I am fairly new to the game and only started reading the forums half a year ago, so I am happy to finally have something to write about. I had never been to San Francisco or Napa Valley, and since my wife(who is a teacher) had off and my busy season (accountant) is coming up, we decided last minute to spend a few days out west. Used 50k Avios for 2 biz class tickets JFK-SFO, and used 50k AA for one biz class and one economy SFO-JFK. Not the greatest redemption, but I didn’t want to use cash, as flights were really expensive.
Got in to SFO at 9:30 PM, and rented a car from Avis. With Preferred, was a very easy process, and attendant allowed me to upgrade to a Mustang for $15/day instead of $30. Drove straight to Napa Valley which took a little over an hour. We stayed at the Andaz Napa in downtown Napa for three nights. It is a Category 5 hotel, so can be booked at 18k/night. However, with my AAA code, I was able to book it the night before we left for $141/night, so I opted for cash. Hotel offers either a valet option for $19/day or free parking in a parking garage around the corner from the hotel. We parked in the free lot as it was very close and hardly took any time(even though for overnight parking you can only park on the 3rd and 4th levels of the garage). Andaz has a bit of a different feel than your average hotel- very hip and trendy. After being checked in on an Ipad and being offered complimentary wine or beer, we headed up to the rooms, which were very spacious. Room had a couch and a desk, and the TV swiveled to face either way. The hotel has an outdoor patio with fire pits, which looked really nice, but which we didn’t take advantage of because it was a little chilly out.
Room had complimentary drinks and snacks- plenty of bottles of water, juice, iced tea, and was filled up every day as the room was cleaned. The only thing non-complimentary was the alcoholic beverages in the fridge. Free Wifi. For breakfast, the hotel’s restaurant had a full menu, but there was also a smaller station offering yogurt and oatmeal. The yogurt had an OU on it, so we made parfaits using the yogurt and nuts and fruit the hotel provided ($4 each). The hotel also had carrot ginger juice which was delicious.
On the first day, we rented bikes and biked from the hotel up Silverado trail, which has wineries every 500 feet on both sides, literally. As it was Christmas, the only winery open was Hagafen, which also happens to be the only Kosher winery in the area (Covenant is in the process of moving and wasn’t open for tours or tasting). No tours were being offered that day at Hagafen, so we just did the tasting.
Then we headed up to Calistoga, about an hour drive, to the Golden Haven Hot Springs and Resort to get a mud bath treatment. This was about 70 dollars for each of us. We have never been to a spa, so decided to try it for the experience. First we sat in the mud bath, which was very hot. It was sort of relaxing, but the smell of the mud was terrible. Then we washed up, spent some time in the Jacuzzi, followed by a warm towel wrap. On the whole, it was a relaxing experience, but I wouldn’t do it again. Maybe others would enjoy it more.
Drove back to the hotel down Highway 29, which is the main highway connecting Napa Valley to the surrounding areas, and also has wineries lining the highway for miles. It was very cool to see winery after winery, including Castello di Amorosa, a castle winery which is a famous winery which we wanted to tour, but ran out of time. There are no kosher restaurants in the area, but plenty of supermarkets, and we brought plenty of food from home
The next morning we woke up early to head to the gym next door to the Andaz, which all guests are offered complimentary access to. Gym was pretty nice and wasn’t too crowded. We then headed back to Hagafen for the 11 AM tour(and another tasting!). The tour was for about ten people, so not too crowded, and we walked to the vineyard, and then to the area where the grapes are processed, and stored in barrels. In terms of understanding the process of wine making, the tour wasn’t incredibly informative, and we left wanting more. The tour itself was free, although tastings were not; different packages are offered ranging from $10 to $20 depending on which wines you want to taste.
We then drove to Oxbow Market, which is a large market with all sorts of produce and specialty foods. Did a coffee tasting at Ritual Coffee, tasting coffees from three different areas of the world. Each cup of coffee was made in front of us with exact measures and extreme care by the barista, who was very knowledgeable and explained his every move and answered all of our questions.
We then headed to the Robert Mondavi Winery, which was very highly recommended. The winery was about a 25 minute drive from downtown Napa. The winery building itself was gorgeous with very pretty grounds and many great picture opportunities. The tour itself was great, giving a history of the winery, a lot of knowledge about the wine making process, and a detailed tour of the winery itself, in which every step of the process was explained thoroughly by a very engaging and funny tour guide. At the end, we sat down at a dining room table for a tasting. Even though we didn’t drink the wine, we still learned a lot from the guide during the tasting.
After Mondavi, we drove 20 minutes to Auberge du Soleil, which is a very expensive hotel (~$800/night), but which also has a restaurant and bar. The restaurant has beautiful views of Napa Valley, and we were there around sundown. We got drinks there and enjoyed the view, although I must admit that I found the view to be a little overrated. Friday morning we drove to San Francisco and returned the car to Avis(as parking is really expensive downtown). Stayed at the Hilton Towers Union Square for Shabbos. Hotel was packed Friday because of a big college football game but it had cleared out a little Shabbos day. Hotel was really nice, and all employees were extremely helpful. We bought food for Shabbos at Sabra Grill, which was a bit overpriced in my opinion. We got the shwarma- which was chicken sautéed with onions- which was pretty good, though expensive. Didn’t offer much in the way of side dishes. Sunday night we went back to Sabra before our flight and were shocked that they refused to make sandwiches at dinnertime. No Shwarma in a pita, no hamburgers- At night you can only buy full entrees, the cheapest of which is $23.00. Guess they can overcharge because they are the only kosher restaurant in the area.
Shabbos day we went to Knesses Yisroel which was a 5 minute walk from hotel. Davening was called for 9 am, but they only got a minyan around 9:15, which was comprised mostly of tourists. Their website says that you can join them for Shabbos meals, but when I called and emailed them many times, I only received a response 3 days later that they were already full. Doesn’t seem like we missed out on much.
On Shabbos afternoon we walked to the Cable Car museum which is free of charge and a must see. While the history of the famous San Francisco Cable Cars is interesting in its own right, the real draw here is that the museum is built around the machinery which runs the cable cars to this very day.
We then walked to Lombard street, known as the “Crookedest Street.” It is an incredibly windy street with beautiful flowers. People line up to see the cars go down the street at a max 5 MPH. Perhaps slightly over-hyped, but it’s worth seeing.
Saturday night took the cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf and walked around. First time on a cable car. Not so exciting, but you got to do it once.
Sunday we rented bikes from Fisherman’s Wharf from the Company Blazing Saddles and biked over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was challenging at times, but not too bad. If you’re in decent shape you can do it. The total was around 120 for both of us(goes by hour, something like $8/hr for regular bikes). Biked over the bridge to Sausalito, a cute little fishing town which wouldn’t be special were it not on the other side of the Golden Gate. Got some coffee there and took the ferry back to Fisherman’s Wharf, which took about half an hour. Passed Alcatraz, which was the closest we would get to it because tickets for the Alcatraz tours sell out months in advance.
After we returned the bikes, we jumped on to a Hop on Hop Off bus tour(there are plenty of companies which offer them) which we booked through the hotel, which took us on a tour of the major areas of San Fran. It was pretty informative, and interesting to learn about the history of San Francisco’s neighborhoods.
After this, we headed back to hotel to pick up our stuff, and headed to the airport on a shuttle from our hotel(booked through hotel for $17 each). Because I was flying business, we had access to the lounge, which was a good thing because our flight was delayed three hours.