Napa Valley Recommendations
 

A good friend of mine is about to get engaged, and has set a date for the wedding in the summer out in Napa Valley. Since I have never been over there, I was wondering if anyone could recommend some places to stay.

The reason I am asking, is because my friend said the wedding will most likely fall on my one year anniversary of my wedding. I wanted to package the whole trip into one big event, go to my friends wedding and stay out there for an extended amount of time for my anniversary rather than flying out there and flying back to do something locally.

Can anyone recommend a good place to stay out there, that isn't gonna cost me $730 Million dollars a night and the soul of my first child (a little exaggeration)?

Since I grew up in the next valley to the west (Sonoma), and currently live only 45 miles away to the east, I should probably know this. But, unfortunately, I've never had a reason to stay in the Napa Valley overnight since I live so close, so I don't know.

The B&B in and around St Helena are some of the finest in the country. A bit pricey though. The city of Napa has lots of motels/hotels and a few good restaraunts downtown. But to get the charm of Napa Valley, St Helena is where you would want to be, with Calistoga as a runner-up (don't have much experience there).

I'd agree with St. Helena being the charm center of Napa Valley. Napa's a nice little city, but St. Helena is more in the middle of where all the wineries are. V. Sattui Winery is a nice place to picnic, if you're so inclined.

I would recommend going somewhere else for the non-wedding part of the trip, such as Yosemite or Tahoe.

http://www.riverterraceinn.com/

Last time we stayed out there we stayed at the Harvest Inn http://www.harvestinn.com/index.htm.

It was very nice. You could eat breakfast on the patio outside overlooking the grape fields. Plus I ran into Warren Moon and Tony Gonzalez staying there for some charity thing Gonzalez had set up. Not sure on price though.

I'd also recommend calling one of the wineries when you're out there that does tastings by reservation only (Joseph Phelps winery is an example). They take groups of 10-12 and you can hang out and relax/picnic on the grounds w/out the hastle of the minions running around. Very relaxing.

My Grandmother lives in the Veterans Retirment spot in Napa...I could link you two up via email...She'd love to help, I'm sure...

I think I might have been inside the Embassy, but for a graduation party, not to stay there. I could well be mixing it up with another hotel. I couldn't tell you what the rooms and other amenities are like in any case.