A Napa Valley Travel Guide for Diners

The valley runs south to north from the city of Napa through Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford and St Helena to Calistoga, linked by Highway 29 on the west and the quieter Silverado Trail on the east.

Distances look trivial on a map and are not in practice. Allow twenty minutes between villages and double it on a harvest weekend afternoon.

• Napa — the largest town, most hotels, most restaurants
• Yountville — the dining capital, walkable
• St Helena — charming, central, good shopping
• Calistoga — spas, quieter, cheaper

Yountville if food is the point, because you can walk to three of the group's restaurants and back. Napa town if budget matters and you want variety. St Helena if you want to be central to the northern wineries.

Splitting a week between two bases wastes half a day. Pick one.

Two a day. Three if one is early and you skip lunch, which you should not. Almost every winery is appointment-only now, so book a week ahead.

Mix a large famous estate with a small family producer. The contrast teaches you more about the valley than two grand tours will.

Napa is expensive. Tasting fees of $50 to $150 per person are normal, hotel rates in harvest season are extraordinary, and restaurant prices reflect the destination.

The counterweight is that the region's casual food — bakeries, delis, bistros — is genuinely excellent, so the trip does not have to be uniformly extravagant.