Air Travel Into Sonoma County

Southwest Airlines has just announced upcoming service to STS, Sonoma County's commercial airport. SW will be offering flights to and from Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Burbank. Vegas and San Diego will be daily. Ticketing is available now, but the flights don't begin until April 2026.

Currently, Alaska Airlines has the most flights to STS with Los Angeles, Orange County, Burbank, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle routes. 

American Airlines has service to Dallas and Phoenix. 

You may see mention of Avelo Airlines flights to STS, but they have pulled out, and good riddance. 

BTW, the nearest winery tasting room to the airport terminal is less than three miles.  :) 

Choosing Sonoma County Wineries to Visit

This is the best list I've seen to help someone choose where to go for wine tasting in Sonoma County. A lot of work went into the article. While it's not absolutely all-inclusive, it has over 120 recommendations. Great job!

MacRostie Winery, Russian River Valley
image from sonomamag.com

The Ultimate Guide to Sonoma Tasting Rooms from Sonoma Magazine

Petaluma, Sonoma County, California, USA

There are tons of “top ten” lists out there—best cars, best retirement spots, best beaches. Recently, CNN Travel put out a list of the ten best towns in the U.S. to visit, and guess what? Petaluma, population 60,000, located in southern Sonoma County, made the cut. 

So, what’s the scoop on Petaluma, and why do most travelers overlook it?

Winery Visitation is Down. What to Do?

There are a myriad of reasons and guesses as to why California wineries are seeing a downturn in visitors. These usually revolve around economic uncertainty including tariffs, a whiplash effect from the Covid lockdowns when online purchases shot up, higher prices for wine tastings, and younger consumers turning to other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. 

What are wineries doing, or could be doing, to counteract the loss of visitors? 

Get Ready for Summer in Sonoma

Sonoma County in the summer means an almost endless list of things you can do. Some of them are: sit outside at a winery while sipping, swim, float, surf, or kayak on the cool water, hike a trail, go to the fair, and listen to music.

For other ideas, check out previous blog posts on Major Events for Summer and Alternatives to Wine.

Alternatives to Wine in Sonoma County

So you're not much of a wino, or someone in your group travelling to Sonoma County couldn't care less. What to do?

Sonoma County Events -- Summer 2025

A look at what's happening for the warm weather season in Sonoma County. Following are events scheduled from May through Sept 2025. This was published in late March, so there may be events added later.

Historical Wineries in Napa & Sonoma

Wineries for the history buff.

High Tasting Rooms Fees and the Visitor Slowdown

It may not be news to you that wine bottle prices and wine tasting fees have gone up substantially since the end of the Pandemic lockdown. Why? Supply and demand. People wanted to get out and do things, whether it was wine tasting in Napa or buying a new car. Consumers were throwing their credit cards around and saying, "Here, take my money!"

It wasn't just the wine, as lodging and restaurant prices jumped. All of a sudden, a trip to wine country was going to cost real money. 

The Wine Country for All of Us

Travelzoo is a travel club. You join to get special offers for trips. 

For 2025, Travelzoo chose Sonoma County as one of their nine worldwide best bets calling it the wine country for all of us.

You've been to Napa and Sonoma, now what?

If you've had trips to Napa Valley and neighboring Sonoma County, but want something new, where do you go? 

Sonoma County Tourist Traps

   The previous blog post was on Napa tourist traps. This one is about Sonoma County.

   If you missed the Napa post the dictionary definition of a tourist trap is:
A place that attracts and exploits tourists.

   I'm not saying you shouldn't visit any of these places listed below, but just realize what you are walking into. I've been to enough tourist traps myself when on vacation so I'm not here to criticize anyone else's choices.

Napa Tourist Traps

  This is going to be controversial mostly because "tourist trap" invokes negative feelings. 

  Tourist Trap definition from Merriam Webster: A place that attracts and exploits tourists. Attracts because it seems like something interesting and maybe unusual to people from somewhere else. Exploits because it's designed to separate visitors from their money.

  This is about Napa tourist traps. Next post will be for Sonoma County. Must give equal time.  

Napa Tourism Bounces Back

There's been plenty of bad news out of the wine industry recently. It's not all gloomy, however, as Napa seems to be doing fine. The article linked below is from a Napa tourism group reported by the Wine Spectator.

Amador County, Home to Some of California's Oldest Wineries and Vineyards

About 80 miles due east of the hustle, bustle, and high prices of Napa is one of California's lesser known and lightly visited wine regions. Amador County is part of the larger Sierra Foothills wine region. Within Amador is the central wine hub of Shenandoah Valley that you enter from the town of Plymouth (pop. 1,100, founded in 1852 as a mining camp). In some ways, you are entering Napa Valley 40 years ago.

One of the Best Places to Visit? Sonoma County!

Travel & Leisure says Sonoma County has "charming small towns, incredible wine, and a stunning coastline" offering a lot more than just wine. That's the one thing making Sonoma different from other wine regions, the opportunity to do more than just drink wine.

Autumn in Wine Country

September, October, and early November are a prime time for visiting the California Wine Country. Here's why:

The Sonoma Valley Small Wineries Collective

Imagine you are visiting and staying in the town of Sonoma, as many do. You take the drive up California Scenic Highway 12 through Sonoma Valley. You'll pass several landmark wineries like Chateau St. Jean, St. Francis, and Ledson. What you'll miss are smaller ones, often off the main road. The Sonoma Valley Small Wineries Collective would like to rectify that.

Word-Of-Mouth State of the Wine Industry

Talking with people in wineries, who talk with other wineries, and seeing comments on social media lead me to believe the local wineries are hurting for customers. There just aren't as many people visiting. This doesn't necessarily mean revenue is similarly down, though it most likely is overall.

A more disturbing trend is that wine club membership is also down. This is a backbone of steady income for many wineries, without it, they have a hard time planning and forecasting for the next year.

What happened? Gossip follows.  :)

Planning a Wine Country Trip

I've lived in Sonoma County since 1980 when the local wine country was just a baby. There weren't many wineries to visit back then and, yes, they were all free to taste. Even next door in Napa!

I've done lots of wine tasting, I've worked in tasting rooms, and I read posts in various wine groups about people looking for help in planning their trip.

Following are some pointers to setting up a successful trip. It's aimed at Northern California, but can be applied to other wine destinations.