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Expert Travel And Tour Tips For The Napa Valley - Part 1

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This is the 1st installment of a 5 part series. Let me apologize in advance for the length of this article.There is a ton of material to cover for you and this firstarticle has a lot in it. After years of answering questions about travel to and from thevalley, how to avoid crowds, tips, travel secrets and more, Ifeel it is time to compile all of this information together foranyone traveling here. Before we dig in, who am I? Just in case you didn't see my web site, my name is Steve Sandsand my wife and I have lived in the Napa Valley for over 10years helping visitors create the perfect Napa Valley experience. We own two bed and breakfast inns - La Belle Epoque - NapaValley Bed and Breakfast and the Buckley House Suites. We havehelped literally thousands of people create the perfect NapaValley wine tour experience. Even if you don't buy my Complete Napa Valley Wine Tour Guide,this 5 part special report will give you very important travelinformation to make your trip easier and more pleasant. If youare not traveling to the Napa Valley but know someone who is,please forward the article to them to help them with their trip. One of the most frequent questions I get asked is "What's thebest way to get to the Napa Valley?" The Napa Valley is Northeast of San Francisco and about the samedistance from SFO airport, Oakland airport and Sacramentoairport. Speaking of distances, here are some travel times to otherNorthern California destinations: * Napa to San Francisco about an hour and a half to two hours. *Napa to Carmel/Monterey about three and a half hours. * Napa toYosemite Valley about 4 hours. * Napa to Mendocino about 3 hoursor so. * Napa to Reno about 4 hours but more in the Winter. *Napa to Los Angeles about 6 and a half hours. Sacramento Airport - This is definitely your airport of choiceif you are flying in AND your local airport has flights that gothere. It is so much easier to exit the terminal, get a rentalcar, be on your way and drive to Napa (about one hour door todoor). If you arrive early on a weekday, you will encounter somecommute traffic as you head toward Napa - so, your drive willtake more than an hour. If you are leaving Napa mid-afternoon on a weekday, ADD extratime to your travel plans to make sure you are able to get tothe airport on time. Can't avoid San Francisco or Oakland airports? Here are some travel tips. These airports are on major commute corridors. SFO - Unless you are arriving around noon or leaving about 3:00PM or traveling after


travel,,Flights,,vacation package

about 6:00 PM you will be DEEP in themiddle of commute traffic. On a good day the trip will be aboutan hour and 15 minutes. On a bad day it can be over 3 hours oftravel time. Plan according to your arrival time. Oakland Airport - Unless you are arriving around noon or leavingabout 3:00 PM or traveling after about 6:00 PM you will be DEEPin the middle of commute traffic. On a good day the trip will beabout an hour and 15 minutes. On a bad day it can be over 3hours of travel time. No, that's not a typo, both airports are about the same distancefrom the Napa Valley and use the same freeways. So, planaccording to your arrival time. Or, better yet, use theSacramento Airport. Other considerations include whether a major sports game isbeing played on the day you are arriving or leaving or whetherthere is major earthquake retrofit work going on one of thebridges you are crossing. Speaking of bridges, tolls are $5 on the Golden Gate, $3 on theBay Bridge and the Carquinez Bridge. Both the Bay and Carquineztoll rates are currently under review and will likely go up. Some freeways allow you to use a commute lane if you have two ormore and sometimes three or more people in your vehicle. Watchfor the sign to tell you if you have to have two or three totaloccupants in your vehicle. The ticket costs a minumum of $271 ifyou are pulled over by the Highway Patrol. If you have more time or are already in San Francisco orneighboring towns, another beautiful drive is to travel over theGolden Gate bridge. It is typical urban traffic in town, can be congested duringweekday commute times, but is a nice scenic drive once you headEast on Hwy 37 and turn North onto Hwy 121. This route is about10 miles longer but can be about the same time or even less thanthe other routes because of less commute congestion. Copy and past this entire link into a web browser to see a highlevel map of the area... http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&cat=&address=&city=napa&state=ca&zipcode= Well, that's all for this first installment. Coming up next, we'll cover airport pick up services and WHEN totravel to the Napa Valley. Have a great day. About the author: Steve Sands lives in the Napa Valley and owns two bed andbreakfast inns in historic, downtown Napa. La Belle Epoque -Napa Valley Bed and Breakfast and the Buckley House Suites.http://LaBelleEpoque.com and http://BestNapaValleyWineTours.com

Written by: Steve Sands

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