48 Hours in Sonoma

Two days of California history, a walkable town square, vineyard roads, good food, and wine country with enough breathing room to enjoy where you are

Sonoma is famous for wine.

But if all we do is drive from tasting room to tasting room, we may miss the place that made us want to come here in the first place.

There is a historic plaza.

A mission.

Adobe buildings.

Restaurants and shops.

Country roads leading through vineyards and farms.

A small town at the center of several complicated chapters of California history.

And, a few miles away, the landscape where Jack London tried to build his vision of a working ranch.

The wine matters.

It just isn't the whole story.

That's the Sonoma we'll spend 48 hours discovering.

At a Glance

Best for: Couples, friends, wine travelers, food lovers, history travelers, and anyone looking for a Northern California getaway that doesn't require filling every hour.

The pace: Relaxed. One day largely on foot, followed by one day exploring the countryside.

Stay: Two nights.

Don't miss: Sonoma Plaza, the historic district, one meaningful vineyard experience, Glen Ellen, and enough unscheduled time to remember that this is supposed to be a getaway.

Wine strategy: One principal winery experience is enough for our core itinerary.

Good to know: Sonoma the town, Sonoma Valley, and Sonoma County aren't interchangeable. We're deliberately keeping this trip concentrated around the town of Sonoma and the surrounding Sonoma Valley rather than trying to cover the entire county.

Where to Stay

For this particular 48-hour trip, stay in or close to the town of Sonoma.

There are plenty of tempting alternatives throughout wine country.

Save them for another trip.

Staying near Sonoma Plaza gives us something increasingly valuable once the day ends:

The ability to park the car.

From a central location, restaurants, shops, tasting rooms, historic buildings, and the plaza itself can all become part of an evening walk rather than another drive.

That also makes Sonoma work particularly well for couples or groups in which not everyone has the same interest in wine.

Someone can browse.

Someone can taste.

Someone can sit outside with coffee.

Everyone can meet again for dinner.

That's a good base for a weekend.

Day 1 — Discover Sonoma the Town

Arrive and Park the Car

Once you've checked in, resist the urge to immediately leave town for a winery.

We'll do that tomorrow.

Today we're going to understand Sonoma itself.

Head toward Sonoma Plaza.

Then slow down.

Don't begin with a list.

Walk around first.

Look at the buildings.

Notice how restaurants, shops, tasting rooms, trees, lawns, and historic structures all share the center of town.

This is not merely a convenient place to have lunch between winery appointments.

It's the heart of our first day.

Late Morning — Walk Into California History

Now give the historic side of Sonoma some attention.

Visit Sonoma State Historic Park and begin around Mission San Francisco Solano.

The mission was founded in 1823 and became the northernmost of California's Franciscan missions.

But don't reduce this stop to a photograph of an old mission.

The buildings around Sonoma Plaza connect to a much larger and more complicated California story involving Native peoples, the mission system, Mexican California, General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, American expansion, and the Bear Flag Revolt.

You don't need to become a California historian before lunch.

You do need enough time to understand that Sonoma existed long before wine tourism became its international identity.

Choose the historic buildings that interest you.

Read some of the interpretation.

Look at the adobe construction.

Ask questions if a docent is available.

Then go back outside.

One of the pleasures of Sonoma is that history isn't isolated in a museum district miles from everything else.

It's woven directly into the town.

Lunch — Stay Near the Plaza

Now eat.

No driving required.

Choose somewhere around the plaza or within an easy walk.

This is wine country, but lunch does not have to become another scheduled “experience.”

It can simply be lunch.

Order something good.

Sit down.

Talk.

Look around.

We have nowhere urgent to be.

Afternoon — Let Sonoma Be a Town

This is where we're going to resist another common travel mistake.

We're not going to fill the afternoon because there's room on the itinerary.

Walk.

Browse a shop.

Visit a gallery if something catches your attention.

Have coffee.

If you're interested in wine and want to visit a tasting room in town, choose one.

Just one.

Tomorrow we'll be among the vineyards themselves.

Today, the point is Sonoma.

Spend some time back in the plaza.

Sit under a tree.

Watch people.

Notice how different the town feels once you stop treating it as the starting point for somewhere else.

Late Afternoon — Stop

Return to the hotel.

Rest.

Change for dinner if you want to.

Take a nap if you want to.

The itinerary doesn't get extra credit because we squeezed another attraction into 4:30 p.m.

Evening — Dinner and the Plaza

Walk to dinner if your lodging allows it.

Sonoma's food culture is part of the wine-country experience, but we don't need to turn dinner into a competition for the most famous reservation in town.

Choose somewhere that sounds good.

Have a proper meal.

If you're drinking wine, perhaps try something from Sonoma Valley.

Then walk afterward.

Return to the plaza.

See it in the evening.

You've spent an entire day in one California town.

And somehow, there was plenty to do.

Day 2 — Into Sonoma Valley

Yesterday belonged mostly to the town.

Today we're heading into the landscape around it.

We're also going to do something unusual for a wine-country itinerary.

We're scheduling only one winery.

That's deliberate.

Morning — Drive Toward Glen Ellen

Have breakfast.

Then head north toward Glen Ellen.

The drive isn't long.

That's good.

We're not measuring the success of the day in miles.

As the town gives way to vineyards, trees, farms, and hills, pay attention to the transition.

Yesterday we experienced Sonoma from the plaza.

Today we begin to understand the countryside surrounding it.

Morning — Benziger Family Winery

Make Benziger Family Winery our principal wine experience.

There's a reason we've chosen it.

We want more than a tasting bar.

Benziger's Sonoma Mountain estate provides an opportunity to think about the vineyard as agriculture.

The property is known for its biodynamic approach to farming and offers vineyard-oriented experiences that can take visitors beyond simply tasting finished wines.

If the vineyard-focused tour is being offered when you visit, this is the kind of place where it makes sense to choose the tour rather than simply a tasting.

Look at the land.

Ask about farming.

Notice what's growing besides grapes.

Think about soil, climate, biodiversity, and the decisions required long before wine reaches a bottle.

Then taste.

Wine becomes more interesting when we understand where it came from.

Don't Rush Away

When the winery experience ends, don't immediately reach for the next reservation.

Look around.

We're in Sonoma Valley.

The landscape is part of what we came to see.

This is precisely why there isn't a second winery waiting for us.

Lunch — Glen Ellen

Head into Glen Ellen for lunch.

This small community deserves more than being treated as the place between Sonoma and a winery.

Eat.

Walk a little.

Look around.

The village is closely associated with Jack London, who made this part of Sonoma Valley his home.

That's where we're going next.

But lunch comes first.

Wine-country days improve considerably when lunch isn't something eaten hurriedly between tastings.

Afternoon — Jack London State Historic Park

Spend the afternoon at Jack London State Historic Park.

This is where our Sonoma itinerary becomes something more than a wine trip.

Jack London is remembered around the world as the author of works including The Call of the Wild and White Fang.

Here, however, we encounter another part of his life.

London made his home in Glen Ellen and attempted to create a working ranch built around his ideas about agriculture and the land.

The park preserves that story.

Depending on your interests and how much walking you want to do, explore the historic ranch area, the cottage, the House of Happy Walls Museum, the Wolf House ruins, or some of the park's trails.

Don't try to do everything.

This is a large park.

You could easily spend most of the afternoon here, which is another reason we didn't schedule a second winery.

Choose the portion that interests you most.

If history draws you, spend more time with the buildings and London's ranch story.

If you'd rather walk, let the landscape become the experience.

Either way, give the park enough time to work.

The point isn't merely that a famous writer once lived here.

It's seeing the place he chose to call home.

Late Afternoon — Back to Sonoma

Return to Sonoma.

And stop.

No bonus winery.

No emergency tasting room.

No attraction added because you got back earlier than expected.

Rest.

Sit outside.

Have coffee.

Walk around the plaza again.

You've already had a full day.

Evening — One Last Sonoma Dinner

Walk to dinner if you can.

By now, the weekend should feel different from the way it looked when we arrived.

Sonoma is still wine country.

But now the wine belongs to something larger.

A town.

A landscape.

Agriculture.

History.

Food.

And the people who have lived here through very different periods of California's story.

That's a much more interesting souvenir than a tasting-room checklist.

If You Have 3 More Hours

Stay in Glen Ellen

If you have another three hours before leaving Sonoma Valley, don't drive somewhere entirely different.

Return to Glen Ellen.

Or, if you're already there, stay longer.

Walk through the village.

Have coffee.

Eat something.

Browse if something interests you.

Spend additional time outdoors.

If you rushed lunch yesterday because you wanted to reach Jack London State Historic Park, this is your opportunity to experience the community without watching the clock.

Glen Ellen doesn't need three hours of attractions.

That's part of its appeal.

Sometimes the extension to a trip should simply give us more time in a place we almost passed through.

If You Have One More Day

Stay in Sonoma Valley

Don't use the extra day as an excuse to conquer Sonoma County.

Stay in the valley.

Now you have choices.

Visit a second winery whose setting, farming, history, or wines genuinely interest you.

Spend more time outdoors.

Explore another small community.

Find an agricultural experience.

Return to Jack London State Historic Park for a longer walk.

Have a long lunch.

Revisit Sonoma Plaza.

Or do very little.

If wine is especially important to you, this is the day to add another estate experience.

But don't build a four-winery schedule simply because you have another day.

The extra day isn't permission to double the itinerary.

It's permission to go deeper.

Before You Go

Sonoma rewards a little planning.

Check current operating days and hours for historic sites, wineries, parks, and other places you especially want to visit.

Wine experiences increasingly vary in their reservation requirements, so confirm arrangements directly with the winery before your trip.

If everyone in your group intends to taste, plan transportation accordingly.

Eat.

Drink water.

Know when you're finished tasting.

For Jack London State Historic Park, decide in advance whether you're primarily interested in history, walking, or both.

That will help determine how much time you want to spend there.

Bring comfortable shoes.

Bring layers.

And remember that Sonoma Valley itself is larger than this itinerary.

That's intentional.

We're not trying to see all of Sonoma County in 48 hours.

We're trying to have a memorable weekend in one part of it.

There will always be another winery.

Another town.

Another restaurant.

Another road.

That's not a problem.

It's a reason to come back.

Sonoma gives us wine country with a town at its center and a landscape worth understanding.

And that's enough for this trip.

Remember:

48 hours away—not 48 hours of appointments.

Related Getaways

Continue south with 48 Hours in Santa Cruz, where wine-country roads give way to redwoods, beaches, neighborhoods, and the Pacific.

Head farther down the Central Coast with 48 Hours in Carmel, where another walkable California town becomes the center of the weekend.

Or compare Sonoma's wine-country personality with 48 Hours in Santa Ynez Valley, where six small communities, ranch country, vineyards, and country roads create a very different version of a California wine weekend.

Eventually, Sonoma will also connect naturally with 48 Hours in Napa Valley.

But Napa deserves its own trip.

So does Sonoma.

That's the point.

Great California trips without trying to see everything.

Photo Credits

Bedrock Vineyard, Sonoma Valley: Treephoto, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Image cropped for display.

Sonoma Plaza: Donald S. Lear, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Image cropped for display.

Jacuzzi Family Vineyards: Jim G, via Wikimedia Commons/Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0. Image cropped for display.