Things to do · Napa Valley · United States
18 best things to do in Napa Valley
18 sights and experiences ranked for a first visit, with honest notes on time, cost and crowds.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Pictured: Inglenook, Napa Valley · Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
The essential sights in Napa Valley are Napa Valley Wine Train, Hot-air balloon flight and Oxbow Public Market. Of the 18 picks below, 3 are free, 5 work on a rainy day and 5 suit children. Allow about 3 days to see the highlights without rushing.
Key facts
- Top sight
- Napa Valley Wine Train
- Free sights
- 3
- Good on a rainy day
- Oxbow Public Market
- Time to see the highlights
- 3 days
Plan a trip to Napa Valley
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At a glance
| Sight | Area | Time needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Napa Valley Wine Train | Downtown Napa | 3–6 hours | Expensive |
| Hot-air balloon flight | Yountville | 3–4 hours with transfers | Expensive |
| Oxbow Public Market | Downtown Napa | 1–1.5 hours | Low cost |
| Downtown Napa tasting rooms | Downtown Napa | Half a day | Mid-priced |
| Castello di Amorosa | Calistoga | 2 hours | Expensive |
| Beringer Vineyards | St Helena | 1.5 hours | Expensive |
| Inglenook | Oakville and Rutherford | 1.5–2 hours | Expensive |
| Chateau Montelena | Calistoga | 1.5 hours | Expensive |
| Schramsberg Vineyards | Calistoga | 1.5 hours | Expensive |
| Domaine Carneros | Carneros | 1.5 hours | Expensive |
| Culinary Institute of America at Greystone | St Helena | 1 hour | Low cost |
| Calistoga mud baths and hot springs | Calistoga | 1.5–2 hours | Expensive |
| Old Faithful Geyser of California | Calistoga | 1 hour | Low cost |
| Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park | St Helena | 1 hour | Low cost |
| Yountville village | Yountville | 2–3 hours | Free |
| Napa Valley Vine Trail | Downtown Napa | 2–4 hours | Free |
| Robert Louis Stevenson State Park | Calistoga | 4–5 hours | Free |
| di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art | Carneros | 1.5 hours | Mid-priced |
The 18 best things to do
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Experience · Downtown Napa
1.Napa Valley Wine Train
Restored early 20th-century Pullman cars run a roughly 58 km round trip between Napa and St Helena while passengers eat lunch or dinner, with some packages adding winery stops. It lets everyone enjoy the views without a designated driver.
Choose a package with a winery stop if you want to taste along the way, and sit on the side facing the vineyards rather than Highway 29.
- Time needed
- 3–6 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Popular departures, especially weekends and harvest season, sell out; book well ahead.
- Iconic
- Couples
- Food
- Views
Experience · Yountville
2.Hot-air balloon flight
Balloon companies launch around sunrise from near Yountville and Napa, drifting over vineyards and hills for about an hour in calm morning air. Flights usually end with a champagne toast or breakfast.
Plan the flight early in your trip so it can be rescheduled if winds cancel it, and dress in layers for the chilly pre-dawn start.
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours with transfers
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Book ahead and expect very early start times; flights depend on the weather.
- Views
- Couples
- Photo spot
- Iconic
Market · Downtown Napa
3.Oxbow Public Market
A food hall on the Napa River with stalls for oysters, tacos, cheese, spices, coffee, bakeries and wine bars. It is a relaxed place for a casual lunch between tastings and a good stop for picnic supplies.
Go at lunchtime on a weekday to avoid queues, and pick up picnic supplies before heading up the valley.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Food
- Rainy day
- Kids
- Shopping
Neighbourhood · Downtown Napa
4.Downtown Napa tasting rooms
Dozens of tasting rooms cluster within a few walkable blocks of First Street, Main Street and the Napa River, from boutique producers to big-name labels. Walking between them avoids the need for a driver.
Plan two or three tastings with a lunch break in between, and walk along the riverfront path to the Oxbow district.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Food
- After dark
- Shopping
- Couples
Castle · Calistoga
5.Castello di Amorosa
A winery built as a medieval Tuscan-style castle, with towers, a drawbridge, a great hall with painted frescoes, barrel cellars and a torture chamber. Tours explore the castle and finish with tastings of Italian-style wines.
Book a guided tour to see the lower cellars, which are not part of a basic tasting visit.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Tours and tastings are by reservation; weekends book up early.
- Architecture
- Rainy day
- Photo spot
- Kids
Historic site · St Helena
6.Beringer Vineyards
Founded in 1876 by German immigrants Jacob and Frederick Beringer, Beringer is often cited as the oldest continuously operating winery in the Napa Valley. The 1884 Rhine House, a half-timbered mansion, and the hand-dug tunnels behind it are the highlights.
Ask for a tasting in the Rhine House, and walk the gardens around the mansion afterwards.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- History
- Architecture
- Food
Historic site · Oakville and Rutherford
7.Inglenook
Founded in 1879 by Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum, this Rutherford estate is centred on an ivy-covered stone château. Film director Francis Ford Coppola reunited the historic estate, and it offers tastings, tours and a small museum on its history.
Book a tasting with a tour of the château and caves to understand the estate's long history.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Tastings are by reservation.
- History
- Architecture
- Food
- Couples
Historic site · Calistoga
8.Chateau Montelena
A stone château from the 1880s set beside a Chinese-style garden and lake at the north end of the valley. Its 1973 Chardonnay won the white-wine category at the 1976 Judgment of Paris, a blind tasting that put Napa on the international wine map.
Walk around Jade Lake and its pavilions after your tasting; it is one of the most peaceful spots in the valley.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Tastings are by reservation.
- History
- Couples
- Food
Historic site · Calistoga
1.Schramsberg Vineyards
On Diamond Mountain near Calistoga, this sparkling-wine house has caves dug by Chinese labourers in the 1870s and 1880s, where bottles age in stacks. Robert Louis Stevenson visited and wrote about the estate.
The cave tour with tasting is the reason to come; wear a light jacket, as the caves stay cool.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Tours are by reservation and often fill up well in advance.
- History
- Couples
- Food
Architecture · Carneros
2.Domaine Carneros
A sparkling-wine house founded by the Champagne house Taittinger, built in the style of an 18th-century French château on a hilltop in Carneros. Seated tastings on the terrace look over the vineyards towards San Pablo Bay.
Go in the afternoon for terrace light and pair it with a stop at the di Rosa art collection nearby.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Couples
- Views
- Architecture
- Food
Architecture · St Helena
3.Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
The Greystone Cellars building, completed in 1889, was once among the largest stone wineries in the world and now houses the West Coast campus of the Culinary Institute of America. Visitors can browse the shop, see the corkscrew collection and book cooking demonstrations and classes.
Book a cooking demonstration or a meal at the campus restaurant to see inside the historic building.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- Architecture
- Food
- Rainy day
- History
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Experience · Calistoga
4.Calistoga mud baths and hot springs
Calistoga has been a spa town since Sam Brannan founded it in the 1860s. Spas along Lincoln Avenue offer mud baths of volcanic ash and mineral water, followed by mineral soaks and wraps, and several resorts have geothermally heated pools.
Book a mid-afternoon treatment after a morning of tastings, and drink plenty of water; the hot mud and minerals are dehydrating.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Spa treatments book up at weekends; reserve ahead.
- Couples
- Rainy day
Nature · Calistoga
5.Old Faithful Geyser of California
A privately owned geyser just outside Calistoga that erupts regularly, sending a column of hot water into the air. The grounds have a small garden and a petting area with goats.
Ask at the entrance about the expected time of the next eruption so you do not miss it.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Nature
- Outdoors
Historic site · St Helena
6.Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park
A water-powered mill built in 1846 with a large wooden waterwheel, among the oldest of its kind in California. A short trail connects it with Bothe-Napa Valley State Park and its redwood groves.
Visit at the weekend, when there may be milling demonstrations, and walk the history trail to Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Off the beaten path
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Neighbourhood · Yountville
7.Yountville village
A walkable village on Washington Street with destination restaurants, bakeries, galleries and tasting rooms. Public outdoor sculptures dot the streets, and the town's history is reflected in its veterans' home, one of the largest in the US.
Get pastries at Bouchon Bakery early, then walk the sculpture trail along Washington Street.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Food
- Free
- Art
- Couples
Experience · Downtown Napa
8.Napa Valley Vine Trail
A paved walking and cycling path that runs from Napa's Kennedy Park through downtown to Yountville, passing vineyards along the way, with further sections being built up-valley. It is a good way to visit Yountville and its tasting rooms without driving.
Rent a bike in downtown Napa, ride to Yountville for lunch, and come back in the afternoon before the valley breeze picks up.
- Time needed
- 2–4 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Active
- Free
- Outdoors
- Kids
Nature · Calistoga
9.Robert Louis Stevenson State Park
On the slopes of Mount St Helena, where the author honeymooned in 1880, a trail climbs about 8 km each way to the 1,323-metre summit with views over the valley and, on clear days, to the Sierra Nevada.
Start early in summer because there is little shade, and turn around at the halfway viewpoint if time or heat runs short.
- Time needed
- 4–5 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Active
- Views
- Outdoors
- Free
Gallery · Carneros
10.di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art
A large collection of Northern California art displayed in galleries and outdoor sculpture grounds on a lakeside property in Carneros, built by collector Rene di Rosa.
Combine it with a tasting at Domaine Carneros nearby, and check the current exhibitions and opening days before you go.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Rainy day
- Outdoors
- Off the beaten path
Pick by interest
| Interest | Best picks |
|---|---|
| Art and museums | Yountville village and di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art |
| History | Beringer Vineyards, Inglenook, Chateau Montelena and Schramsberg Vineyards |
| Views | Napa Valley Wine Train, Domaine Carneros, Hot-air balloon flight and Robert Louis Stevenson State Park |
| Outdoors and nature | Old Faithful Geyser of California, Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park, Napa Valley Vine Trail and Robert Louis Stevenson State Park |
| Food and markets | Napa Valley Wine Train, Oxbow Public Market, Downtown Napa tasting rooms and Beringer Vineyards |
| After dark | Downtown Napa tasting rooms |
| With children | Oxbow Public Market, Castello di Amorosa, Old Faithful Geyser of California and Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park |
| On a rainy day | Oxbow Public Market, Castello di Amorosa, Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and Calistoga mud baths and hot springs |
What to book ahead
- Napa Valley Wine Train: Popular departures, especially weekends and harvest season, sell out; book well ahead.
- Hot-air balloon flight: Book ahead and expect very early start times; flights depend on the weather.
- Castello di Amorosa: Tours and tastings are by reservation; weekends book up early.
- Inglenook: Tastings are by reservation.
- Chateau Montelena: Tastings are by reservation.
- Schramsberg Vineyards: Tours are by reservation and often fill up well in advance.
- Calistoga mud baths and hot springs: Spa treatments book up at weekends; reserve ahead.
Plan the rest of your trip
Questions travellers ask
+What is the number one thing to do in Napa Valley?
Napa Valley Wine Train. Restored early 20th-century Pullman cars run a roughly 58 km round trip between Napa and St Helena while passengers eat lunch or dinner, with some packages adding winery stops.
+What can you do for free in Napa Valley?
Yountville village, Napa Valley Vine Trail and Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. More free things to do.
+What is there to do in Napa Valley when it rains?
Head indoors to Oxbow Public Market, Castello di Amorosa, Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and Calistoga mud baths and hot springs.
+What is there to do in Napa Valley at night?
Downtown Napa tasting rooms are best after dark.