayed at the Orchard Hotel in San Fran.. the Marriott is nice too.. close to Chinatown and Union Square.

We visited a few wineries.. and no issue with driving part.. you don't really "drink" you taste.. kwim? Also, try to check out Sonoma wineries if you can.. we liked them a lot as well.

As for wineries, Sterling, Mondavi.. a few more. They all close around 5 or 6 pm.. and "famous" ones like Castello di Amorosa have a ton of people visiting so you must map out your wineries in advance.. especially if there any "musts" on your list.

I love San Fran.. enjoy!! Make sure you walk across the bridge

Re: San Fran/Napa/Yosemite

We did this exact trip in early June 2008.

Here's a brief synopsis of our trip:

We spent 8 days in California last June.

We went to San Fran, Napa and Yosemite. We rented a car, had our GPS and hit the highways for a California roadtrip (after flying to CA of course!).

Here's a list of things we did in each city. We spent a few days in each city and spaced our trip out nicely.

San Francisco
- San Francisco city tour - saw major tourist sites (Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Nob Hill, Sausalito, etc.)
- Alcatraz tour - need to book in advance
- Checked out Fisherman's Wharf
- SF Giants baseball game at AT&T park
- We also did a lot of walking and site-seeing on our own

Napa Valley
- We were going to do a tour, but we decided to just spend the two days we had there driving up and down the valley visiting whatever vineyards we felt like. We took some tours of certain vineyards, other places we just did some tastings. Very nice there.

Yosemite
- We signed up for a couple of tours before arriving. We did the Walking Photo Tour and the Valley Floor Tour. I'd recommend the Valley Floor Tour. They take you around the Valley Floor in an open-top trolley and point out some beautiful sites.
- Also went to Glacier Point on our own. The view was breathtaking.

After Yosemite, we headed back to San Fran and went to a Oakland A's baseball game. Then back to NY the next day.

-------------------------------------------

I also posted a review with pictures when we got back:
California Trip


We used our Hilton Rewards points and stayed at Hilton hotels in San Fran and Napa. I forget where we stayed at Yosemite. It was a small hotel outside the park entrance. It wasn't fancy, but good enough.


It was a great trip with great memories!

Re: San Fran/Napa/Yosemite

We just got back from a tour down the CA coast. It was amazing!! However, we didnt want to drive around Napa and Sonoma (I recommend doing both- Sonoma's cheaper and a little more laid back- and just as good). We did a bus tour for the day (against my wishes). It kind of suckked- we went to SUTTER HOME!!! I fly all the way across the friggin country to go to sutter home (among other wineries of course)!!! They took us to Sonoma Square for lunch. Tons of delicious restaurants, super busy!

Go to Limon in the Mission District. Absolutely delicious Peruvian food. The rain totally screwed with us in SF but make sure you go over the bridge.

We stayed at the Hilton which we got on Priceline or the other website where you bid- hotels.com? It was perfect. Centrally located, clean. No problems.

And, although you didnt mention this in your plan, I highly recommend the 17 mile drive and a night in Big Sur. It was the most amazing drive/ experience of my life!!

HTH