What is the best time of year to visit Sonoma County?
For many of us in Sonoma County, fall is a special and much-anticipated time to be outdoors. The summer crowds have thinned, the vineyards turn striking shades of red and orange, and the air carries the scents of autumn.
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While you could easily spend an entire month getting to know Sonoma wine country, there are a few places that you simply should not miss. Here, we focus on the town of Sonoma with our ideal itinerary for a long weekend.
Visiting Sonoma ValleyNapa might win on being more expensive, but Sonoma is certainly more expansive, spread out, and laid-back. (People often say Sonoma is “less commercialized” than Napa.) It's almost double the size of Napa, and grows far more grapes than Napa in a variety of conditions.
SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Sonoma County is among the pricier places to live in California, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The organization recently released its 2018 family budget calculator that estimates how costly it is to live in each of America's 3,142 counties and 611 metro areas.
Napa is the smaller of the two valleys, is typically more expensive and gets more traffic and congestion. Napa is located more inland than Sonoma so they don't get the same cool ocean breezes. Some of the major AVAs in Napa Valley include, Oak Knoll District, Rutherford, St. Helena, Stags Leap District and Yountville.
Public TransportationThen, you may want to consider getting to Sonoma Valley via public transit. One of the most convenient choices is the San Francisco to Sonoma shuttle run by Golden Gate Transit. This service operates buses from San Francisco to Petaluma and Santa Rosa.
Our beloved Sonoma County, California is renowned for amazing wines and legendary vineyards, as well as gorgeous organic produce and sustainable farming. Our natural beauty is our calling card, from our mountains, forests, rivers, valleys, and meadows, to all 55 miles of our Pacific Ocean coastline.
In short, if you want a laid-back introduction to stellar vintages and gorgeous properties, Sonoma – rather than Napa – should be your California wine country destination. If you're only here for a day, consider signing up for a guided tour. A handful of the best California tours feature daylong excursions in Sonoma.
The closest airport and shuttle service to Sonoma County are the county's own Charles M.Schulz-Sonoma County Airport (STS), in Santa Rosa, with daily flights on three major carriers; and the Groome Transportation, which runs between Sonoma County and the San Francisco and Oakland airports.