Two very interesting trips to get away a day from the chaos of the city of San Francisco: ready to take note?
Sausalito and the Napa Valley are two goals not far from San Francisco ideal for a trip out of town.
A typical Californian seaside town
Sausalito is a small coastal town that lies just beyond the Golden Gate Bridge.
Reachable in 10 minutes by car or with a 30 minute ferry crossing (cost approximately $ 12,00 each way per adult). It allows you to spend half a day away from the chaos of the city of San Francisco exploring one typical Californian seaside town.
What to see in Sausalito
Once an important shipbuilding center, today it is above all a tourist destination as well as an opportunity for a lunch in a quiet and relaxed atmosphere while admiring the skyline of the metropolis and strolling among shops and clubs.
Don't miss the houseboats, particular houses on the water built on stilts and with a thousand colors, and the Bill Dan Balancing Rocks, sculptures on the beach made up of rocks stacked on top of each other in perfect balance.
For a breathtaking view of the bay, the city of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, get one stop at Battery Spencer, once a point of protection for the entire coast and the port, today a privileged place for its splendid panoramic view. Admission is free and allows you to explore some of the now abandoned military buildings.
Napa Valley
Just an hour away from the city you can reach the famous Napa Valley. Now known all over the world for its wine production (there are more than 400 wineries in this area), it can be the right occasion for a tasting of Californian wines, otherwise difficult to find in Italy.
If you have already participated in tastings in some of our wine regions, do not expect historic wineries but rather recent structures and producers. The buildings, in particular, will give you the impression of having been built recently and leave you with a strange feeling of fiction. This aspect, purely of impact and aesthetic, should not make you give up on undertaking one or more tastings. There is a wide choice of wineries, group tours and excursions (also with departure from San Francisco) but allow me to point you out 5 among the best known and most visited producers.
1. Amorosa Castle (Calistoga)
This perhaps represents the apotheosis of fiction reproduction of a medieval Tuscan castle in the middle of Northern California.
At a cost of $ 30,00 you will be able to independently explore the manor and the two floors of the cellar and participate in a tasting of 5 wines of their production.
Guided tours with tasting have a starting cost of $ 45,00.
2. Jarvis Estate (Monticello Road)
This winery has the particularity of possessing an underground waterfall that maintains the right degree of humidity and temperature in the environment where their Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet age and rest in French oak barrels. Tours cost $ 100.00 per person.
3. V. Sattui Winery (St. Helena)
One of the best known, most visited and most awarded wineries for its excellent wine production of 80 different varieties of wine, champagne and port. Founded in 1885 by a Genoese emigrant, Vittorio Sattui, and his wife, managed today by his descendants who reopened it following the forced closure due to prohibition.
5 wine tastings start at $ 20.00 per person, small tasting property tours start at $ 35.00 per person.
4. Inglenook Winery (Rutherford)
Acquired in 1975 by Francis Ford Coppola is one of the original wineries of the Valley, founded by a Swedish sea captain fond of wines, Gustave Niebaum, in 1879.
Winery producing Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc offers tastings starting from $ 55.00 per person.
5. Napa Valley Wine Train
An alternative way to visit the area is through aexcursion aboard the Napa Valley Wine Train. Starting in Napa, the route traverses 36 miles of the valley to St. Helena and back, allowing for multiple stops and tastings. It offers numerous options, from half-day to full-day tours, or just the panoramic trip with lunch or dinner on board included and the possibility of tasting in numerous different wineries.
Prices start at $ 220/280 per person.
