Napa Is The Best Wine Country Trip You Can Take Without A Car

Forbes

7 days ago

Napa Valley is the best-known wine country destination for good reason
Napa is not the place to test your tolerance. Or your relationship. Or your ability to reverse park a rental SUV after two glasses of Zin. Yet, year after year, people arrive with an inevitably doomed plan: that is, forcing someone to drive. They alternate pours. They sip and spit. Or worse, they abstain entirely.
This guide is for the non-martyrs; the ones who understand that wine tastings aren't meant to be rationed, that driving post-Cabernet is lunacy, and that modern Napa has finally evolved into the car-free, carefree destination it always should have been. Think wine trains, walkable towns, and a new wave of tasting rooms that make you want to linger, rather than tick boxes.
Start with the Wine Train
The Napa Valley Wine Train has been around since the '80s and, yes, it can feel a little like a moving photo opp, but it's also hands-down the most enjoyable, efficient way to drink your way through the valley without regret.
If you're doing the flagship Legacy Tour (and you should), it runs from 10:30am to around 4:30pm and includes breakfast, on-board tastings, two winery visits, lunch, and a steady stream of wine that starts early and doesn't ask you to spit. By the time you reach Charles Krug—your first stop—I can almost guarantee you'll be proud of the decision.
The wineries are the best of the best, too. Charles Krug is the oldest in Napa (est. 1861), and the barrel rooms smell like something your faovurite sommelier dreams about. Their 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is as good as it gets, and it's also the farthest winery on the train's circular route—therefore impossible to reach efficiently without a car—which makes the train not only a fun excuse, but functional one.
Next up: V. Sattui, a more low-key affair with a market-style buzz. While most people come for the picnic vibes (because, silly sausages, they're driving), the sleeper hit is their Madeira—shockingly good, even if dessert wine usually gives you flashbacks to your nan's dusty Christmas bottle. It normally does for me and I nearly asked for a second tasting.
Back on board, there's a three-course lunch served with startling finesse for a train kitchen. It's social without being sloppy; less 'party bus,' more 'cool table at a wedding,' and a guarantee you'll be in no condition to operation machinery by the time you roll back into downtown Napa. Just as you planned.
Napa Valley Wine Train
Don't stay in Downtown Napa
With that said, I wouldn't recommend staying in downtown Napa if you're keen to keep things car-free. It's fine, if fine is what you're after, but is much more to discover outside of its many tourist traps.
If you want to experience Napa at its most walkable, photogenic, and idyllic, stay in Yountville. And if you're not already using Blacklane, this is your sign. Their pre-booked chauffeurs are the antidote to flaky ride shares (particularly helpful after a day getting sozzled on said train), and and are reliably professional, early, and blissfully unfazed by six half-drunk bottles of Pinot rolling around in the trunk. You can book them by the hour, too, making town-hopping (or continued winery-hopping) a realistic dream.
I should warn you, of course, that your eventual departure from Yountville won't be an easy one. Without erring too close to Stepford WIves territory, it's the kind of idyllic place where linen-clad locals take their lunch to the picnic bench for fun. There's money here, obviously, but also a kind of small-town charm. Somehow, it all works. And I'm not sure I've ever been quite so sad to leave a place where I didn't know another person.
Jessup Cellars in Yountville, Napa
Where to go in Yountville, Napa
After your morning coffee and a few litres of water, Jessup Cellars has to be your first stop. It's the platonic ideal of a tasting room: friendly, chic, and serious about its wines without ever feeling pretentious. The walls are hung with rotating art, the pours are generous, the playlists tasteful, and if you ask for Laurel, you'll get a host who's warm, sharp, and blessed with that rare gift of knowing exactly how much wine talk you want before your eyes glaze over. I walked out with the strong urge to empty my suitcase and fill it with bottles and bottles of the silky, tannic, tobacco-rich Juel. In fact, as I write this, I still regret not doing so.
Nonetheless, everything in Yountville is a short stroll, or stumble, from Jessup. Walk five minutes and you're at Bistro Jeanty, still the best place to submit to buttery French classics. Yes, the tomato soup in puff pastry is iconic, and yes, it really is worth it. Across the way, Kollar Chocolates will ruin all other chocolate shops for you (the dark salted caramels are lethal) and, for something fresher, North Block is a newer star: seasonal small plates, gorgeous courtyards, and a confident 'Valley to Coast' tasting menu at a fraction of the cost of The French Laundry's (which, if you have the spare hundos to pay for it and the foresight to book months in advance, is also conveniently just down the road). Tacos Garcia, the unassuming taco truck parked near the top of Washington Street, is one of the best you'll find in the region, too.
The French Laundry in Yountville, Napa
As much as I hate to share hidden gems like this for fear I'll soon be priced out, you have book a room at Lavender—a B&B that nails the elusive 'romantic' sweet spot without feeling cringe. There's a fire pit, proper breakfasts, fantastically friendly service, and high-end rooms that don't look or feel like they were designed by Pinterest boards. The nightly wine and cheese hours are pretty useful in helping you keep the tasting party going, too.
If you've somehow still got room (in your liver or your luggage), there are a few more tasting rooms worth weaving into your Yountville stroll, as well: Handwritten Wines for elevated small-lot storytelling, Hope & Grace for a quieter, boutique feel with knockout Pinots, and Hill Family Estate, where the pours are generous and the vibe's wonderfully welcoming. All walkable, all worth it, and—like everything I've recommended above—all best enjoyed without having to sip, spit, or sacrifice a designated driver.