Santa Rosa, CA. An Underrated Destination

More local accolades! Pretty soon everybody's gonna want to move to Sonoma County. Or at least spend some time visiting (we hope). Condé Nast Traveler recently published a list of "Eight Dark Horse Destinations." Along with places like Ghent, Belgium and Victoria, British Columbia is Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California.

Their reasons were pinot noir, cabernet, zinfandel, restaurants, beer, and the resorts. Whew. Pretty good list! Let me throw in scenery, hiking, biking--there are some great parks right in town. Within the city limits there are a number of winery tasting rooms, several breweries and beer bars, and even a whiskey bar.

Santa Rosa is within an hour's drive of a lot of places: Napa Valley, Healdsburg, Sonoma, the Pacific coast, old growth redwoods, Sonoma Raceway, and the Golden Gate. It's within minutes of the well-known wine regions of Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley, and Sonoma Valley. Many don't realize there's a commercial airport a few minutes away.

Spring Lake Park, right in town
image from parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov

Several great coffee roasters are in Santa Rosa for your morning fix--don't even think about Starbucks. In fact, just forget about the chain restaurants while you're here. El Salvadorian food? Got it. Puerto Rican? Si. Thai? Some of the best. Brazilian? Sim (that's yes in Portuguese, I looked it up).

Original European settlers were largely Italian
so lots of good Italian food, too
image from lococos.net

The Condé Nast Traveler list