Usually when someone asks me for advice about vacations for big family groups, I suggest all-inclusive resorts, dude ranches, and cruises. But a recent stay at Napa’s Carneros Resort & Spa opened my eyes to another perfect-fit for multi-generational family groups.
This California wine-country resort is unusual: It’s built like a series of idyllic little neighborhoods (all walkable to everything the resort has to offer) with individual cottages set among mature trees, beautifully maintained gardens bursting with flowers including climbing roses, jasmine, and cactus blossoms.
I stayed in the Verbena cluster of cottages, and though I was visiting with just my husband, I could imagine inviting grandparents, cousins and their families, nieces and nephews, sisters and sisters-in-law to all gather. We’d each have our own cottage but would visit on each other’s porches and sit in the 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 that connects Napa to Sonoma, the best of two of the world’s most famous wine countries spread out before us. Often when people think about a visit to one of Northern California’s famed wine countries, it feels like a choice: Napa or Sonoma? That’s what makes Carneros the region and Carneros the resort so appealing. The region (more accurately, the AVA, American Viticultural Area) is a five-mile wide, 30-mile long stretch of rolling hills connecting Napa and Sonoma that’s home to some of the region’s best-known sparkling wines along with Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. At Carneros, both are so close you don’t have to choose, making it a real yes-and location.
Cottages
Cottages have different configurations to accommodate two to four people. All have front porches with rocking chairs, outdoor spaces in the back, fireplaces, slate heated bathroom floors. Some cottages have additional features like larger backyards, connecting backyards, outdoor showers, soaking tubs, and fire pits.
I stayed in a Harvest Cottage, which has an extra-spacious backyard with a fire pit, sun deck, outdoor shower, and my favorite detail, an outdoor clawfoot bathtub, accessible via the shower in the bathroom. Harvest cottages also have a customizable King Bryte Balance bed; after climbing into bed I set it to my preferred level of softness and had a great night of sleep.
All stays come with daily breakfast, use of the resort bicycles, and wellness classes along with complimentary Wi-Fi and parking (including EV charging stations).
What you’ll find at the resort
On a map, the resort looks vast and decentralized, but I found that everything is a quick walk away through gardens and among the cottages. From the lobby, you’ll be close to FARM restaurant and FARM Pavilion, an open-air lounge that looks out on the main lawn where people gather for lawn games, movies, and live music.
Wrapped around the lawn are the restaurant’s patio, the resort’s excellent shop (kudos to the buyer; the clothes here are much cooler and more interesting than what I expected to find at a resort shop), a little market with everything you’ll need for snacks and picnics; Post, the wine bar; an Oxygen bar; and off at the end, a long series of raised beds full of gorgeous fruits, vegetables, and herbs being grown for the restaurant.
Wander through these gardens to reach the Chick-Inn, a chicken coop with a few surprise residents (spoiler alert: it’s rabbits, hanging out with the chickens).
The resort has two pools: the family-friendly Otto’s pool, which is close to the main resort buildings and sits alongside the fitness center; and the adults-only Hilltop pool and hot tub next to the spa.
One thing to note is that the resort sits close to a busy road, but once I was inside the property, I didn’t notice the sound of traffic much.
Dining at Carneros
Carneros has three dining options: its Farm Restaurant in the main building; a breakfast-and-lunch poolside dining area overlooking the Hilltop adult pool and the rolling hills that border the property; and Boon Fly Cafe, a relaxed, warm breakfast and lunch spot in a cozy barn-like space a quick walk from the main property.
By the time I had dinner at FARM, I already knew that Carneros was good at creating special and unexpected moments in familiar situations, but I was still surprised and delighted by the restaurant’s out-of-the-box approach to a-la-carte dining. That’s because at intervals between courses came surprises that made an order-what-you-like dinner feel more like a tasting menu experience. An amuse bouche opened the meal, a palate-cleansing sorbet marked the end of the dinner and the beginning of dessert, and a little treat and the end felt like a festive way to linger a little longer and celebrate a special meal.
The resort’s breakfast and lunch spot, Boon Fly Cafe, sits along the highway and attracts a mix of hotel guests, locals, and visitors. The lofty modern barn space still manages to feel cozy 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 playful and unexpected options like Green Eggs & Ham, breakfast flatbreads, and made-fresh-to-order donuts. If you’re a fan of chilaquiles, Chef Pedro’s signature dish should be on your radar.
Activities and unexpected offerings
Sabrage lessons
I love a hotel that piques interest in a region with its place-specific offerings, and Carneros nails it 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 Post, the hotel’s wine bar. We started with the basics, learning about the history: theories about the origin of this dramatic approach to uncorking a bottle of sparkling wine vary, but most track it back to Napoleonic times. After a how-to and a demonstration by my teacher, I got to try it myself and then sit down for a glass from my open bottle.
With indoor and outdoor seating, Post has a menu of both spirit and wine flights along with an entire flight dedicated to non-alcoholic wines (still a hard thing to find in wine countries).
Bee Mindful 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 cottage with bees. Before I entered the bee cottage for my Bee Mindful experience, a guide introduced me to the resort’s beekeeping program with a tour of the resort’s bee hives. Then she brought me into a tiny one-room cottage and showed me where I’d spend the next hour. My relaxation space was a wooden bed that alternated between wide slats and screens. She lifted up the wooden slats of the bed to reveal a hive with a screened top (if you’re counting, that makes two layers of screening between the person and the bees). These would be my nap companions, a busy hive of bees whose entrance was out the side of the cottage. The air inside the cottage was a heady mix of honey and warm wax, and after settling down on the bed I listened to the meditative buzz of the bees at work inches below me. And then, an hour had passed and my guide was knocking at the door to wake me up. I don’t remember the last time I slept so deeply.
