When you are planning Napa Valley tours, you will want to make the most out of from morning to evening. With its abundance of scenic countryside, wines, food, shopping and other activities, you should put Napa on your list of places to visit when you plan to travel to the Bay Area.
Start the morning on a fine note. A hot air balloon adventure with Balloons Above the Valley (BATV) should jumpstart your day. Of course, you won’t leave for the adventure on an empty stomach. We serve you breakfast of freshly brewed coffee and freshly baked pastries before we take you to the launch site.
At the launch site, you will witness the balloons being inflated into air-filled giants! After you are comfortably in the wicker basket, and you are slowly lifting off the ground, the adventure officially starts! Float gently over the tidy, well-arranged rows of the lush vineyards, verdant rolling hills, deep valleys, and the occasional fog enveloping the fields. But as the sunrise greets the sleeping fields, the day becomes brighter and clearer… and cameras begin taking lots of pictures and videos of the scenic countryside. Whether you take pictures from a smartphone, a point-and-shoot camera, a DSLR, or a GoPro, Napa Valley is gorgeous from every angle.
Unlike flying in a glider, bi-plane, or helicopter, flying in a hot air balloon gives you uninterrupted, unobstructed views of the Napa Valley. You will be in awe of the landscape below you and the sheer beauty of it.
Afterwards, celebrate the successful airborne journey with a delicious buffet-style brunch with sparkling wine. You and the other guests will excitedly tell stories about the details as well as the exhilarating experience of flying a hot air balloon over the gorgeous Napa landscape.
As brunch winds down, you may want to check out some of the wineries. Of course, a visit to Napa will not be complete without it! Since you’re only in Napa for a day, it’s recommended that you should visit one or two wineries and one tasting room to deepen your appreciation toward wine and wine making (as well as enjoy the scenic rides in-between).
Don’t leave Napa without taking something home with you… what we mean is shopping! Napa Valley seems to have it all for the shoppers! Shop for wines, spirits, artisanal goodies, produce, artworks/art supplies/handcrafted artisanal items and souvenirs, clothing, jewelry and lots more! Even the Napa Valley Welcome Center in downtown Napa — the starting point for visitors who look for information about the Wine Country — has its own Mercantile Shop.
If you choose BATV’s “San Francisco Balloon & Wine Tour Package,” you will have the option to do shopping and/or sightseeing. Following the champagne brunch, our chauffeur will drop you off at the Oxbow Public Market or Napa Premium Outlets to shop to your heart’s content.
As the dusk looms and you still have the energy, you may want to do some other fun things in the evening. Hitting the nightclubs and bars in Calistoga or watching plays in downtown Napa are enjoyable, but you may want to do something different. Perhaps you want a dinner with your special someone inside a train! Reserve a private table and enjoy a special dining journey in one of the vintage railcars of the Napa Valley Wine Train. Enjoy a haute cuisine dinner as the train runs through the beautiful Napa fields.
Or if you want to hit a couple more wineries, check out the ones that operate after the sun goes down. While most wineries and tasting rooms close at 5 PM, there are a handful of others that stay open until 7 PM to 10 PM. Among them include John Anthony Vineyards, St. Clair Brown Winery, Romeo Vineyards and Cellars, Girard Winery, Alpha Omega Winery, and Long Meadow Ranch Winery.
Whether you’re enjoying a sunrise hot air balloon flight or a special dinner inside a vintage train, you will never run out of fun and exciting things to do on your Napa Valley tours, from sunup to sundown.