Customer Reviews

Frommer's Napa & Sonoma Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day - Pocket)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

More than just a regional guide, this concise book is VERY well researched and very well written with clarity and obvious firsthand knowledge. The author has led us to many fun and memorable experiences in the wine country. Both her enthusiasm and direction to some of the more unique destinations and activities in this region have made for unforgettable moments for 2 different groups of French visitors. Pay attention to the tips and notes; every time the advice is right on. Extremely helpful and user-friendly, we would definitely trust any recommendations in this book when planning an excursion or making a reservation in Napa or Sonoma.

I have (quite happily!) spent two great vacations in Napa and Sonoma Counties. This is the best guidebook I have found for that region.

There are a few things that make this guide very helpful. First, the author makes sure this guide is very user-friendly for first-time visitors. In other words, you get a true introduction to the Northern California area and what's special about it. You also learn which highlights are worth hitting, and what's worth ignoring.

Second, the visual aspect of the book is great: super-colorful, great layout, things rated from one to three stars, lots of little neighborhood maps, color photographs, etc.

Third, it's clear the author knows what she's talking about at all times.

Fourth, the book comes with a little map that--although it looks a little geeky--is actually quite helpful for finding wineries as you drive along.

Fifth, there's a nice little guide to San Francisco that is the last chapter. It's very well done.

Caveats: if you are a Wine Country veteran, you are too advanced for this book and should skip it. Also, you'll need a road map (such as the paper folding ones that you can buy in a gas station) as a supplement to the maps in this book, because the book's maps don't get the job entirely done.

This pocket (or purse) size little book was far and away the most helpful of the many references I consulted for my recent trip to the wine country. Concise reviews of wineries, restaurants, hotels, and other attractions were on the money. Chapters for history buffs, non-drinkers, foodies, etc. were fun and revealed much more than the run-of-the-mill tourist traps. Helpful map as well. Added bonus - a great chapter on SanFrancisco! Used that instead of the specific SanFran guides for city part of the trip. Great value.

I used this book to plan my trip to Napa and it was great! We went to Bodega Bay and Fort Ross Park based on the recommendation and it was beautiful. One day we walked Calistoga and visited many of the shops in the book and had dinner at Kitani sushi which was very good. I could go on but bottom line it was a great book and made my trip!

On our recent trip to San Francisco, my cousin and I decided to take one day visiting the Napa Valley area. We are not very knowledgeable about wine, so we were visiting more for the scenery and maybe learn a little about wine tasting. I figured this book should point us in the right direction.

The book was indeed very helpful in that regard. It had many lists with specific focus -- like places to visit if you are on a budget, places to visit if you got money to burn, places to visit if you are new to wine (like us!), places to visit if you want to see the best of Napa/Sonoma Valley in one day, and so on and so forth. These lists really helped us find the most attractive places to visit. And with the included fold-out map, we figured my one-day trip to Napa Valley would be a breeze.

Or so we thought.

The first sign of trouble was that it took a bit of guesswork to figure out how to drive to Napa Valley in the first place. As anybody who's driven in SF Bay Area can tell you, SF's freeway network can be quite confusing for newcomers. We did arrive at Napa Valley without much incident, but we were nervous and unsure whether we were going the right way throughout the drive. It would have been very nice if the book had a clear driving direction to Napa Valley from SF Bay Area, or if the book had a map that connects the Napa Valley roads with SF freeways.

Now it was time to find the first winery we were planning to visit. The fold-out map had decent amount of road detail with various wineries marked, so we drove to the location indicated on the map..., only to go, "this can't be right." Finally, we decided to just look up the winery's street address in the book, and we realized that the location of the winery's mark on the map was off by about 1/2 inch, making it look like the winery was located on a completely different street. A pretty glaring error.

When we were trying to get to the second winery on our list, we again noticed that the map had its location marked on the wrong side of the street. Comparatively speaking, this was a very minor error, but it really made us question the map's accuracy.

It unfortunately rained quite a bit on the day of our visit, so we really couldn't enjoy the scenery as we had originally intended. And since we felt we had our fill of wine education for the day, we decided to visit Charles M. Schulz museum (of Peanuts fame) in nearby Santa Rosa, as suggested by the book's list of "places to visit with kids." Again, the book's map failed us as it only pointed at the city, not any specific streets. We had to ask the city locals for directions to find the museum.

Now, the museum and the two wineries we visited were excellent. They were exactly the kind of place we were looking for, and we got a very informative tour and low-cost wine tastings, just as the book promised. All in all, it was a very rewarding trip, and there is no question that we would not have fared as well without the book. And if I visit Napa Valley area again (and I hope to do so in the near future), I will certainly turn to this book for more suggestions.

But I will get a separate map with more accuracy and detail. Maybe I'll get a GPS navigator, or maybe print out the necessary maps from Google or Yahoo before leaving home. (We didn't have internet access in our lodging at SF.) I strongly suggest other travelers to do the same.

Maybe we weren't sure what we were looking for, but this was almost too general for our purposes. It gave some suggestions for reference, but not a ton. I will give the writers/editors that it encompasses a lot of area, so it would be tough to do more and keep it brief enough to be portable.

Star based ratings were strange - some had no stars and it was unclear if that meant they weren't rated or weren't worth visiting (which then led to the question "why are they even in this book?"). On the flip side, other places with multiple stars just seemed strange (and not necessarily worthy of the 3 star rating) and left me wondering what the point of the stars was.

The one time we did try to go to a place recommended it turned out it was closed on Wednesdays...would probably be helpful to include those kinds of odd characteristics in the descriptions for the next edition. Maps were really handy, though.

My fiancee & I are currently planning our Honeymoon for the San Francisco/ Napa Valley Region. This pocket sized guide by Frommer's is excellent. Gives some great suggestions and very user friendly!! I definitely recommend it! :)

Well written, accurate, and portable. The tips were right on. This is valuable for your first or twentieth trip to this wine paradise.

Truly a guide to wine country for short attention span readers like myself. Quick guide to where to go, how to prioritize according to your taste, style, and length of trip. Highly recommend this book. And it is pocket sized

I bought this book to use it as a planning guide for an upcoming trip to San Francisco, Napa and Sonoma. I was pleased to find out it had a section on San Francisco as well as the Wine Country. It is concise, with helpful descriptions of lodging, restaurants, and vineyards. The map does not look great for driving directions, but it does give you an idea where the different vineyards are located. Overall, I would recommend this book.