We went to a wedding in Napa. My husband booked a hotel for…read morethe night, so we didn't have to drive home after drinking and partying. Then he surprised me with an afternoon tea on the Napa Valley Wine Train! There were quite a crowd when we checked in at the train station. They called your group letter for boarding. They took a picture of us, then onto the boarding. Our cabin for the afternoon tea is called the Secret Garden. It is decorated with faux flowers but it did look nice. There were booths and chairs facing out on the other side. Michell and Linda offered great service. We were served a small cheese board, then tomato basil soup with a small delicious grilled cheese. Then came the tower of small sandwiches. And afterwards the tower of sweets, pastries and macarons... my husband does not eat fish so the chef replaced with other canapés without fish. That was so nice!!!I like the floral designed teacups that come in an array of different colors. The whole train trip was 3 hours long, and we passed many beautiful vineyards, saw some houses where the vines came right to the front door!! At this time of the year leaves showed a beautiful showing different colors. When we exited the train, there were many staff persons helping us to get off so we don't fall going down the stairs. I appreciate that very much! It was a nice experience but I doubt we will repeat it any time soon due to the cost. There are multiple choices for the experience, from 3-4 course lunch and choices of wines and drinks. But we need to drive home, so the afternoon tea was perfect for us. Parking is abundant in the lot in front of the train station. There is a gift shop also to buy souvenirs and wines.

A bucket list check for sure and I'm genuinely glad I can say I did it. But once was enough…read more The Vista Dome Lunch includes a three course meal, dessert and a glass of champagne which sounds like everything Napa represents. The experience is unique and the train itself is a novelty worth appreciating at least once. Service was funny, quick and very informative , telling us about the area, they did a wonderful job handling our large party. However when I think Napa I think wine tasting hopping between venues, exploring different wineries and really immersing yourself in what the valley has to offer. So make time to do both! The Wine Train doesn't quite deliver that and the views from the dome were honestly just okay. For the price point I think the better Napa experience is booking a private driver and hitting multiple venues at your own pace. You get more wine, more variety and a fuller picture of what Napa actually is. No regrets! just a one and done for me.

What a wonderful and memorable experience celebrating birthdays with dear friends aboard the Napa…read moreValley Gondola! Cruising along the peaceful Napa River in an authentic, handcrafted Venetian gondola was such a unique and delightful way to spend time together. Our gondolier Sean, who also happens to be the owner, made the experience even more special by serenading us in Italian! It was such a charming touch that made us feel as though we had been transported to Venice. Beautiful scenery, wonderful friendships, birthday celebrations, and a little Italian romance made for an unforgettable outing! If you're visiting Napa, I highly recommend this experience. It's a wonderful way to celebrate a special occasion or simply enjoy something different. A truly memorable experience that we will treasure!

I wanted to like this. We went for our anniversary. I appreciate the fact we could bring our own…read morebottle of wine. The gondola was beautiful. The Napa River is not the most beautiful river but does have some wildlife and at dusk the sunset is lovely from the gondola. While the gondolier was friendly we weren't a fan of the singing and we mostly wanted to enjoy a peaceful sunset and the wildlife. We spent too much time under bridge overpasses. Overall I wouldn't do it again.

Our day aboard the Napa Valley Wine Trolley was amazing! My husband and I had only been to Napa…read moreonce before, and a friend was in town visiting for the first time, so I wanted something easy for our only full day in Napa. I loved that they plan the day for you so all you have to worry about is getting to the trolley in the morning. We went to 4 wineries and we really enjoyed them. I would definitely go to most of them again independently. The guides at each winery were knowledgeable and I definitely learned a lot. The most expensive stop was $50 per person as they do special pricing for the trolley guests, so you do save a little over going there independently. Lunch was a delicious chicken sandwich and pasta salad with homemade cookies that we ate picnic style at a winery. It was delightful! I appreciated how attentive they were to my allergies. I would certainly recommend the wine trolley to any first time visitors to Napa! If you are a regular visitor to the area I don't know if you'd enjoy it as much.

We booked a Saturday tour and were picked up at a parking lot with ample spaces to park. Our guide…read morewas nice and friendly and we stopped at 3 wineries. The first two wineries were touristy and about $50 each for a tasting. The third winery was small but was the best out of all three. Lunch was salad and pizza at a restaurant. It wasn't "gourmet" as stated in the description but was tasty. Also, if you have long hair you might want to bring a hair tie because it's a windy ride.

If you're a foodie then this foodie tour is for you. We…read moreactually had originally done this Napa tour back in 2015. My wife was adamant in wanting to do the Sonoma foodie tour since she had never been in Sonoma before. Sherry kept in constant contact with my wife by email & text as she was our same tour guide back then. In fact she called her the day before & expressed concern of establishments not fully opened due to covid. So she managed to persuade my wife to do the foodie tour in Napa again instead. Maybe bc my wife told her she was wearing a long dress. Yup that did it! Sherry had started us at the infamous Oxbow public market with taking pics of the 4 of us in front. Yes that was a plus bc how often do you vacation & you do a quick selfie of everywhere you go? Ugh...all the time! LOL Sherry was informative, personable & quite the leader for our tour. She was sensitive to our needs & we totally enjoyed our six different stops walking leisurely from Oxbow market to throughout downtown Napa & back to the market. We had even walked by their farmers market which was on a Tuesday but unfortunately they were in the process of closing up since it was already noon. Our tour was a full three hours & we were totally satiated. What was quite enjoyable was we were with another couple whom we already knew in advance. Supposedly there was supposed to be 6 of us but that third couple mistakenly came the day before. Haha my wife said it was bc the Mercury was in retrograde! This foodie tour was ultimately like our own private tour! Yay! It was also to celebrate my wife's birthday. She had the time of her life. Thank you Sherry! Hope to go on your foodie tour in Sonoma one day soon! Book your next foodie tour here in Napa with Sherry! I highly recommend her. Remember to support these small local businesses & don't forget to tip!

Wow!! What an experience!! Sherry was our tour guide and a great one! She picked the perfect spots…read more Every item we ate was amazing. We went back and grabbed more English muffins from Model Bakey, they're to die for! Would def recommend for anyone heading to the Napa area. So glad we did it! We also met a nice couple who was in our group. Nicely priced too.

Nick was fantastic. We had a blast. His knowledge and expertise of Napa Valley and the wineries was…read morebar none!! Pretty wonderful photographer as well.

I don't even know where to begin! Nick was such a huge help in planning our trip to Napa, we could…read morenever have done it without him! We have been to Napa many times, but this time we wanted to explore some wineries only a local guide could lead us to. Nick arranged a 3 day itinerary for our group of 8 and setup 9 amazing stops that we will never forget! He took the ball and ran with it and booked all of our appointments for us. He picked us up on time every day in a beautiful Mercedes sprinter which was sparkling clean and stocked full of water and all kinds of snacks and other soft drinks! Little did we know we were in for the adventure of a lifetime as he took us up to mountain tops and down several backroads to wineries we had never heard of. We tasted amazing wines from several different sub regions of the Napa Valley. We experienced breathtaking mountain top views, massive caves, UTV rides through Vineyards, and exquisite food and wine pairings! Nick unlocked a side of Napa we never knew existed. He is extremely knowledgeable and we learned so much from him as he drove us from winery to winery! I cannot recommend hiring Nick to plan your next trip to Napa and navigate you to all the hidden gems. If you're feeling overwhelmed with planning your winery visits like we did, turn it all over to Nick and let him work his magic. He made our vacation 10X better!!

We had a great experience with Platypus Wine Tours on our visit to Napa. Army was a wonderful…read moreguide, a lot of fun and gave us some neat history about the area and wine-making process. After picking everyone up, our group went to Saddleback Cellars. This was a great vineyard to visit - we were seated right next to the beautiful fields and enjoyed sipping our wine while walking right next to the growing grapes! The lady working there was friendly and it was really nice learning more about the history of their vineyard. They've won several awards, and we could see why! These were some delicious wines. Next, we made our way to Merryvale Vineyards where we also stopped to have our boxed lunch. Their inside space was gorgeous and it was interesting learning about the barrel aging process. We enjoyed our tasting here too! We finished up at Backstage which was one of the highlights of the day - the wines we tasted were excellent and the seating area is just gorgeous, overlooking their beautiful vineyards. We decided to buy a bottle here and enjoyed it later during our trip. Platypus was a great choice for our tour - when I was searching for tour options online it was affordable for our group, had great reviews and I can see why! Army was excellent, I loved that they picked you up and dropped you back to your hotel, and the reduced rates for the tastings helped a lot too! On my next Napa visit I would definitely book with them again.

We've done a total of five Platypus Wine Tours -- four in Napa and one in Sonoma -- and have had a…read moregood experience overall. Some tours have been truly exceptional, while others have been more average. The guides have all been good, although some definitely stand out more than others. Ultimately, though, the biggest factor in the experience is the wineries you visit and how generous they are with their pours. You'll quickly learn what a "revisit" means on these tours. Most wineries are happy to pour you another taste, but some are surprisingly stingy and seem more interested in selling bottles than providing a memorable tasting experience. Some will happily pour their most expensive wines, while others will talk about those wines without actually letting you taste them unless you're willing to buy a bottle. Honestly, that's disappointing, especially when you're there to experience and learn about the wine. That said, Platypus itself is fantastic. The shuttles are spacious, the groups are small, and the overall experience is a great way to explore wine country without the hassle of driving between wineries. My biggest recommendation: tell your tour guide upfront that you want fun, welcoming wineries that are generous with their pours. The right winery selection can take an already good tour and make it an outstanding one. We'll absolutely consider booking with Platypus again!

This place was amazing!!! We weren't sure what to expect because it was our first time going on a…read moreballoon ride, but it's definitely something I can say I'm glad I did. I'll start from he beginning cause there's alot to unfold in this review. We met up at the Napa Valley wine train at 5:30 am. Don't be late cause a few people were and we were waiting on them. They give you your itinerary and you sign a waiver , and the. You meet your pilot. They drove us in their vans to the take off point which was off the train track. See the video, it was amazing. I was worried that the wind might be to much fir the too lift off, but they said if they can't, they have alternative locations. Once we got I'm the air it was very smooth and very relaxing. There we about 20 people in our basket. Not alot of room, but keep in mind your not going to move around in the balloon basket . We rose up in the ir and went where the wind took us. After our pilot explained everything to us we were confident he knew what he was doing . He even took us inside a hillside where we were able to get close to some trees . Landing was pretty smooth. They picked up up with their vans and drive us back. And this is where it goes from 4 stars to 5. We purchase the champagne package which I highly recommend. We got to share a bottle of champagne with our pilot and he told us all about the first hot air ballon, which was way before airplanes , and explained to us where the name Pilot came from. Overall , it was a great end to a great experience and I highly recommend it .

I give it a 4.5. We had to arrive super early and wait for them to set up everything. It was cold…read moreoutside and they did provide coffee, hot chocolate and snacks. We the weather being so unpredictable we had to wait. I was fine with wait because i do value my life. I had the chance to cross off a major item from my bucket list. A hot air balloon ride and wow, what an experience! The views were absolutely breathtaking. Floating high above the landscape, seeing everything from a completely new perspective, was truly magical. The sunrise was especially beautiful as we drifted along, and the silence up there, broken only by the loud occasional burst of the burner, was unlike anything I've ever experienced. That said, there were a few things to consider. The heat from the burner can be overwhelming, especially if you're not prepared for it. I didn't wear a hat, and I really wish I had and i am short 5'2 those blasts of hot air can get pretty intense when they hit you directly! So, if you're planning this trip, definitely bring something to cover your head. The landing was a bit of a wild ride, too. The ground was much harder and more uneven than I expected, and we didn't quite know where we'd land until we were almost on top of it. Also getting in and out can be extremely challenging. It's hard climbing into and out of the basket and it's very tightly packed. Not a lot of space to move. I knew the risks going in but the whole experience was so worth it. Even with those little surprises, it was absolutely incredible. Would I do it again? Definitely not! Despite the heat and the bumpy landing, the beauty of the experience makes it all worthwhile and a one timer for me. I highly recommend it if you're looking for something unique and unforgettable to add to your list of adventures. Just don't forget your hat!

Hands Down the Best Driver in Napa Valley!…read more I discovered George on Yelp, and after comparing other Napa car services--many quoting well over $1,000 for wine tours--it's clear why his customers rave about him. His reviews truly say it all! There were plenty of reasons we chose George over the rest. From our very first contact, George was incredibly responsive and communicative. I had a party of 10 (6 adults and 4 kids) for my husband's 40th birthday celebration and needed a vehicle that could securely accommodate a car seat with a latch system--his car was absolutely perfect. He arrived right on time, greeted us warmly, and was super easy to talk to. Throughout the day, George consistently arrived within minutes at each of our destinations. He didn't just drop us off--he guided us to the exact entrances and exits of every winery, making the whole experience smooth and stress-free. On top of that, he shared insightful feedback about why each winery is special, adding a whole new level of appreciation to our tour. Another bonus, he provided water in an iced cooler and white glove door service! What really stood out was George's impressive local knowledge. Without even needing navigation, he expertly drove us from Petaluma to Napa while sharing fascinating stories and history about the wineries, estates, and the region itself. If you want a professional, friendly, affordable, and knowledgeable driver for your Napa experience, George is your guy! Highly recommend and would easily book him for our next trip!

The service provided by George was excellent. From initial conversation on booking, to suggestions…read morefor wineries, pick up and full day of fun. We were a party of 6 and would definitely recommend his services to any friends heading to Wine Country.

Had a wonderful experience kayaking around the Fagan marsh with friends on a warm summer weekend…read more Booking was straightforward, Drew was very pleasant to coordinate with and had everything we needed to enjoy our hour and a half on the water. Looking forward to coming back to NVP for the bioluminescent tour.

We met Tanya downtown at the river walk and she set us up with a Fagan Marsh kayak trip the next…read moreday. Loved talking with Drew beforehand, learning about wetland restoration efforts and how quickly nature can rebound. The slough was peaceful and sparkling on this sunny October afternoon. We observed cranes and fish nibbling at surface snacks. In the distance, you can see Mount Tam and a bit closer--the Brazos railroad bridge. While there is much to see and do in Napa, this experience at the end of our trip was a definite highlight.

Do yourself a favor and book MNVD for your trip. I could not recommend Mike Z or the company more…read more They were so easy to work with and the pricing is straight forward with no hidden fees. I loved that we were able to utilize our turo since we were already paying for that daily. The pricing is outstanding and the experience is even better! Mike Z was not only our driver, but also our tour guide and friend throughout our two days in wine country. We already had a booked itinerary, but he had great recommendations and even books your itinerary if needed. He is extremely knowledgeable of the area and had an answer to every question I threw at him. He went above and beyond! We will absolutely use this company again and request Mike Z next time we are back in wine country!

I'm extremely disappointed with our experience. I booked a driver a month in advance after having a…read morepositive experience with this company two years ago. Chris Pittman confirmed that Linda would be our driver and said she was looking forward to it. At our confirmed pickup time, Linda didn't arrive, and we hadn't heard from her. I contacted Chris, called the company twice and left two voicemails, but received no response. After 20 minutes, with our tasting reservation at risk, we started driving ourselves. Linda called only after we had left. She said she had been at the front of the hotel and had tried to call us, but we had received no earlier call, and members of our group had been watching for her around the property. I emailed Chris again to explain that our driver was 30 minutes late and that we would be late to our tasting. Linda did call the winery, which I appreciated, but I never received a response from Chris about what happened. As a repeat customer who visits Napa frequently, I expected much better communication and customer service. I won't use this service again or recommend it.