My sister Becca has been visiting, and last week we took a sisters work vacation to Downtown Napa…
Napa is only an hour north of where we live in Oakland. It’s the perfect little escape from the busy city here filled with delicious food, outdoors, and of course wine. Becca and I both had work to do, so we planned on a work vacation mid-week (work during the day, vacation in the afternoons/evening). It was such a nice change of pace to the work week. Admittedly, I’d never spent time in Napa proper and certainly not downtown Napa so I was really excited to check it out!
We stayed at the Napa River Inn, a charming hotel right on the Napa river. The historic building from 1884 has been named one of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is a Forbes Four Star hotel. It was really beautiful with ivy and sweet little details around. We even had a balcony overlooking the river connected to our room and and a fireplace. Breakfast next door at Sweetie Pies Bakery is complimentary for each day of your stay. We kept on going back to that bakery, everything was so delicious! You can also schedule food to be delivered to your room, but we loved spending some time in the little bakery every morning for a latte and breakfast sandwich or scone.
DoNapa has this great offering when you’re looking for wine tasting downtown. For only $15 you can buy a Napa Wine Card which gets you 50% off tastings in one of the eight featured tasting rooms. Of course, Napa is home to some of the most amazing wines and tasting room experiences, so this was such a deal! You can find more info about it here.
After wine tasting, we headed to Miminashi for dinner. Delicious Japanese food (Becca got the ramen, I got the salmon) with yummy cocktails and an ice cream stand outside for dessert with homemade marshmallows and hot fudge. Great way to end the day.
(matching here, as sisters do)
Afterwards, Becca and I rented some bikes through the kiosk right in front of our hotel. It was so easy! You insert a credit card and then pull the bike out and you’re set! We headed down the Napa River trail and then out through some vineyards on the other side of town. We even passed by the Napa Wine Train! Need to add that to our itinerary for next visit, it looked really fun.
Seems like you guys had a great time! Glad you enjoyed your work trip. 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
There is literally nothing better than NAPA! And enjoying it with family…the best!
xoxo
Cathy, your Poor Little It Girl
https://poorlittleitgirl.com