2 Splendid Days in Walkable Yountville

Itinerary: Compact Napa Valley town is an ideal destination for wine tasting, dining, and shopping on foot.

As the author of a Wine Country guidebook, I’m constantly on the lookout for new wine-tasting, dining, lodging, and shopping opportunities, but the assignment also involves reevaluating a destination’s longtime establishments. On two splendid early-fall days in compact Yountville, I focused on the latter, mostly on foot. Driving less than 6 miles total, I found plenty to keep me busy on or near Washington Street between Madison Street and California Drive. What follows is my research itinerary, with additional suggestions for each stop. Check out the Yountville Restaurants Cheat Sheet and Yountville Lodgings Cheat Sheet for complete dining and hotel tips.

Pre-trip To-do list

1) Book your lodgings a week or more ahead on weekends year-round and from late spring to early fall, especially at smaller places like the Napa Valley Railway Inn, where I stayed.

2) It’s wise to make reservations for all the tastings, though weekday walk-ins may be welcome for experiences without a food component.

3) Making a reservation is a good idea for most restaurants mentioned and essential for Bouchon, Ciccio, and Mustards Grill.

4) Read up on Yountville’s history on the Chamber of Commerce’s website.

This itinerary works well on any day of the week, although some restaurants and tasting rooms may be closed on Tuesdays or Wednesdays year-round or in the off-season. 

Day One

11 am

Chips Ahoy at Silver Trident

Yountville requires operators of downtown tasting rooms to devote at least 25% of their space to retail unrelated to wine. Silver Trident Winery’s co-owner Bob Binder achieved this goal by enlisting the luxury brand Ralph Lauren Home Collection to create two rooms, all of whose furnishings are for sale. Binder, a founder of the Oceania cruise line, often collaborated with Ralph Lauren on ship decor. Silver Trident’s upscale-casual “tasting home” provides an appropriately elegant setting for the Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Bordeaux-style reds winemaker Kari Auringer fashions with such finesse. You can taste the wines alone or as part of two food pairings, the Potato Chip Extravaganza and Pizza Pairings.  Address: 6484 Washington St., at Oak Circle.

Nearby alternative:  For its Bacon & Wine Experience, Priest Ranch Napa Valley (6490 Washington) swaps out chips and pizzas for pork (other options include a caviar experience and a standard tasting).

12:30 pm

Jaunty Jeanty

A jaunty exterior complete with red-and-white-striped awning and open-shuttered windows with flower boxes,  Bistro Jeanty,  a perennial Yountville favorite, serves French classics such as tomato soup in a puff pastry, sole meunière, coq au vin, croque madame, steak au poivre, and mussels and frites. Dine at the bar, in the small dining room, or out on the patio. 6510 Washington St., near Mulberry St.

Nearby alternative: Order at the counter at The Kitchen at Priest Ranch (6488 Washington), where eggs with gnocchi in lieu of hash browns are a hit on the breakfast menu (served until closing), with smash burgers and fried chicken sandwiches among the lunchtime stars.

2:30 pm

Cabernet at Cornerstone Cellars

The offer of surplus Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon led to the creation of a highly acclaimed wine and the founding of Cornerstone Cellars. Although Cornerstone also makes excellent Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and other wines, the primary focus is on single-vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, crafted with grace and precision by longtime winemaker Kari Auringer (also of Silver Trident, above). Tastings are held in a whitewashed wooden building that once served as Yountville’s passenger train station. Address: 6505 Washington St., at Mulberry St.

Nearby alternatives: Prepared to be dazzled by more than the wines (sparkling, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, and a few others) at Jean-Charles Boisset’s flamboyant JCB Tasting Salon (6505 Washington). Diagonally across the street, a tasting of Bordeaux-style and other wines at Hill Family Estate‘s downtown space (6512 Washington) may whet your appetite for a visit to the small winery and vineyard 1¼ miles away.

4 pm

All Aboard the Railway Inn

Before dinner, settle in at the Napa Valley Railway Inn, less than 50 steps from Cornerstone Cellars. It won’t take long: when your room’s ready, the inn texts the key code; after that, you’re on your own. Most of the accommodations at this eight-room inn that shares a parking lot with Yountville’s old passenger station are, fittingly, retired railroad cars. The Napa Valley Railway Inn’s rooms, furnished simply but comfortably and impeccably clean, represent one of Yountville’s best lodging values during the off-season. Even at the height of high season, when rates creep up, rooms here are often half the price of those at tonier properties but just as convenient to tasting, dining, and shopping. Address: 6523 Washington St., near Yount St.

Nearby alternatives: The smallest rooms at Maison Fleurie (6529 Yount), an old-school bed-and-breakfast executed with French-boutique savoir faire, rival the railroad cars in affordability if not size. Splurge at Bardessono (6526 Yount), a full-service luxury resort and spa that’s so eco-friendly it’s one of the world’s few certified LEED Platinum hotels.

5 pm

Mini Shopping Spree

Two shops that merit a peek are within easy walking distance of the Railway Inn. Many of the heavily curated accessories, decor, and other luxury goods at Alchemy Works (6540 Washington), open until 5 pm (6 on Friday and Saturday), come from women-owned brands. Montecristi Panama Hats (6496 Washington), open until 6, sells head-toppers from Ecuador, Italy, and elsewhere. Johnny Depp is said to have purchased one a while back. If you get him going, owner Fabian Girardo spins excellent tales about hatmaking and Ecuador back in the day.

6:30 pm

North to the North Block

Tasting rooms, shops, and Yountville’s main attraction, its many stellar restaurants, line Washington Street for ¾ mile between Madison Street and California Drive. Executive Chef Juan Cabrera, who arrived in 2023, revamped the menu at The Restaurant at North Block, part of the same-named 20-room hotel. Address: 6757 Washington St., near Madison St.

Nearby alternatives: Dine under crystal chandeliers on cheese and charcuterie boards, a splendid burger, lobster rolls, roasted chicken, and other haute comfort food at glam RH Yountville. The renowned French Laundry is a block and a half south of North Block, though you’d better have made a reservation weeks ahead. Diagonally across from the North Block, Ciccio is a superb choice for Cal-Italian.

8:30 pm

One for the Road

After dinner, stick around the North Block for a nightcap or head over to the bar at Lucy.

Day Two

Croissants or Muffins

9 am 

Lunch today will be filling, so consider going light for breakfast by choosing one of Napa Valley’s two most popular baked goods: Bouchon Bakery‘s croissants or the Model Bakery’s English muffins. Pick up the latter at the Mini Model concession at the Napa Valley Railway Inn; Bouchon Bakery is diagonally across the street.

10:30 am

It Takes Two at Hestan

The gleaming pots and pans on display at Hestan lend its tasting room the feel of a classy kitchenware showroom, but there’s a strong connection: Stanley Cheng, who co-owns Hestan Vineyards with his wife, Helen, pioneered hard-anodized cooking surfaces in the 1970s and remains a significant player in the cookware field. It takes two noted winemakers – Thomas Rivers Brown and Jeff Gaffner – to produce wines for the family’s four labels. You can find out who makes what at a tasting, but all the wines, most from estate vineyards in the far southeastern section of the Napa Valley, are top-notch and very different. The Hestan Sauvignon Blanc, Vincent Christopher Pinot Noir, Stephanie Proprietary Red (the five principal Bordeaux red varieties), and Meyer Cabernet Sauvignon are among the stars. Address: 6548 Washington St., at Humboldt St.

Nearby alternatives: RH Wine Vault (6725 Washington) pours sommelier-selected California wines in or just outside a historic 1904 residence made of stones quarried from the Napa River. The exclusive treat at Stewart Cellars (6752 Washington), built of stone a century-plus later, is the Nomad tasting of 100% Cabernet Sauvignons from the six historic Beckstoffer Heritage Vineyards. The Portfolio Flight provides a good introduction.

12:30 pm

Truck over to Mustards

Hop in the car for the 2-mile trek to lunch at Mustards. Head north on Washington, briefly west (left) on Madison Street, and north (right) on St. Helena Highway.  As part of its Covid-19 pivot, Cindy Pawlcyn’s Mustards Grill, a Napa Valley institution serving “deluxe truck stop classics” since 1983, opened an outdoor seating area amid a garden of raised produce beds. In good weather, it’s a festive alternative to the restaurant’s boisterous interior. After four decades, Mustards could easily phone in the cuisine, but to its credit does nothing of the kind, and the service remains gracious and professional. An appetizer of Maryland crab cakes, accompanied by a piquant espelette-pepper aioli and garden greens dressed with a spot-on sherry vinaigrette, held together perfectly. Likewise, the Famous Mongolian Pork Chop, cooked in an oven fueled by almond wood that imparted sweet, delicate flavors, tantalized the taste buds. The filling meal hardly necessitated dessert, but the marvelously sculptural lemon-lime tart, topped with a “ridiculously tall” brown-sugar meringue, was impossible to pass up. Address: 7399 St. Helena Hwy., ¼ mile south of Yount Mill Rd.

Nearby alternatives: Just south of Mustards lies Brix Napa Valley, which in addition to serving well-executed California cuisine rates a visit for its vineyard, rose-garden, and mountain views.

2:30 pm

Compelling Exhibitions

Backtrack 2 ½ miles on St. Helena Highway to California Drive and head west (right) up the hill to the Napa Valley Museum Yountville, which often mounts compelling exhibitions like one of a 19th-century watercolorist‘s wildflowers, a survey of dangerous toys parents of generations past thought nothing of letting their children enjoy, and another about military dogs. Note: The museum’s new flagship location, The Napa Valley Museum of Art & Culture, nicknamed “The Mac,” opened in St. Helena in April 2025, but the Yountville facility will continue to present exhibits.  Address: 55 Presidents Circle, off California Dr.

Nearby alternative: Stroll a little of the Napa Valley Vine Trail. After parking on Washington in southern Yountville, head south from the trailhead on California Drive west of St. Helena Highway. You’ll pass the Yountville Veterans Home’s golf course and photogenic vineyards along the way. Reverse direction to return to your car or, back at the trailhead, continue on foot half a mile to the next stop.

4 pm

In a Bubbly Mood

The French champagne house Moët et Chandon established its California outpost in 1973, though the current glass and concrete winery and tasting area, nestled curvaceously into a scenic hillside east of downtown Yountville, didn’t open until a few years later.​​ Domaine Chandon, which has undergone a makeover in recent years, makes its sparkling wines from grapes grown in its three Napa Valley vineyards and elsewhere.

Nearby alternatives: Two miles east of downtown, Cliff Lede Vineyards (1473 Yountville Cross) is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, produced from its Stags Leap District estate and other locations in Napa Valley. North of Cliff Lede, Goosecross Cellars (1119 State Lane) has a diverse portfolio.

---

Additional Suggestions

Yountville Lodgings Cheat Sheet
Yountville Restaurants Cheat Sheet

More Napa Valley Itineraries

Downtown Napa in a Day
48 Perfect Hours in Calistoga
10 Foolproof Napa Valley Cabernet Tasting Experiences
3 Historic Napa Valley Wineries Day Trip
3 St. Helena Wineries with a Personal Touch

This story originally appeared in 2021; it was most recently updated in 2025.

Daniel Mangin is the author of Fodor’s Napa and Sonoma, the coauthor of The California Directory of Fine Wineries, and has written about the Wine Country for Napa Valley Life Magazine, Marin Magazine, and other media outlets.