Usually when someone asks me for advice on vacations for large family groups, I suggest all-inclusive resorts, ranches, and cruises. But a recent stay at Napa’s Carneros Resort & Spa opened my eyes to another option suitable for multi-generational family groups.
This California wine-growing resort is unusual: Set up as a series of beautiful little neighborhoods (all within walking distance to everything the resort has to offer) with individual cottages nestled among mature trees, the beautifully tended gardens are full of flowers including climbing roses, jasmine, and cactus flowers.
I live in the Verbena cluster of cottages, and although I’m only visiting with my husband, I can imagine inviting grandparents, cousins and their families, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters-in-law over. We each had our own cottage, but visited each other on the terrace and sat in rocking chairs.
Napa or Sonoma? Try Napa and Sonoma
On property at Carneros Resort & Spa, there’s plenty to do (more on that later) but also, from its location on the road connecting Napa to Sonoma, the best of two of the world’s most famous wine countries is spread out before us. Often when people think about visiting one of Northern California’s famous wine countries, it feels like a choice: Napa or Sonoma? That’s what makes the Carneros area and Carneros resort so attractive. The region (more precisely, the AVA, American Viticultural Area) is a five-mile-wide, 30-mile-long stretch of rolling hills connecting Napa and Sonoma that is home to some of the region’s most famous sparkling wines along with Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. In Carneros, the two are so close together that you don’t have to choose, making it a true yes location.
Cottage
The cottages have different configurations to accommodate two to four people. All have front porches with rocking chairs, outdoor space in back, fireplaces, heated bathroom floors. Some cottages have additional features such as larger backyards, connected backyards, outdoor showers, soaking tubs, and fire pits.
I stayed in the Harvest Cottage, which has an extra-large backyard with a fire pit, sundeck, outdoor shower, and my favorite detail, an outdoor clawfoot tub, accessible via the shower in the bathroom. Harvest cottage also has an adjustable King Bryte Balance bed; after getting into bed I set it to my preferred softness level and had a good night’s sleep.
All stays come with daily breakfast, use of the resort’s bikes and wellness classes as well as free Wi-Fi and parking (including EV charging stations).
What you will find at the resort
On the map the resort looks large and decentralized, but I think everything is within a short walk through the gardens and between the lodges. From the lobby, you’ll be close to the FARM restaurant and the FARM Pavilion, an open lounge overlooking the main courtyard where people gather for lawn games, movies and live music.
Around the grounds are restaurant terraces, a great resort shop (kudos to the shoppers; the clothes here are much cooler and fancier than I expected in a resort shop), a small market with everything you need for snacks and a picnic; Post, wine bar; Oxygen bar; and at the end, a series of long beds filled with fruit, vegetables and herbs grown for the restaurant.
Explore these gardens to reach the Chick-Inn, a chicken coop with some surprise residents (spoiler alert: it’s bunnies, hanging out with the chickens).
The resort has two pools: the family-friendly Otto pool, which is close to the main resort building and located next to the fitness center; and an adults-only hilltop pool and hot tub next to the spa.
One thing to note is that the resort is located close to a busy road, but once I was inside the property, I didn’t notice much traffic noise.
Dining at Carneros
Carneros has three dining options: The Farm Restaurant in the main building; a poolside dining area for breakfast and lunch overlooking the hilltop adult pool and rolling hills bordering the property; and Boon Fly Cafe, a casual, warm breakfast and lunch spot in a cozy, warehouse-like space, is a short walk from the main property.
When I dined at FARM, I already knew that Carneros was good at creating special, unexpected moments in intimate settings, but I was still surprised and delighted by the restaurant’s out-of-the-box approach to a-la-carte dining. That’s because between courses pop up surprises that make a made-to-order dinner feel more like a tasting menu experience. An amuse bouche opens the meal, a palate-cleansing sorbet marks the end of dinner and the beginning of dessert, and a little treat and finish feel like a festive way to linger and celebrate a special meal.
The resort’s breakfast and lunch spot, Boon Fly Cafe, is located along the highway and attracts a variety of hotel guests, locals and visitors. The tall, modern warehouse space still feels comfortable and welcoming, a feeling that extends to the menu, which has plenty of great options for everyone from vegetarians to gluten-free folks. Breakfast standards share space with fun and unexpected options like Green Eggs & Ham, breakfast flatbreads, and fresh donuts made to order. If you’re a fan of chilaquiles, Chef Pedro’s signature dish is one you should pay attention to.
Unexpected activities and offers
Sabrage Lessons
I love hotels that appeal to a region with site-specific offerings, and Carneros enhances that with its menu of activities. I signed up for a sabrage experience to learn how to open champagne with a saber. I met my teacher at the Post, the hotel’s wine bar. We started with the basics, delving into its history: theories about the origins of this dramatic approach to uncorking a bottle of sparkling wine vary, but most trace it back to the time of Napoleon. After instructions and demonstrations by my teacher, I tried it myself and then sat down to take a glass from my open bottle.
With indoor and outdoor seating, Post has a menu of spirits and wine flights as well as an entire flight dedicated to non-alcoholic wines (still hard to find in wine-growing countries).
Mindful Bee Experience
The next morning, I signed up for an activity I’d never done before (or even heard of): an hour of relaxation in a hut with bees. Before I entered the bee lodge for the Bee Mindful experience, a guide introduced me to the resort’s beekeeping program with a tour of the resort’s beehives. Then he took me to a small one-room cottage and showed me where I would spend the next hour. My relaxation space is a wooden bed that alternates between wide slats and partitions. He lifted the wooden slats of the bed to reveal a hive with a padded top (if you’re counting, that creates two layers of protection between the person and the bees). This was my bedfellow, a busy beehive whose entrance was on the side of the hut. The air in the hut was a heady mixture of honey and warm wax, and after settling into bed, I listened to the meditative buzz of bees at work a few inches below me. And then, an hour had passed and my guide knocked on the door to wake me up. I can’t remember the last time I had a good night’s sleep.
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