Welcome to my Sonoma Valley guide for first timer’s! This guide is about my experience and how it might help you to navigate Sonoma for the first time. This is in no way a complete guide, just personal advice I love to share! My husband and I fell in love with Sonoma for the first time in 2017 for our honeymoon. Ever since then we have been back to Sonoma about 10 times. We have also been to Napa but prefer Sonoma every time because it is way more laid back and quaint.I highly reccomend taking a trip to Wine Country especially to support them after the devastating fires they had to endure.

Where to Stay

There are many beautiful and cozy places to stay in Sonoma but the two I have personally stayed at an loved are the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa and MacArthur Place.

The Fairmont is a pink palace located just about an 8 minute drive from Downtown Sonoma Plaza. My husband and I have also walked to downtown when in pleasant weather it is about a 45 minute walk. The rooms are so cozy and many of them have fireplaces. The spa is one of my favorites with two gorgeous geothermal mineral outdoor pools and indoor spa area. I recommend eating at the restaurant Sante while you are there it is a must do. The MacArthur Place is also a winner because it is located very close within walking distance of downtown. It is a beautiful hotel that also has a great relaxing pool area and restaurant. The rooms are so nice as well, we had an outdoor shower on our deck!

Where to eat

I highly recommend any of the restaurants in Downtown Sonoma Plaza because they are honestly all so good. Sonoma is the best when it comes to farm to table dining, everything is fresh and delicious.

Here are my favorites:

La Salette

Sunflower Cafe

Tasca Tasca

Della Santina’s

El Dorado Kitchen

The girl and The fig

OSO

Sante- Inside the Fairmont Sonoma

Glenn Ellen Star- Located in Glenn Ellen

Downtown Vegas might get overlooked by the usual tourist but it is not a place to skip my any means! If you want the real old school Vegas experience, look no further than Downtown Vegas. Here, you actually also have some of the best gambling odds in Vegas and the slot machines are looser.

Downtown Vegas actually starts a lot earlier than the famous Freemont Street and extends pretty far. If you take a cab the strip way to Freemont Street you will pass by the Downtown Vegas Sign- this is where you leave the strip and enter downtown. On the way in the cab you will find multiple wedding chapels. You will also pass by the outlets and also a very cool photographable building called the Cleveland Clinic. I do not suggest walking around too much before you enter the Freemont area though I (although I have a few times) There are some very cool vintage spots to look at, just be aware of your surroundings.

Freemont Street

The Freemont Street Experience is a huge moving screen canopy above the famous hotels of downtown. There is also a zip line that runs across the entire screen high above your head. Freemont Street is just so much fun to walk around and explore. There is usually something awesome and crazy going on here like half-naked performers, impromptu concerts, drug busts, and it’s especially mad on Halloween! Check out a few of the classic hotels like The Golden Nugget, Binions, and Four Queens and the new Circa hotel that just opened!

RESTAURANTS

Hugo’s Cellar- Located beneath the Four Queens hotel. This is a Vegas institution. We save this place usually for a special occasion because we first visited on our engagement weekend. Do NOT order an appetizer unless you want to be stuffed because you receive SO much food!

Oscar’s- Located above Freemont Street inside of the Plaza Hotel. It is a beautiful old school restaurant that makes you feel as if Sinatra would walk in at any moment.

Andiamo’s- An amazing old school Italian restaurant inside of The D hotel. Definitely order the big meatball!

As you leave Freemont Street you get into the heart of a lot of the fun local places in Downtown Vegas. Keep walking until you leave the canopy part of Freemont and enter to the street.

Some of the best places include:

CommonWealth-A two story bar. The top outdoor portion is where awesome local Vegas DJ’s spin. Inside of Commonwealth is a speakeasy called The

Laundry Room. You must call to make reservations ahead of time but it is worth a visit!

The El Cortez- This hotel is such a fantastic shit hole in a good way. It always reeks of cigarette smoke and is a bit dirty, but it is exactly the place you wanna check out to feel like you are in old school Vegas.

Secret Bar inside of The Mob Museum- There is an awesome speakeasy inside of the mob museum. It is actually really hard to find the entrance but I won’t tell you where it it. We went here on Halloween and it was a Flapper Costume Contest. We felt like we were transported to Vegas of yesteryear.

Container Park

The Neon Boneyard

Where to Relax

After a long weekend in Vegas you will want some chill time (maybe). I recommend going to try a great Vegas spa and get a massage or facial. Tip: Spa treatments are always cheaper during early in week (try not to book on a Friday or Saturday if you can).

The Best Vegas Spas: In order of my favorites

The Spa at the Wynn

They just renovated this spa and WOW it is possibly the most beautiful spa I have ever been to. The treatments are wonderful of course and it is immaculate. As always the Wynn does everything to perfection.

Favorite Amenity- The most beautiful lounge area.

The Spa at the Waldorf Astoria

This property used to be the Mandarin Oriental and the spa is still the same.

Favorite Amenities- The welcome tea, the ice machine, beautiful strip views and foot spa.

BATHHOUSE Spa at the Delano

This spa has such a different feel than the rest on the strip. It is really dark and modern and there is hardly anyone every at the spa either.

Favorite Amenity- The jacuzzi pool, the hot and cold plunge, cucumbers on ice.

The Spa at Encore

Almost as good as the Wynn Spa, I just like the new renovation at the Wynn, but still a fantastic spa.

Favorite Amenity- The intricate lobby.

The Spa at the Park MGM

A newer addition to the trip, this spa is just so quaint and relaxing. It is a much smaller spa but still great and has some of the best treatments I have had in Vegas.

Favorite Amenity: The zero gravity chairs and the snacks.

Spas that are not my favorite, but nice:

The Spa at Aria- A nice spa with good amenities. I like their salt room and their outdoor co-ed pool area. I just find it to be too busy and just not that relaxing overall.

The Spa at Mirage- A nice spa, but pretty average, the Mirage has really not been updated in a long time.

The Spa at Mandalay Bay- I actually do visit this spa quite often when I do not go to BATHHOUSE. It has a brighter feel and their treatments are actually really good.

Spas to avoid:

The Bellagio Spa- The spa is super dated, they really need a renovation. I just did not want to use any other spa amenities because they were so crowded with bachelorette parties, not relaxing at all.

The Qua Spa at Caesars- I has always wanted to check out this spa and was incredibly disappointed. Overly crowded like the Bellagio and actually dirty. There were clumps of hair in the hot tub, and the “Snow Room’ was broken.

The MGM Spa- Really blah, not memorable yet I remember there being nothing special, also very dark inside not in a good way.

Oia is probably the most famous part of Santorini and I definitely recommend staying a few nights here, don’t just visit for the day. I loved Oia and honestly liked it a lot better than Fira. It is really more picturesque and beautiful. Fira was cloudy the majority of the time we were there and Oia was sunny. That might have just been the forecast but either way it was nice to finally see some sun. We stayed at the incredible Mystique resort. The resort was perfect and of course had an amazing infinity pool overlooking the sea. It was still way too cold to swim but we tried. The only drawback was that it was about a 20 minute walk from the main part of town. Our room was in a cave and we got the best sleep! We did a fantastic private wine tasting as well in their wine cave. I would still very much stay here again.

We would usually wait until before sunset to walk into town because it was pretty warm, plus we had to see the famous cliffside sunset in Oia. To get to the famous cliffside spot, just follow all the tourists walking and you will find yourself at the Oia Byzantine Castle ruins. I recommend either getting there VERY early to secure a spot on the castle, or what we did which I think is better, is to just go a little bit after sunset when everyone is walking back. The sunset will still be going but most people would have “gotten the shot” and left. We had so much room to enjoy the view. Don’t forget to stop along the way to the castle for other gorgeous views. The view is also beautiful in the daytime or the early morning when there are no tourists. I will also say that maybe because we went in April, I did not find there to be that many tourists, at least it didn’t take away from my enjoyment.