Napa has always been one of my favorite places in the world to visit and after visiting a few times in the last few years I’ve nailed down my necessary to do list every time I visit! So I wanted to pull together a few of my favorite recommendations for a weekend guide to Napa Valley, including my favorite wineries, restaurants, places to see and more!

Napa has always had a special place in my heart, and I’ve been very fortunate to have visited a few times over the past few years, either for weddings, vacations or a quick day trip from San Francisco when I often visited a few years ago. When COVID got better earlier this year, I vowed to plan a trip somewhere in the US that felt like a bit of an indulgence – and Napa instantly popped to the top of my list! Since I’ve been lucky to go a few times (and get lots of recommendations from locals), I wanted to pull together my recommendations for a weekend guide in Napa Valley.

A few things to note about our trip – I had a lot of extra vacation days with work so we opted to visit Napa during the week when we knew the wineries were going to be a little less crowded. We booked hotels and wineries from Sunday through Thursday, and averaged about 2-3 wineries per day so we could spread out our tastings (and drive our rental car around, rather than book a super expensive private car). It was the perfect pace for us, and there’s a lot that you can generally squeeze into a weekend experience too! 

A Weekend Guide to Napa Valley

What Wineries To Visit:

What everyone really wants to do in Napa is find the best wineries (and ideally ones that aren’t too expensive to book!) We spent half our trip in Napa and the other half of our trip in St. Helena, so we got a nice spread of wineries around the area. We visited a few of my favorite wineries from previous trips, but also sprinkled in a few new ones too!

Freemark Abbey: The first winery we stopped at, which was especially fitting since Freemark Abbey is one of the oldest wineries in Napa. We did the standard tasting, and it was especially fantastic because it came as a free tasting through staying at the Harvest Inn. The winery has a fascinating history, and had one of the first female winemakers in Napa, Josephine Tychson, who took over the winery once her husband died of tuberculosis in the late 1800’s.  Everyone who worked at Freemark was lovely, and we even got a personalized menu when they greeted us (“party of Ms. McDonald”, so sweet!) We got a bottle of the Ted’s blend (named after their longstanding winemaker) and their Sauvignon Blanc – both of which we’re excited to drink soon! ($50 PP through Tok – but free with our stay)

Silverado: This is one of my all-time favorite wineries, not just for the absolutely gorgeous views of Napa, but also because they make some of my all-time favorite wines. Grab a table on the patio and enjoy a sunny tasting of some of Silverado’s best wines – including their amazing sauvignon blanc (one of my favorites and super affordable!) and their super delicious cabernet sauvignons. We had an amazing guide while we were there, and it felt like they spent a lot of time giving you the history of the winery, sharing a few extra pours of their favorite wines, and we had a really lovely conversation about the area and working in the wine industry! ($60 PP reservations through Tock) 

Alpha Omega: One of the most beautiful wineries we went to, Alpha Omega was one of our favorite spots (and new wineries we tried for the first time!) We sat in the back of the winery overlooking their beautiful pool (with vineyards on the rolling mountains in the background) and it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. We bought a fancy Cab while we were there (the 2018) and since we also got the tasting free through Harvest Inn we felt like our wine basically paid for itself 🙂 ($50 PP through Tok – but free with our stay)

Darioush: This was a nice suggestion from Ray, but Darioush was also a highlight of our trip! Darioush was founded by a Persian family who made their money after immigrating to the US and opened a chain of Latino grocery stores around LA (a truly inspiring American dream story!) – they make incredible wine, and the tasting room is insanely gorgeous and looks like a Persian castle. Plus, the family that founded the winery lives in the basement of the tasting room! ($65 PP tasting menu, with tasting fees applied to a purchase of wine)

Paradouxx: One of my favorite more casual wineries to visit, Paradouxx makes delicious wine at an affordable price point, and their back patio is perfect for a sunny day in the valley. We did the tasting menu and our host Harrison gave us a few more very generous additional pours. All the tastings come with a cheese and cracker plate too, and they give you recommendations of the best pairings to try. We bought a bottle of the Migration Pinot Noir, as well as a few whites to balance out our growing reds collection.

Clif Family Winery: Another free tasting from staying at Harvest Inn, we loved visiting Clif Family for a free glass of wine and bruschetta from their super cute bruchetta truck! We didn’t realize that the winery was owned by the Clif Family (aka the Clif Bar family) until we realized the logo was the same as the energy bar! We sat at the bar and chatted with the staff while we all watched the Giants game, and it was the perfect laid back atmosphere. They also have a gorgeous patio in the back that’s perfect for a sunny day. We bought a few bottles of white and loved that the wines were realtively affordable compared to some of the other wineries we’d been to.

Faust Hous: Probably my favorite winery visit of the trip was our last at Faust Hous, which was our last winery of the trip. The beautiful tasting room building and patio is situated on top of a mountain, so you get an amazing, full view of St. Helena and the beautiful vineyards. It was also aesthetically the most beautiful space we went to – and had some very cool mid-century, colorful art energy that was the perfect compliment to the sophisticated but approachable wines. We loved the Merlot so much, we convinced them to sell us a super limited edition bottle.

Where to Stay:

We were in the area for about 5 days, so we broke up our stay across two hotels. While in Napa, we stayed at Napa Valley Lodge, one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve stayed at in recent years. We had a gorgeous room that overlooked the vineyards on the property, and a fireplace that we lit up and fell asleep to at night. There was also a really gorgeous pool we lounged around in for an afternoon, and they even had bocce ball court! We also loved their daily continental breakfast that was included in our stay and always looked forward to making our own waffles every morning. I couldn’t recommend Napa Valley Lodge enough if you’re looking for a centrally located hotel right in the heart of Napa.

We also loved Harvest Inn in St. Helena for the second leg of our trip and also loved the property. The hotel has a series of cabins around the property and we ended up staying on the second floor of one of the ones closest to the vineyards on the property. It was the perfect location in St. Helena (right by Model Bakery and Gott’s Roadside!) and we were super close to a ton of the wineries we wanted to stay at. We also loved that the hotel had a relationship with a lot of the local wineries, so we were able to get free tastings at a lot of places just by mentioning that we were staying at the Harvest Inn. We’d also highly recommend their dinner (a local friend of ours said it was one of the best meals she’s had in the area, and also the best value too!). When we went there were three of us, and we got a panzanella salad, garlic potato soup, main of chicken and salmon, as well as a really tasty mousse desert for $60 per person.

Where to Eat:

It feels impossible to narrow down my favorite restaurants, but I had to pick just a few of my favorites for our weekend guide to Napa Valley! But if I had to choose, here are a few of my must visits –

For Breakfast:

Model Bakery: I’ll be honest we didn’t eat breakfast too often, but when we did – we usually went to Model Bakery. They’re known for their amazing homemade English muffin’s (they’re one of Oprah’s favorite things!), but we loved to go there for Stumptown coffee and a breakfast sandwich or burrito in the morning.

When we were staying at Napa Valley Lodge, the Continental Breakfast was delicious – so we didn’t feel the need to go out to eat (and enjoyed lots of homemade waffles, a hot bar, and bagels and loxs!

Station Coffee: Another recommendation from a local, we ordered lattes during the mornings  before we went on some wine tastings. They had a really tasty spread of baked goods and also had a few made to order breakfast items that looked delicious!

For Lunch:

Gott’s Roadside: No weekend guide to Napa valley is complete without including Gott’s! One of the most iconic fast-casual restaurants in the area, Gott’s Roadside was all that it was cracked up to be. Known for their tasty burgers and poke tacos, we stopped at Gotts a few days for a quick and tasty lunch. Also, don’t sleep on the cheese fries – they were incredible (and super needed after a few wine tastings!)

R+D Kitchen: We ended up going here for drinks with a friend around lunchtime, but it turned out to be a highly recommended spot for lunch and dinner too! We ordered drinks and the sushi as a bit of an appetizer before dinner at another spot close by a few hours later – but we’d go back for a full meal in the future!

Oxbow Public Market: A local food hall in the Napa area, we swung by Oxbow a few times for quick and tasty lunch from a few of their vendors. If you want to try the best of Napa/St. Helena, Oxbow has “the greatest hits” of the area all in one place – from Gotts, to Model Bakery, to Hog Island Oyster.

For Dinner:

Bistro Don Giovanni: This was a recommendation from a friend who had recently visited, but it was another restaurant we wish we could have gone to again and again. Bistro Don Giovanni is a gorgeous Italian restaurant that specializes in homemade pastas and Italian staples. We had a cute table at their twinkle lit back patio, and it’s BYOB so we brought one of the white bottles of wine from our tastings. We ordered the calamari and Mandili Pesto which was one of the tastiest pastas I’ve ever had. Definitely making this restaurant a must visit anytime I visit in the future!

Harvest Table at Harvest Inn: I already raved about Harvest Table at Harvest Inn with my hotel recommendations – but thought it was worth a re-mention here! It’s a delicious shared tasting menu that’s $60 per person, and dubbed by a few locals as the best meal for the value in the area. We loved it and would go back in a heartbeat!

Goose and Gander: We got this restaurant recommendation from a friend who lives in St. Helena, and we got a last minute reservation in their downstairs, speakeasy restaurant. We ordered the risotto (a side, but was super filling), chicken wings and the burger – all of which were delicious. The cocktails were also some of the best we had while in Napa too!

I could go on and on on why I love Napa, but I’m hoping this weekend guide to Napa Valley inspires you for your next trip to the area! I’m always available if you have any questions while you’re planning your visit, so feel free to shoot me an email at charminglystyled@gmail.com! And if you have any recommendations of your favorite places to you – please let me know! I’m always looking to update my weekend guide to Napa Valley too! xx