Napa Downtown

You have NOW arrived to the winery city! Also known as Napa Downtown.
Napa comes with TONS of great things to do! Wine tasting, art galleries, shopping, good foods, and Farmers Markets and Historic sites.
*Sipping in Napa*
There are great places to have some good one in Napa. such as: Jamieson Ranch Vineyards, Steltzner Vineyards, Acacia Vineyard Acacia Vineyard, Black Stallion Winery and Chimney Rock Winery.
They are all unique in their own way. Very nice scenery and great tasting wines. Also look for deals on Amazon, Groupon and Living Social before spending your money.
*Shopping in Napa*
Shopping is always needed after enjoying amazing food and great wine in a city like this! There are great places to shop as well as great boutiques. Just to name a few: Betty’s Girl Boutique, Anna’s Bridal Boutique, Alice’s Napa Vintage Market,
Community Projects Thrift Shop and Helen Lyall Clothes for Women.
*Strolling through the hood of Napa*
The area of Napa is so friendly and filled with many different beautiful things to do such as: Napa County Historical Society, Napa Valley Museum, Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater, Music In The Vineyards, Uptown Theatre and Jessel Gallery.
This city is perfect for couples, families or just for a relaxing day by yourself.
If you are looking to spend a couple nights in Napa? No worries, here are some good places to check out: Andaz Napa, The Westin Verasa Napa, Napa River Inn at the Historic Napa Mill and Embassy Suites Hotel Napa Valley right in the downtown area.
I truly enjoy coming here as a «getaway» I am sure you would enjoy it as well!

This visit was after the earth quake had hit this town recently. Having been a fan of staying around this area I was expecting a shocking scene on how the downtown would look. Sure enough I was taken aback by the damage this event had done to this beautiful quaint area. There were visible signs of distress with a whole bunch of buildings cordoned off and declared unsafe, some in the midst of being torn down and some abandoned in a heart wrenching manner.
But never under estimate the resilience of the American spirit as like a phoenix I saw signs of recovery with some old charming businesses back to routine like nothing had ever happened here. The people oh the people they were welcoming as ever and one felt relaxed and took comfort as they shared their stories on how their business was effected by the quake and their road map to recovery.
I would whole heatedly recommend one pay this place a visit as its a better more cozy experience than the regular trips to the wineries. One can walk around and enjoy so many different wines (thanks to the wine tasting card for a mere 30 $) and gets to experience the various types of food without being relegated to what is offered at a winery. You get to connect with the locals and get to connect to this area in a much better way IMO.

Another event going on! A parade was happening this special Sunday. It seems that everytime we are in town, there is something going on. Napa downtown is nice to come on a Sunday because you can have all day parking versus Saturday (28 minutes to 3 hours). We were able to explore a good amt of the downtown region. Everything is grouped in clusters and everything is within 3 – 6 blocks from each other. We were able to explore 2 sections of downtown and watch a bit of the parade.

I stopped by Downtown before making my way up to the wineries. Loved it, because of the European-​style buildings and the friendly guides at the Tourist center. There are many restaurants, cafes, and small galleries (+ tasting venues) to visit here, and parking really wasn’t an issue for me. Then again, I went on a Monday so it might be different if you’re visiting during weekends (especially when the weather gets sunnier). I’d love to go again and explore more of the small shops here.

As part of a silent auction package I purchased, a couple of $ 25 «Taste» cards were included. The cover of the little card bills it as «Taste Napa Downtown Wine Tasting Card» and goes on to tout:
* 12 tasting rooms
* 1000s of wines
* Initial tastings for only 10 cents at each tasting room
* All within walking distance
The cards are issued by the Napa Downtown Association and can be purchased on-​line and mailed to you. Armed with rolls of dimes, 6 of us headed out for adventure.
The fun part of the Taste card is that it gives you an excuse to spend a day hoofing it around downtown Napa. Once you park your car, you really can walk to all the destinations. It feels like a cross between a walking tour, a scavenger hunt, and a bar crawl.
We quickly learned that the dimes weren’t necessary. It’s some sort of legal requirement that they charge for the tastings but none of the places actually want your dimes. Still, always good to throw down a handful for a tip.
We also quickly learned that what you get to taste is entirely up to each participating site. Having started our walking tour at the «Napa Tourist Information Center» we were offered tastings of only 2 brands of wine (4 types), both which can be had for under 10 bucks per bottle at Safeway. Yeah, welcome to Napa (not).
Although there were 12 participating sites listed on the card, one had permanently closed and one was closed for a private party. We had better luck at the other sites than at the first, though each place limited your selection of tastes and not all offered very delicious selections to cardholders. Over the course of the rest of the afternoon we hit up:
* Stonehedge Winery (one of my faves, and they offered bottle discounts to cardholders)
* 1313 Main (mostly offered non-​local wines to cardholders)
* Bounty Hunter Bar & Smokin’ BBQ (sit out front and people watch)
* Vintage Sweet Shoppe (paired the tasting with chocolate)
* Uncorked at Oxbow (nice staff)
* Ca’Momi Winery and Enoteca (ate dinner here; waiter let us use the cards while we dined… VERY much appreciated)
The card states the days and times in force for each location. If you start early enough, it’d be easy to hit every place on the card and finish up with dinner reservations somewhere downtown. The card doesn’t expose you to the best wines Napa has to offer, but it can make for a fun adventure if you set your expectations appropriately.