Other Ways to Get to Sonoma County

Ready to visit some wineries? Maybe even spend some time at the coast and visiting an old growth redwoods park? 

Most out-of-state visitors fly into San Francisco, then rent a car and take the drive up. It's an hour-and-a-half in light traffic, over two hours in stop-and-go. There are other ways to get here with less hassle.

At the inaugural flight from Boise to Sonoma County
Kendall Jackson Winery was there to pour for happy passengers
image from idahostatesman.com

Sonoma County has a newly expanded airport, STS, that's just a bit NW of the county's main city, Santa Rosa. It goes by the official name Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport. Some of us call it the Santa Rosa Airport. Expect to see lots of vineyards on final approach into the airport.

Some flights are daily, others as little as a couple of days a week. Several car rental companies operate out of the airport. Getting Uber/Lyft or a taxi from the terminal is easy.

Three airlines serve STS with the following routes:

Alaska

In California: San Diego, Los Angeles, Burbank, Orange County

Outside of CA: Portland OR, Seattle WA

Alaska is expected to merge with Hawaiian in a few months. I'm hoping for a flight to one of the Hawaiian islands.  

Wine flies free on Alaska (check with the airline for details).

American

Dallas TX, Phoenix AZ

Good airports for transfers.

Avelo

In California: Burbank, Palm Springs (seasonal)

Outside of CA: Las Vegas NV, Bend OR, Salem OR, Pasco WA, Boise ID, Kalispell MT

Update: Flights to and from Salt Lake City and Ontario CA will be added in Oct '24.

Santa Rosa is a new hub for Avelo; they expect to add more destinations.

Wine flies free on Avelo (check with the airline for details).

Approximate driving times from the airport (time of day dependent)

Windsor - 10 minutes

Healdsburg - 15 minutes

Santa Rosa downtown - 15 minutes

Town of Sonoma - 50 minutes

Town of Napa - 70 minutes
        About the same length of time as from Oakland Airport if it's not afternoon rush.

Calistoga - 30 minutes

 

image from sonomacounty.com