I’m really excited to interview Don Bunnell of The Swank Guide about Napa, California. Don’s tips for the best things to do in Napa are awesome because he travels the world looking for luxury destinations to find the hotels with the best designs. Napa is known for its incredible wines, gourmet food, and astonishing beauty and Don visited to highlight the region’s most architectural wineries.
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Chef Series with Chris Shepherd. Photo courtesy of Fantesca Estate & Winery.
Napa, California
We share a lot of resources and local suggestions in today’s podcast, but you should also check out Explore Napa Valley, the local visitor’s bureau. They are a wealth of information and can help you plan an itinerary based on your time, budget, and interests. And, if you have a Visa Signature Card, don’t forget to use your complimentary benefits at local Napa and Sonoma wineries.
If you’d like to learn how to travel for free using airline miles and hotel points, check out my free 7-day email course.
Relax in the hot springs at Dr. Wilkenson’s Backyard Resort & Mineral Springs.
Getting around Napa
The local airport is Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS), which is a great option if you live on the west coast. If you don’t live on the west coast, Don suggests flying into San Francisco International Airport (SFO), which is about a 90-minute drive to Napa. Use our Expedia tool below to find flight, hotel, and rental car options.
Don says that Napa is very spread out so it’s a good idea to rent a car. For the best offers, visit Avis, Budget, or Hertz.
Uber and Lyft are excellent ways to get around, especially if you plan on sampling wines at the local wineries.
Take a hike and admire nature at Armstrong Redwoods State Park.
Places we talked about on the podcast
Here is a map of all of the places we talked about on the podcast episode with Don Bunnell about Napa, California. You can zoom into the map and click on each dot to explore the city.
- Red dots = best places to eat in Napa, California
- Green dots = best things to do in Napa, California
- Yellow dots = best places to stay in Napa, California
Who is Don Bunnell?
Don is the founder of The Swank Guide, a new travel curation/review platform across social media channels. He co-founded and is on the board of Green-Canopy NODE, a building technology company. Don’s one of the few entrepreneurs who’s taken start-ups through both Y Combinator and TechStars, the world’s two most selective start-up accelerators. He also founded the Harbor Foundation, a non-profit focused on providing opportunities to refugees, while he was chairman of Zenogen Pty, Ltd, a Sydney-based hydrogen-tech company.
Don co-founded the clean-tech company Synthesis Energy Systems and co-led its NASDAQ listing. Don was a Vice President at BHP Billiton and a vice-president and country manager at Enron. Don is a US-qualified lawyer who practiced law in Hong Kong, studied architecture in Sydney in his 40s, and traveled to over 60 countries. He’s lived in Europe, China, and Australia and now lives in Seattle.
Here are a few videos on Napa from his YouTube page:
- Sonoma & Napa’s best hotels: I Tried 8 hotels to Find the 6 Best
- Sonoma and Napa’s most architectural wineries (a.k.a. Sonoma and Napa’s best wineries)
- Sonoma & Napa Region: what to do and when to come
You can connect with Don on his website and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Click here to download our one-page guide of Don’s tips for Napa.
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Timber Cove Resort
Stay tuned for our next episode
Listen to the next episode when Amy Gilbride of The Florida Travel Girl shares the best things to do in Jupiter, Florida. In this episode, Amy and I talk about scuba diving at the Jupiter Wreck Trek, seeing a spring baseball game at Roger Dean Stadium, and seeing the turtles at Loggerhead Marinelife Center. We hope you’ll join us when We Travel There.
What’s your favorite part of Napa? Send us a Tweet, let us know in the comment section below, or continue the discussion in our Facebook group!
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Related episodes
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