Napa Valley Attractions

Calistoga
Calistoga is probably the prettiest town in Napa Valley. It retains a small-town feel, albeit with a gourmet-ified edge (would you like your mixed greens with bleu or goat cheese?); even the appellation 'Calistoga' is synonymous with the bubbly bottled water that brandishes its name.
Guiseppe Musante began bottling Calistoga mineral water here in 1924, and the same natural hot springs have spawned a collection of spas where you can indulge in the local specialty, a hot mud bath. Herbal wraps, seaweed baths and exotic massages are some of the frills that accompany the experience.

Napa
Napa is the valley's financial, if not cultural, centre. Napa makes a convenient centre for exploration of the area's more intoxicating attractions, and a plethora of shops rent bicycles if you'd like to pedal from vineyard to vineyard (however riding under the influence is against state law).
A more decadent and carefree option to getting around the Valley is to ride the Napa Valley Wine Train. Besides getting a thorough look at the region, you can pick from brunch, lunch and dinner tours throughout the year in vintage Pullman dining cars travelling to St Helena and back.

Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa is the Wine Country's major centre and the cheapest place around to bed down for the night, with easy access to both Sonoma and Napa Valleys. It boasts botanical gardens, performing arts centres, a few strollable nooks and swells during the Friday-evening evacuation of San Francisco.
Though most visitors come here because of its convenience, Peanuts fans from all over the globe make the pilgrimage to celebrate the creation of toon icons, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and co. The Charles M Schulz Museum pays homage to this long-time Santa Rosa resident and his celebrated brainchildren.

St Helena
St Helena is yet another Epicurean enclave enticing San Francisco residents and visitors northward, with beautiful scenery and an interesting downtown, right along Hwy 29. It can get uncomfortably busy - and hot - on summer weekends, but has plenty to recommend it.
The Silverado Museum features a fascinating collection of Robert Louis Stevenson memorabilia. In 1880, the famous author - at that time sick, penniless and unknown - stayed in an abandoned bunkhouse at the old Silverado Mine. His novel The Silverado Squatters is based on his time there.

Yountville
One of the larger towns in the valley, Yountville (pronounced YAWNT-vil) is a beautiful village that caters to visitors with large disposable incomes and a taste for the truly fabulous. Such a place is the French Laundry, an high-end elegant eatery lauded as the finest on the West Coast.
The suitably adorable downtown is perfect for strolling and shopping for the perfect handcrafted knick-knack. If you need even more exercise (no one comes to Yountville and skips dessert), stop by the modernist Napa Valley Museum, which chronicles the region's cultural history and local paintings.