• Wineries and wine tasting
  

  
  Napa and Sonoma Valleys are considered one of the world's premier wine regions. Today Napa Valley features more than 450 wineries that grow grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Merlot, and Zinfandel; Sonoma features about 250 wineries Most popular wineries in Napa include Joseph Phelps, Domaine Carneros, Silverado, Staggs Leap, and Artesa. In Sonoma, it is St. Francis, Arrowood, Benziger, etc.
  
  

• Fine dining
  

  
  Napa Valley has 7 Michelin-starred restaurants -- more than New York or Paris. Two of them, The French Laundry in Yountville and The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena have 3 stars, the highest ranking. Other notable restaurants in Napa include Bistro Jeaunty, Redd, etc. Best restaurants in Sonoma include Madrona Manor, Cucina Paradiso, etc.
  
  

• Yountville
  

  
  These days Yountville is something like Disneyland for food lovers. It all started with Thomas Keller's French Laundry, one of the best restaurants in the United States. Yountville is full of small inns and luxurious hotels catering to those who prefer to be able to stagger a short distance home after a decadent dinner. But it's also well located for excursions to big-name Napa wineries.
  
  

• St. Helena
  

  
  Downtown St. Helena is a symbol of how well life can be lived in the Wine Country. Sycamore trees arch over Main Street (Highway 29), where chic-looking visitors flit between boutiques, cafés, and storefront tasting rooms housed in sun-faded redbrick buildings. Genteel St. Helena pulls in rafts of Wine Country tourists during the day, though like most Wine Country towns it more or less rolls up the sidewalks after dark.
  
  

• Healdsburg
  

  
  Healdsburg is the most convenient base for exploring the northern reaches of Sonoma County. Not only does it have an easily walkable town center, swanky hotels, and a remarkable restaurant scene, but it's at the confluence of the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander valleys, three of Northern Sonoma's blockbuster appellations.
  
  

• Calistoga hot springs and spas
  

  
  False-fronted shops, 19th-century hotels, and unpretentious cafés lining the main drag give Calistoga a slightly rough-and-tumble feel that's unique in the Napa Valley. The area is peppered with hot springs and even has a geyser. Visitors are coming to "take the waters," supporting a sprinkling of small hotels and bathhouses built wherever a hot spring bubbled to the surface. You can come for an old-school experience of a mud bath or a dip in a warm spring-fed pool.
  
  

• Napa, the city
  

  
  The up-and-coming city of Napa—the valley's largest community—is the best place to find (relatively) reasonably priced accommodations. One of the Napa Valley's recent success stories is the transformation of Napa, its largest and oldest city (population 80,000), into a spry, hip destination with cool nightspots and affordable lodgings. Although it's definitely a work in progress—you'll still find empty storefronts amid the wine bars, bookstores, and restaurants—Napa attracts more visitors every year.
  
  

• Bicycle Tour
  

  
  Thanks to the scenic country roads winding through the region, bicycling is a nearly perfect way to get around the Wine Country. Whether you're interested in an easy spin to a few wineries or a strenuous haul up a mountainside, there's a way to make it happen.
  
  

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