Memorial Day Weekend in Sonoma Valley

This past Memorial Day weekend we spent five beautiful days in Sonoma Valley. We stayed in Downtown Sonoma for two days and Downtown Healdsburg for three days. We do not drive so it is convenient for us to stay in the downtown areas, plus we love walking everywhere. Below are the highlights from the trip plus a few other places we have been to previously.

Sonoma

Stay

The Ledson Hotel- We stayed at the Ledson once before this visit and it does not disappoint. There are only six rooms in this historic boutique hotel, each is dedicated to a Ledson family member. It is centrally located and this time we had a terrace overlooking the square.

Pros: Super comfy bed, in room fireplace, bathtub in the bedroom, terrace, prime location, historic building and furniture.

Cons: Not too many, but there is nobody there at the front desk at night or room service. We didn’t need any help but some might say that is a con. I liked the privacy of the hotel. Also no pool, spa, or gym.

Other hotels we have stayed in:

The Fairmont Mission Inn and Spa

Highlights: Beautiful resort and grounds, incredible spa with multiple pools, their restaurant Sante is one of my favorites in Sonoma, cozy rooms with fireplaces, nice casual breakfast restaurant, across the street from a coffee shop. This hotel is also where we stayed during our honeymoon so it is just extra special to us.

Cons: A bit far away from the downtown square. We have still walked there but it is about a 45 minute walk. You can bike it as well which we never did.

MacArthur Place

Highlights: Beautiful modern farmhouse resort, nice pool, a small spa, outdoor shower in room, fire pits around the grounds, about a ten minute walk from town, good restaurant and coffee shop.

Cons: Expensive with not that much to do there. We kept walking to town, but it is also not a bad or long walk. I think the pool and spa are also better at the Fairmont.

Restaurants

The girl and the fig- A classic Sonoma restaurant that never disappoints. We ate our first meal of the trip here and I had the best Croque Monsieur of my life.

Valley- A newer farm to table restaurant. The food was so healthy and delicious, and the space was very quaint.

Tasca Tasca- A delicious tapas restaurant, with some of my favorite macaroni and cheese I have ever had. We get it every time we are in Sonoma. They also serve it at La Salette, their sister restaurant.

Casual Eateries

The Sausage Emporium- A fantastic meal if you are hungover, they have a giant breakfast burrito which cured me

The Sunflower Cafe- A quaint and casual breakfast place, definitely worth a visit. They have a beautiful outdoor area.

Wineries/Tasting Rooms

Hamel Winery- A modern and elegant winery that is family owned. The views are gorgeous here, we never tire of doing wine tastings here.

Sebastiani- A large beautiful tasting room that is a ten minute walk from the square. I recommend doing a tasting in their barrel room that houses one of the biggest barrels in the world.

Pangloss Tasting Room- A modern tasting room on the square with one of the best cheese boards.

Sigh- A champagne tasting room that is the only kind in the square.

Sozie- A newer tasting room inside of the pink courtyard that has a prime spot right next to the fountain.

The Beacon- The only craft cocktail bar on the square. If you are sick of drinking wine this speakeasy is the place to go!

Healdsburg

Stay

Hotel Le Mars- This is also our second time staying here, and it feels like you are transported to a French chateau in Paris.

Highlights: Such a comfortable bed I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud, in room fireplace, Bvlgari bath products, jetted bathtub with scented bath salts, bidet, wine and cheese hour, complimentary in room breakfast, Parisian decor, prime location.

Cons: Definitely expensive but mostly worth it! They allow dogs but they charge a crazy amount for them to stay, so we didn’t bring our dog the second time. No pool, spa, or gym.

H2 Hotel- An eco friendly hotel that we stayed in the very first time we came to Healdsburg.

Highlights: Beautiful modern rooms, rooftop bar with views, two terraces in the room, eco-friendly, complimentary breakfast, outdoor pool, more reasonably priced.

Cons: Not my favorite hotel, I liked Hotel Le Mars better, but I can’t think of too many cons either. Next time we will try out Harmon House which is the sister property to H2.

Restaurants

Valette- One of the best local farm to table restaurants in town. A must do!

The Matheson- From the chef of Valette comes this new bustling restaurant with huge rooftop.

Guiso- A small spanish restaurant with a fantastic chef who’s family works the restaurant.

Bravas- Amazing tapas restaurant with a huge menu, a stand out dish is the fried eggplant chips with honey.

Barndiva- It’s name says it all, pretty much a bougie restaurant housed in a barn. We ate here once before but just got drinks this time. The food is good but the ambiance is what you come here for.

Camp Fina- A wonderful wood fired pizza place with large menu and quaint outdoor dining.

Casual Eateries

Little Saint- A new vegan food hall that used to be the SHED but looks very much the same.

Oakville Grocery- It is worth a stop in this quaint food store to check out all the local products.

Wineries/Tasting Rooms

Ferrari Carneros- A sprawling Tuscan style winery, you feel transported to Italy

Jordan-For another European style winery, this one is housed in a French style chateau. I loved the tour of the facilities and then at the end you have a sit down tasting in a secret room.

Roth Winery- A must do is their private wine cave tasting.

Lancaster- Another incredible wine cave tasting. This one in particular reminds me of something our of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings.

Places I would not recommend:

There are not many, but this was just my personal experience:

Dry Creek Kitchen- I was so excited to dry this restaurant as it is a very famous restaurant in Healdsburg. The food was very good but as I started eating my main course I found a large piece of plastic in my food. It really turned me off from the rest of the meal and the manager was rude and pretty much made it seem like that was an impossible thing to happen. (I realized later that I took a photo of my food which I do before eating and saw the large piece sticking out in the photo)

Chalkboard- I was expecting maybe something a little different from this restaurant, it is way more casual and gastro pub like than I thought and the food was just okay.

The Montage- I was honestly super underwhelmed by this resort and all the hype there was around it. We wanted to check it out first to see if we wanted to stay here. However we decided against it, because it just did not look like it was worth the price, plus driving distance to town.