If you’re looking for a relaxed, chic bachelorette destination, look no further than Sonoma Valley. With incredible vineyard views, gorgeous wineries, outdoor activities, and spas, there’s something for every type of bride. Sonoma is going to be less of the heavy partying of cities like Austin, Nashville, and Vegas. Instead, Sonoma is perfect for a slightly more laid back bachelorette (although there’s still ample opportunities for drinking!).
I recently planned a bachelorette for my close friend who lives in San Francisco. She’s a total wine lover (and a bit of an expert), so I put together an itinerary chock full of chic wineries. We had a smaller group of four in the end, which was perfect for easily getting reservations. This Sonoma bachelorette itinerary consisted of wineries, a private chef dinner, a pool day, and at least one night out. If this sounds like your kind of bachelorette, keep reading for the full itinerary.
Xx, Kelsey
WHEN WE WENT
Our bride was getting married in September, so we planned a July bachelorette. This ended up being perfect for our pool day, but it was so hot for our winery day that most visits had to be moved inside. Summer is honestly great for the bachelorette vibes, so I still recommend it. Fall would be absolutely incredible, and I plan to go again during autumn for a personal trip.
HOW WE GOT THERE
As I mentioned above, our bride lives in San Francisco. All the attendees flew or drove to San Francisco, and we left from her house. Since we had a smaller group we were able to drive one car, but you can absolutely look at renting or hiring a driver. Just a heads up that you’ll want to leave earlier in the day to avoid traffic. We were delayed and didn’t leave until 3pm. What should have been a 1.5 hour drive took us 3 hours!
WHERE WE STAYED
All of us are in our 30s, so it was important to us that everyone have their own room. We rented this gorgeous airbnb in Healdsburg, which is close to all the best wineries. It had five bedrooms, a huge backyard, a pool and a hot tub. There are plenty of airbnbs in the area, but they do get a bit pricey. If you’re sharing rooms and beds, that will definitely help bring down the cost!
WHAT WE DID
Alright, the fun part. The Sonoma bachelorette itinerary! Below is the exact itinerary I made for the bachelorette, and below I’ll break it all down.
Day One
We arrived this day, so the focus was on driving to the airbnb in Healdsburg and checking in. We made dinner plans at Roof 106 to kick off the celebrations. The food was incredible (think farm-to-table shared plates and pizzas), and naturally they had a fantastic wine list. One thing to note is they do close fairly early. We had an 8pm reservation, and by 9:45 they were doing last call on wine and food.
Day Two
This was our wine tasting day! I highly recommend booking a private car. We used Cesar Car Services to drive us around for the day. Cesar had waters and let us hook up our own music. I believe he also has a license so you can drink in the car, but we had plenty of wine at the tastings and didn’t need anymore. Below are the wineries we visited.
Lynmar Estate – This was such a sleeper hit and the PERFECT way to kick off the day. Thankfully it wasn’t too hot out for our 10AM reservation, so we were able to do our tasting in the garden. They have the most incredible garden with the vineyards in the background. Our tasting was so fun, and the host personalized every tasting for us. We ended up drinking quite a bit of wine, but every glass was so stellar. I would 100% book this winery.
Seghesio – I booked this winery as part of our Sonoma bachelorette itinerary because they have picnic tables and bocce ball. The idea was to do a picnic lunch while we played. Unfortunately, it was over 100 degrees that day, so we cancelled the bocce ball. The tasting inside was fun, but we didn’t love the wines. This winery specializes in Zinfandel, so it was a lot of reds. Not ideal for a hot day. If I were to do this again (and it wasn’t 100 degrees), I’d book this winery that also has bocce. That being said, it’s a great option for a bigger group. We saw another bachelorette there with 10 people.
Flowers Winery – Our bride is a member at Flowers, so we were luckily able to get in on her membership. This is the chicest winery, and the wines are fantastic. We didn’t get to sit in the garden because of the heat, which is a bummer, since it’s so beautiful. It’s definitely worth visiting, but might be a little pricey for a bachelorette without the membership. I highly recommend visiting at some point, though!
Other wineries – A few other wineries I researched but didn’t end up booking were Bricoleur, Copain, Enriquez, and MacRostie
After a long day of drinking wine, we stayed in for the evening and ordered Mexican food. We played a few bachelorette games and headed to bed. I highly recommend doing an easy evening after a long day of wine tasting.
Day Three
The third day on this Sonoma bachelorette itinerary was all about wellness. Since we were staying at an epic airbnb, we wanted to maximize out time there. Our bride is also all about balance. So we had a little fun and took care of ourselves, as well.
Yoga – We started the day by having Vinita Yoga come to the house and guide us through a 40 minute flow and 20 minute Tibetan bowl meditation. It was honestly such a lovely way to start the day, and Vinita was so so sweet. She totally customized the class for us, so no worries if you’ve got people new to yoga in the group!
Massages – Is it really a wellness day if you don’t get massages? We had Sonoma Bodyworks come to the house to give everyone an hour massage. It was so easy to set up, and our therapists were amazing. It’s a bit on the pricey side, which makes sense since they’re traveling to you. The massages were so good and left us feeling so relaxed.
Pool day – We had a lovely pool in the backyard and wanted to make sure we spent some time enjoying it. We spent the afternoon hanging out and drinking rosé. It was honestly so ideal.
Private chef – This was the most expensive part of the bachelorette, but our bride was a total foodie. We had Chante from Snippets of Thyme come to the house and cook a five course dinner. We also had a bartender as part of our package. The food was absolutely incredible, but I have to be honest that the price was really steep. If I were to plan this bachelorette for a bigger group, I’d potentially look at going out again or ordering in to save some money.
Night out – This was definitely not planned, but we got excited after dinner and decided to pop out to a bar in Healdsburg. In all honesty, I think it might be the ONLY bar in Healdsburg. We went to Duke’s Spirited Cocktails. expecting a cocktail bar, but it was closer to a club on a Saturday night. They played a lot of music geared toward Millennials, so we had a total blast!
Day Four
The last day was our checkout and travel home day. A few of us were taking redeye flights back to the east coast, so we had planned a brunch back in SF. In the end, everyone parted ways a little early so we canceled. However, I’ve been to True Laurel before, and it’s fantastic. So totally worth going!
