Describing Sonoma County Towns

If you are wondering where to stay when visiting Sonoma County, rather than asking people on Reddit or looking at a map, use this handy description guide to pick what fits your personality.

Towns listed from large to small. 

Santa Rosa - Where 180,000 people hurry around to their jobs and Costco. Hustle and bustle R Us. At least there are plenty of good restaurants, plus breweries and pubs, including The Best Brewery in the World, Russian River Brewing. For the visitor, there are lots of lodging and eating choices with a central location to wineries.

 

US 101 cuts right through the middle of Santa Rosa

Petaluma - It's a mini-Portland. They don't have quite as much beer, but there is a lot of cheese and more farm-to-table per capita. The town hosts many events, including the Butter & Eggs Festival and the Ugly Dog Contest. See, quirky just like Portland. If the downtown main street looks familiar it's because much of American Graffiti was filmed here. 
 

For 50 years, Petaluma hosted the World Wrist Wrestling
Championship until it moved to Reno. 
So they put up a statue downtown

Rohnert Park - A planned community, meaning it's not a real city. There's no downtown, but they have a university, a big casino, a couple of good breweries, and, uh, RP is close to some real cities! So yeah, boring.
 

Look at all those homes in Rohnert Park

Windsor - I've lived here so long, I remember when this was all mobile home parks! Then they built a town square with businesses all around, and it's doing quite well. The Town Green, as it's called, is host to many summer events. Maybe a little sterile, but at least it's not Rohnert Park!
 

The Windsor Town Green

Sonoma - A smaller, slower, historic version of the town of Napa. Why should you go to Sonoma instead of Napa? Because you can drink in the town square! The plaza is the largest in the state, and has been around for almost 200 years. The Sonoma Plaza is the center of everything that happens in town. You can walk to lots of wine tasting rooms and restaurants.
 

Grape stomp contest in the Sonoma Plaza

Healdsburg - I've been here so long, I remember when this was a dusty farm town! Now it wants to be like St. Helena, just over the hill in Napa Valley. Beware of wine geeks roaming the streets talking about harsh tannins. Tasting rooms, food, and expensive shops aplenty. Geographically located at the confluence of the Alexander, Dry Creek, and Russian River Valleys. As towns go, this one is damn cute.
 

Downtown Healdsburg
It's pronounced heelds-burg, not helds-burg

Sebastopol - Hippies meet white collar. Where Crystal runs her kids to ballet in a BMW crossover. Where a dog therapist named Sage drives a Subaru, drinks kombucha in the morning, smokes a joint for lunch, then has salmon tacos at a Japanese restaurant paired with a $75 Pinot Noir for dinner. Sebastopol is an official Nuclear Free Zone.
 

Welcome to Sebastopol

Cotati - Streets are laid out in a hexagon to confuse bar-hopping college students. The town's big event is the Accordion Festival. There are other, more traditional, music festivals. With Sonoma State University nearby, Cotati became a hippy hangout in the late '60s through the '70s. Some of that vibe lives on. There may be more coffee shops per capita than anywhere else in the county.
 

Cotati's plaza

Cloverdale - It's sometimes called Clovertucky, and it's damn hot in the summer. Lots of commuters live here because they couldn't afford anywhere else in the county. It does have a cute little downtown, where they're trying to soak up some of that Wine County theme. There's a wine bar, an independent coffee roaster, a brewery/restaurant, and several diners.
 

Cloverdale's "world famous" Hamburger Ranch and BBQ

Guerneville - There are gay festivals, a couple of rodeos in the area (one is a gay rodeo), octogenarian hippies, and a few ex-felons. Diversity R Us. The air smells of redwood trees. There's something for everybody. You'll find rustic beauty to the area along with good restaurants, and wineries nearby. The Sonoma Coast is a 20-minute drive from Guerneville. BTW, it's gurn-vill, not gurnie-vill.

Johnson's Beach in Guerneville along the Russian River

There are a few tiny towns that are popular with some visitors that deserve a mention:
Bodega Bay is a fishing village turned popular destination on hot summer days.
Forestville is surrounded by redwoods and vineyards.
Geyserville has a historic downtown. Diavola Pizzeria is a local favorite.
Glen Ellen is a charming village, if there ever was one.
Graton is tiny, but has an excellent restaurant and is surrounded by great Pinot Noir.
Kenwood has a few businesses along Highway 12 and lots of nearby wine.