Welcome to my Sonoma Valley guide for first timer’s! This guide is about my experience and how it might help you to navigate Sonoma for the first time. This is in no way a complete guide, just personal advice I love to share! My husband and I fell in love with Sonoma for the first time in 2017 for our honeymoon. Ever since then we have been back to Sonoma about 10 times. We have also been to Napa but prefer Sonoma every time because it is way more laid back and quaint.I highly recommend taking a trip to Wine Country especially to support them after the devastating fires they had to endure.

Where to Stay

The Fairmont Mission Inn and Spa: is a pink palace located just about an 8 minute drive from Downtown Sonoma Plaza. My husband and I have also walked to downtown when in pleasant weather it is about a 45 minute walk. The rooms are so cozy and many of them have fireplaces. The spa is one of my favorites with two gorgeous geothermal mineral outdoor pools and indoor spa area. I recommend eating at the restaurant Sante while you are there it is a must do.

MacArthur Place: This hotel is also a winner because it is located very close within walking distance of downtown. It is a beautiful hotel that also has a great relaxing pool area and restaurant. The rooms are so nice as well, we had an outdoor shower on our deck!

Downtown Sonoma

Downtown Sonoma Plaza is a square full of quaint restaurants, shops, bars, and of course tasting rooms. You won’t find chains down here everything is locally owned.

Tasting Rooms

Pangloss- This tasting room is a partner winery with Repris so if you are a member of Repris you can get a tasting for free here!

Roche- A great place for a quick tasting with friendly staff that give heavy pours!

Couchon- My favorite tasting room on the plaza with fantastic cheese plates.

Jeff Cohn Cellars- Great small wine room with super friendly staff.

Spragia Family Wines- Honestly I got tipsy here so it was a good time and that is all I remember!

Sozie- A new tasting room on the downtown courtyard.

The Beacon- If you are sick 0f wine this hidden speakeasy is the best cocktail bar in town!

Where to eat

La Salette

Sunflower Cafe

Tasca Tasca

Della Santina’s

El Dorado Kitchen

The girl and The fig

HEALDSBURG

Healdsburg is another beautiful place to stay in Sonoma county. I think that Healdsburg is kind of like a great mix of both both downtown Sonoma and downtown Napa. It is both bougie and rustic at the same time. If you fly into Charles M. Shultz airport it is only about a 15 minute drive, but often there are not that many flights.

Where to stay

H2 Hotel- An eco-friendly hotel that is right downtown and within walking distance to the plaza.

Harmon House- Also owned by H2 with a fantastic rooftop.

Hotel Le Mars- A beautiful French style chateau directly downtown.

Where to Eat and Drink

Guiso- One of the best latin restaurants I have every been to. The chef is super young but so talented, as his grandmother in the kitchen.

Campo Fina- Incredible wood fired pizza and fresh pasta.

Bravas de Tapas bar- An amazing tapas restaurant, everything we had was unique and so good.

Barndiva- A french style restaurant inside of a rustic barn.

Spoonbar- A great local hotel restaurant inside the H2.

Harmon Rooftop- A beautiful rooftop located in the Harmon Hotel with views of the mountains.

Wineries

There are countless wineries to choose from in Sonoma Valley and the surrounding areas. Here are some of our favorites:

Lancaster- A beautiful winery in Alexander Valley. All of their wines are excellent and they have a wine cave that is something out of Lord of the Rings.

Kunde- I loved this tour so much! Request the hill top tour and they take you up to the best view for the wine tasting outside.

Chateau St. Jean- A gorgeous winery that definitely makes you feel like you are in France! I recommend the reserve tasting outside on the patio.

Scribe- This beautiful winery is located in a Spanish style house. It has a very farm to table approach with a chef prepared light meal with your wine tasting.

Repris- This is a small vineyard boutique winery but the wines are so incredible. They do a wonderful tasting by starting with taking you up to the vineyards in an ATV, a tour of the wine caves, and then a tasting with cheese in their wine room.

Ledson- This winery is in a huge Gothic style chateau and the wine are so unique.

Buena Vista- The oldest winery in all of Wine Country founded in 1857. You really do get the feel that you are back in time. The tour is super outrageous and not what you would expect at all, I will leave you wondering.

Gundlach Bundschu- The second oldest winery still owned and operated by the family and of the most impressive wine caves I have been to!

Hamel- A modern boutique vineyard. They will set you up with a chef driven private tasting inside their dining room overlooking the vineyards. The best rose I have ever had!

NAPA

I cannot really create such a guide without at least mentioning Napa Valley. Napa is a lot more touristy and commercial than Sonoma and the downtown is kind of small and not as quaint, yet I still enjoy it of course when we go. I have only been to Napa twice and stayed in Downtown Napa once so I am not really an expert on it but I can show you a few great places we went to.

Where to Stay

There are not that many hotels in Downtown Napa but we stayed at The Archer. It was a really nice hotel with great rooftop and we had a huge outdoor terrace with fireplace. There is also the Andaz which is on the same block. You can also stay in the many resorts outside of downtown.

Where to eat

Model Bakery- Honestly it is worth it just to come to Napa for this bakery. They have the best breakfast sandwiches made with their famous english muffins.

Tarla Mediterranean- Great Middle Eastern food and also the manager of the restaurant is a hoot.

Torc- Delicious farm to table cuisine served tapas style.

Oenotri- We went here years ago but it was a delicious Italian restaurant downtown.

Angele- A French bistro style restaurant right on the water, beautiful views and great traditional food.

Wineries

Darioush- Worth going to just for the massive Persian estate but the wine is also spectacular as are the bottles they come in.

Domaine Carneros- If you love bubbles they have excellent sparkling wine but it is very touristy so make sure you reserve ahead of time.

Ashes and Diamonds- A sister property to Darioush but could not be more different. This winery is super modern and they do an excellent cheese pairing.