A couple of weeks ago, I headed up to Healdsburg to check out Hotel Healdsburg. I’m a little embarrassed to say this, but I’d never been to this quaint little town.
To be honest, I was expecting more of a Yountville or St. Helena feel. Healdsburg is more like Napa or Sonoma but on a smaller scale. It’s very close to Santa Rosa and right off the freeway. If you’re coming from San Francisco, it’s not too far. We were driving from St. Helena (checking out a winery for an upcoming event) and the quickest way to cross over the valley was to take a road that had way too many sharp turns for me to count.
You can head up to the Hotel Healdsburg website and see some wonderful images of the property. I could have grabbed those, but I wanted you to see the “real” hotel, not a staged one. These images are straight from my iPhone. You’ll be seeing more of these InstaTours coming up. Think of it as the reality TV version of hotel tours.
The hotel is located right on the town square within walking distance to many restaurants and wine tasting rooms. The property offers wonderful indoor and outdoor event space and a group of 50 would be perfect to sleep, feed and meet.
All rooms come with complimentary internet, breakfast and a wine happy hour. The sleeping rooms were very spacious with gigantic bathrooms. In the next couple of months, they will be going through a renovation updating the soft goods in the rooms. The hotel only has 4 rooms with two queen beds so if you are looking for more two bedded options, H2, their sister property right down the street would be a great choice (InstaTour coming soon for H2).
Tip: There are 2 rooms that have an extended balcony that you can request at no additional charge. The rooms on the 3rd floor offer the most light.
We dined at the Dry Creek Inn located next to the property. The food was wonderful. My favorite were the appetizers – beet salad with ricotta cheese and the butternut squash ravioli with walnuts. Yum!
Things to do:
* The hotel offer bikes complimentary for hotel guests.
* There are so many wine tasting rooms that are within walking distance. We went to Banshee and tasted some incredible Pinot Noirs and Williamson. Something unique about Williamson is that they pair all their wines with food – and they don’t charge for the tasting.
* Shed – oh goodness, I think this is my favorite store of all times. From the design of the store to everything inside it, I could have stayed there for hours. And they have event space on the 2nd floor that is beautiful.
All photos taken with my iPhone.