Napa and Sonoma

On rolling land in Carneros, collector Rene di Rosa spent decades filling a former vineyard estate with work by Northern California artists, much of it irreverent, large and strange. Sculptures stand among the grasses and around a lake, and galleries hold rotating exhibitions of Bay Area art. In recent years the centre has partnered with the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District and a local land trust to secure its future, and it makes a refreshing counterpoint to a day of tasting.

TipOpening days are limited and some areas are seen only on guided tours, so check the website and book before you go.

Founded in the late 1980s by the Champagne house Taittinger, this sparkling-wine estate is housed in a stately French-style château on a hilltop above the Carneros vineyards, modelled on the family's 18th-century property in France. The cool, windy Carneros district, brushed by fog from San Pablo Bay, is ideal for the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that go into its sparkling wines. Sitting on the terrace with a glass and a view over the vines is one of the classic wine-country moments.

TipSeated tastings are by reservation, and sunny weekend slots fill well ahead.

The city of Napa long felt like the workaday gateway to the valley, but its riverside centre has been transformed into a lively base, with tasting rooms, restaurants, a restored Victorian opera house and a riverfront promenade. Oxbow Public Market, a former warehouse beside the Napa River, gathers bakers, oyster bars, coffee roasters, taco counters, cheese and spice sellers under one roof. It is the best place in the valley for a cheap and very good lunch, and an easy spot to buy picnic supplies.

A few minutes' walk from the market, restored early 20th-century Pullman dining cars depart from the station on McKinstry Street for a slow ride up the valley floor towards St Helena and back. Journeys range from about two and a half hours for dinner to around six hours for the most elaborate experience, with multi-course meals served as the vineyards slide past, and some packages add winery stops along the way. It is pricey and unashamedly touristy, but it solves the question of who drives.

TipBook ahead, especially for weekends and holidays; experiences, prices and departure times change with the season.

Highway 29 carries most traffic up the western side of Napa Valley; the Silverado Trail runs parallel along the eastern foothills for about 29 miles from Napa to Calistoga, quieter and more scenic. It passes through the Stags Leap District, whose Cabernet beat the best of Bordeaux at the famous 1976 blind tasting in Paris, and past dozens of wineries tucked against the hills. Cross-roads link it to Highway 29 every few miles, so you can zigzag between the two.

TipThe trail is popular with cyclists and has fast traffic and few shoulders in places; take care pulling out of winery driveways.

At the head of Napa Valley, Calistoga sits on top of geothermal springs, and since the 19th century visitors have come to soak in them. The town's speciality is the mud bath: you lie buried in a warm mix of volcanic ash, peat and mineral water, then rinse off in a hot mineral pool. Several long-running resorts along and near Lincoln Avenue offer them, and the low-rise main street of cafés and shops feels more relaxed than the valley's southern towns. Just outside town, a privately owned geyser erupts at regular intervals.

TipBook mud baths and spa treatments in advance, and drink plenty of water; the heat is intense if you have also been tasting.

South of Calistoga, a full-scale imitation of a 13th-century Tuscan castle rises out of the vines, with a moat, a drawbridge, towers, a chapel, a great hall painted with frescoes and a mock torture chamber. Winemaker Dario Sattui spent well over a decade building it with old-world techniques and reclaimed materials, and it opened in 2007. It is theatrical and occasionally kitsch, but the craftsmanship is real and children tend to love it; its wines are sold only at the castle and online.

TipAdmission is by advance reservation for timed tours and tastings, which are the only way to see the cellars and the castle interior.

St Helena is the valley's most polished small town, with a Main Street of stone and brick buildings, boutiques, bakeries and tasting rooms. Some of Napa's oldest wineries lie on its edges, including Charles Krug, founded in 1861, and Beringer, with its ornate Rhine House. North of town, the Culinary Institute of America occupies Greystone, a massive stone winery building of the 1880s, where you can browse a cookery shop and eat in its restaurant.

When Robert Mondavi opened his winery in Oakville in 1966, with its mission-style arch and bell tower, it was the first major new winery built in the valley since Prohibition, and he went on to argue tirelessly that California wine could stand with the best of Europe. The estate sits beside the historic To Kalon vineyard, source of its reserve Cabernet. After a multi-year renovation it has reopened with redesigned spaces and a fresh range of tours and tastings, which are booked online.

This compact village, named after George Yount, the first American settler in the valley, has an outsized reputation for food. Thomas Keller's The French Laundry is among the most famous restaurants in the country, and the single main street, Washington Street, packs in more acclaimed restaurants, bakeries and tasting rooms than many cities. Yountville is flat and walkable, with outdoor sculptures dotted along its streets, and the Napa Valley Vine Trail, a paved walking and cycling path, links it with the city of Napa.

TipEven if dinner at the top tables is out of reach, the bakeries and casual spots on Washington Street give a taste of the same kitchens.

Over the hills from Napa, the town of Sonoma is built around the largest town plaza in California, eight acres of lawns, oaks and a duck pond framed by adobe buildings, wine bars and restaurants. On the north-east corner, Mission San Francisco Solano, founded in 1823, was the last and northernmost of the 21 Spanish and Mexican missions along the California coast. It is now part of Sonoma State Historic Park, along with the Sonoma Barracks and General Vallejo's home. In 1846 American settlers staged the Bear Flag Revolt here, raising the flag whose grizzly bear still flies as California's state banner.

TipThe state historic park's buildings are open daily from 10am to 5pm, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

In the hills above Glen Ellen, the author of The Call of the Wild bought what he called his Beauty Ranch in the early 1900s and set out to farm it in progressive ways. His dream house, the huge stone Wolf House, burned down shortly before he and his wife Charmian were to move in, in 1913; its haunting ruins stand among the trees. A short walk away, the House of Happy Walls, built later by Charmian, is a museum of their life, and trails climb through oak woodland and redwoods towards Sonoma Mountain. The vehicle entry fee is $15.

At the meeting point of three celebrated wine valleys, Dry Creek, Alexander and the Russian River, Healdsburg has grown from farm town into northern Sonoma's most fashionable base. Its shady plaza is ringed by tasting rooms, galleries, bakeries and some of the county's most ambitious restaurants, yet the surrounding back roads still pass family vineyards, orchards and farm stands. Dry Creek Valley, just to the west, is particularly known for Zinfandel.

The Russian River winds west through forested hills to the ocean, and its lower stretch has been a holiday playground for San Franciscans for more than a century. Guerneville, the main town, is a laid-back, proudly LGBTQ+-friendly resort with riverside beaches, cabins and bars. In summer, canoes and kayaks can be hired for lazy floats downstream, while the cool, foggy Russian River Valley around it is famous for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

TipRiver levels and water quality vary; check local advisories before swimming, and avoid the river after winter storms, when it can flood.

Just north of Guerneville, a lumberman named Colonel James Armstrong set aside this grove of old-growth coast redwoods in the 1870s, saving it from the saws that cleared most of the surrounding forest. Flat, easy paths lead among trees more than 1,000 years old; the Parson Jones Tree, the tallest, rises over 310 feet (95 m), and the Colonel Armstrong Tree is thought to be over 1,400 years old. It is the closest stand of truly ancient redwoods for anyone touring wine country.

TipThe reserve is open from 8am to one hour after sunset, and the day-use fee is $10 per vehicle. Dogs are allowed only on the paved road and in picnic areas.

The loop ends on the wild Pacific shore. Bodega Bay is a working fishing harbour, best known as the setting of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds, and nearby Bodega Head is a granite headland where you can watch for migrating grey whales, mainly from about December to April. North of town, Sonoma Coast State Park strings together coves, natural arches and beaches all the way to the mouth of the Russian River. The water is cold and the surf dangerous, so this is a coast for walking and watching rather than swimming.

TipNever turn your back on the ocean here; sneaker waves regularly sweep people off rocks and beaches.