We like Sonoma. Enough so that we made our third trip (2011, 2013) in late February. On each visit we’ve had good luck with the weather, and this trip was the best yet with sunny days and temps in the high 60s. As with our first visit, this trip was instigated by a Jetsetter deal on the Applewood Inn, and then combined with a 2-for-1 deal on Southwest Airlines to Oakland (companion pass FTW!). We spent three nights in Guerneville enjoying Sonoma, this time trying out the Dry Creek and Alexander Valley wine regions in addition to the Russian River Valley. We definitely preferred the vibe of Santa Rosa to Healdsburg, which felt a bit posh for our taste.
We spent our final day driving through Sebastopol and out to the coast, before driving on to Oakland which allowed us to see friends that moved to the area and positioned us for our Monday afternoon return flight.
Clearly, we enjoyed our first stay enough that we returned for a second stay. This time around we had room #14, Montalcino, which was larger than the room on our first trip. The room size was good with a small loveseat near a gas fireplace (lovely when the temperature dropped at night) and a large, comfortable bed.
The bathroom was a little strange, as there is no proper shower, just a large tub with a handheld showerhead. Another issue were the curtains over the windows behind the tub as they only covered the bottom half of the window. This wasn’t a privacy issue so much as a bright morning-light-in-your-face issue for us.
Talking to the front desk may take some patience due to their busy-ness, but also rewarding as they can share quite a few free tasting options and coupons for wineries throughout the county. Everyone we spoke with was beyond friendly so it’s worth the time to stop in and chat with them.
views of the property in the morning mist
Breakfasts in the restaurant are great with a 2-course menu and the option of alternatives like granola (which was awesome), regular eggs, toast, etc, plus mimosas. Definitely a highlight of the Applewood Inn.
they have small garden and chicken coop too!
The Hampton Inn was well positioned for where we wanted to be in the Bay Area on our last night. Since we have Platinum status with Hilton we were were given the choice of candy bars as a check-in amenity – Toblerones are always appreciated! Our room was spacious and clean as would be expected from a Hampton Inn. Their complimentary breakfast options were reasonable, with cereal, a waffle maker, hard-boiled eggs, bagels and other options. We had a quick snack in anticipation of a late breakfast with a friend in Oakland. Overall, a perfectly fine stay.
[…] very impressed with their smaller batch stuff. We had a free tasting card from the B&B again (it pays to stay somewhere that has this perk!) and our host was happy to go off script and let us try a bunch of different bottles that were […]