Top Reasons to Stay at Metro Hotel & Cafe
- The hotel is located near historic downtown Petaluma, whose charming streets were used as filming locations for American Graffiti, Pleasantville, and The Tree of Life.
- It’s just a 15-minute drive from many Sonoma County wineries.
- This boutique hotel is filled with French-inspired collectibles, such as a puppet theater with wooden dolls, suitcases emblazoned with travel stickers, French roadside signs, garden gnomes, and vintage bikes.
- The building was constructed more than 140 years ago and restored in 2004; it now has many modern amenities, such as WiFi and 30- to 40-inch TVs.
- Each room has a private bathroom with a claw-foot tub and shower.
Sonoma Valley, California: Relaxed Wine Country and Majestic Redwoods
Located about an hour north of San Francisco, the Sonoma Valley is best known for its wine. The mild climate here allows winemakers to grow cool-weather varietals such as pinot noir and chardonnay. But the valley has a varied landscape; some areas are prime for growing hot-weather vines, too.
Follow 17 miles of country roads that connect the sleepy hamlet of Kenwood to the Carneros Appellation and you'll find more than 40 boutique wineries, most small and family-owned. Many are tucked amid oak forests and wildflower meadows. Compared to its neighbor Napa Valley (about 15 miles away), Sonoma feels a little more relaxed and remote: the wineries here are generally more secluded from one another than those in Napa, and tasting rooms tend to be less crowded, even on the weekends.
Even if you aren't visiting for the vineyards, Sonoma Valley's gentle climate and diverse natural landscape make it worth a visit. Hiking trails wind past redwood trees as high as skyscrapers, and popular excursions are canoeing on Russian River and sightseeing at the craggy Pacific coastline and its unspoiled beaches.
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