Help me plan 3 days in SF

[moosenaroundtheship]

My head is spinning trying to figure out how to plan 3 days in SF before we cruise out of LAX. I have read past posts, but still need your expert advise.

We will be flying into SFO 3 for three days. First day we plan to rent a car and head to Napa. 2nd day tour Napa and wineries. 3rd day stay at a hotel near SF airport. Fly from SF to LAX the next morning. Cruise departs 4pm.

These are my questions.

1. As I search tours I notice we can take a reasonable wine tour from SF (they pick you up at your hotel). This would save on car rental and being able to drink with out worrying about driving after visiting several wineries. What would you suggest? Renting a car and staying in Napa or a tour out of SF?

2. We really want to visit Stags Leap Winery, because it is my favorite wine. What other wineries would you suggest?

3. We would also like to visit the Redwoods, Wharf and Golden Gate Bridge if time allows.

How challenging is the drive from SF airport to Napa 2pm in the afternoon ?

How much is the toll crossing Golden Gate Bridge?

Other option is to fly out of Oakland to LAX. Don't want to fly into Oakland because of the 2 hr lay over in LAX.

Thank you

[YubaSutter]

I would rent a car for the Napa trip. Stags Leap is also one of our favorites. Others wineries we really enjoy are Cakebread, Frogs Leap, and picnic lunch/wine at V. Sattui.

[Lois R]

3 days in San Francisco sounds awesome:D.....one of my most

favorite cities in the world. I know we are all different so driving up

to Napa may be fun for some folks and normally I like to drive but

I would much prefer having a local tourguide take me. Not only

the drinking part;) but let someone who knows the area be the driver.

In my opinion, for something like this, I would choose the tour. Picking

you up at your hotel and tell them which wineries you want to see:)

I remember the first time I went up to Napa and Sonoma...it was years

ago and I stayed in a B&B and the owner drove me up there..talk about

a private tour......it was simply fabulous:)...he knew some of the

Managers of a few different wineries....it was fantastic.

I went to Trefethen, Cline, Coppola and VIANSA....

These are actually in Sonoma.

 

As for doing Fisherman's Wharf? You can see that in a morning

(or afternoon)....very walkable.

 

Oh, you are heading up to Napa as soon as you arrive so you will be

up there for 2 days...? So you are staying there overnight? Does the

tour include an overnight? I didn't realize you were going for 2 days.

 

Hope you have a wonderful time:D and now I want to go back!

Edited February 11, 2015 by Lois R

[always_cruisin]

Stags Leap is only open by appointment and has limited availability due to their location (small private dirt road), so unless you find a wine tour that goes there, you will have to drive yourself (after making an appointment).

stagsleap dotcom will give you more info on how to make an appointment.

 

 

I would rent a car at SFO, drive over the Golden Gate bridge (free for northbound traffic) and spend the first night in Sausalito, Tiburon or Larkspur. These are all close to highway 101. I'd do Napa/Sonoma the second day and then either stay in Napa/Sonoma or drive back to SF and stay somewhere close to the wharf (there are several hotels within walking distance) and do Pier 39/Wharf that night or the next morning. There are also several tours that do the redwoods (Muir Woods) from the wharf area, including a Muir Woods, Alcatraz and bay cruise tour (check out viator dotcom).

[Bruin Steve]

My head is spinning trying to figure out how to plan 3 days in SF before we cruise out of LAX. I have read past posts, but still need your expert advise.

We will be flying into SFO 3 for three days. First day we plan to rent a car and head to Napa. 2nd day tour Napa and wineries. 3rd day stay at a hotel near SF airport. Fly from SF to LAX the next morning. Cruise departs 4pm.

These are my questions.

1. As I search tours I notice we can take a reasonable wine tour from SF (they pick you up at your hotel). This would save on car rental and being able to drink with out worrying about driving after visiting several wineries. What would you suggest? Renting a car and staying in Napa or a tour out of SF?

2. We really want to visit Stags Leap Winery, because it is my favorite wine. What other wineries would you suggest?

3. We would also like to visit the Redwoods, Wharf and Golden Gate Bridge if time allows.

How challenging is the drive from SF airport to Napa 2pm in the afternoon ?

How much is the toll crossing Golden Gate Bridge?

Other option is to fly out of Oakland to LAX. Don't want to fly into Oakland because of the 2 hr lay over in LAX.

Thank you

 

It's not clear to me where you plan to stay each night...Three night, correct? Two in Napa, one at SFO? Do you plan on keeping the rental car and touring The City on your way back through?

 

Personally, I don't recommend non-locals renting a car for use in The City...Driving can be incredibly frustrating for the unfamiliar...Streets tend to go sharply uphill or sharply downhill with a lot of blind intersections...Parking, especially near popular tourist sights, can be near impossible and/or very costly...

The drive from the airport at 2:00 pm is only fair...as the afternoon wears on, it gets much worse...There are no freeways that cross The City...they take you from SFO and dump you onto city streets as you enter the City...You will find traffic crossing The City to get to the Golden Gate Bridge...the alternative is to head east across the Bay Bridge to Oakland and go north from there...

 

I'd be very tempted to stay in San Francisco all three nights and to book a day tour (private if you'd like to designate the wineries) to visit Napa...

 

Of course, the question is...Do you want to spend time in The City? Or do you merely want to spend your time in Napa?

 

BTW, I usually joke that the most dangerous road in the world is Highway 29 through the Napa Valley at around mid afternoon on the third day of a three day weekend...you get a bunch of drivers pulling out onto the road out of various driveways as they've just completed their 12th or 15th winery tours and wine tastings of the weekend...scary!

[timetravler]

Here is what I would do. I would stay overnight AFTER you tour the Napa Valley. My favorite tour company in Napa Valley is Platypus tours. They take you to the smaller wineries which are often overlooked. If you ask them in advance they may be able to take you to Stag's Leap, but not sure. Now my favorite wineries are Bennett Lane in Calistoga, Shafer in Yountville and Castello do Amaroso(also known by locals as the castle). Yes it is a real castle complete with a dry moat, a dungeon and a torture chamber. It is a must see.

The drive from San Francisco to the beginning of Napa Valley is about 1 and 1/2 hours on a good day. So if you did a tour from SF you are talking at least 3 hours wasted siting in traffic(round trip). If you leave the city early, like at 8am you would get to Napa by 9:30 to 10:00am. That would give you all day in Napa plus you could then not have to worry about getting back to the city after having a full day at the wineries.

BTW, I live in the Napa valley and if you have any more questions, I would be glad to help.

[moosenaroundtheship]

Thank you for all your great advise. Any suggestions on what hotel or B&B to stay at in the Napa Valley, Sonoma area for 2 nights? Yes, planning on coming back to SF last night to check out the city. Again, thank you.

[moosenaroundtheship]

BTW we will be there during the week, not the weekend in Feb, so hopefully it will not be so crowded, but I might be wrong.

[timetravler]

I like the Embassy Suites in Napa a lot. If you stay in St. Helena, the El Bonito is nice. In Calistoga either Solage or Indian Springs which just went through a major renovation is great. But they are pricy. However we LOVE to eat at Solage and in fact will be doing a Valentine's lunch there tomorrow. We also love eating at Rutherford Grill near St Helena. It is worth the wait. Also Gott's is fantastic. Jole in Calistoga is another fav.

[lamchops]

A lot of the "Limo wine tours" have pre-determined stops and include other guests. If there's enough of you, you may be able to tailor the tour to your choices. I would rent and stay at a Marriott in Vacaville (20 minutes from Napa) as Napa hotels are super expensive or maybe stay in Santa Rosa.

 

When I was involved in the wine business I took my DW to Napa. She was not into wine like I am so I chose wineries that was fun, interesting, and educational as well as producing some fine wines.

 

I had her watch "Bottle Shock" before we went to give her an idea of how Californian wines got it's claim to fame. We took the "Bottle Shock" tour at Chateau Montelena and we enjoyed the movie insights, the tastings, as well as the winery grounds.

 

We then visited Sterling Vineyards and took the gondola to the top. It was a self guided video tour with tasting stations throughout as well a finer tasting room at the end. The views and information was excellent.

 

Our 3rd winery was Mumm's Napa which specialized in sparkling wines. The tour highlighted "champagne" techniques which made the tour unique. The winery also had an art gallery which we spent some time in.

 

We also stopped by Grigich Hills Estate for a tasting as Grigich was the original winemaker of the infamous Chateau Montelena Chardonnay.

 

As for reasonable eats, we visited Gott's Roadside (drive-ins, diners, & dives), Tra Vigne pizzaria, (cheaper version of their dinner restaurant) and the Culinary Institute of America. We actually took a cooking demo while on the campus.

 

Do your research as many of the wineries only have tasting rooms and are not set-up for touring.

 

We went early in the week and also spent our last day/night in SF before flying out. Plenty of time to visit the Golden Gate, Fisherman's Wharf, and Chinatown.

[TucsonRick]

With so many choices and not much time, I would skip the Wharf; it is just a tacky "tourist trap".

 

Rick

[dadroy]

Be a little cautious of the tours that pick you up at your hotel. Many of them will have 30 passenger buses, stop at 6 hotels then take you on the tour. You can "waste" several hours just waiting to fill the bus and get started. Think the ship organized shore excursions. Then you get the guy who is supposed to be back at the bus at a certain time and is always 30 minutes late. Burning daylight!

 

When you book your BnB, ask them for tour guide recommendations. They would have more information on a driver who could take you where you want to go.