a weekend in Sonora

If you like wine, picturesque views, and want to explore Yosemite National Park, you need to visit Sonora and the surrounding areas. Until last year, I had never heard of Sonora, California. I’d heard of Sonoma and all things wine that goes with it, but never Sonora. Then, our friends called us up one day and asked if we wanted to spend a long weekend in Sonora with them and we thought sure, why not? I’m so glad that we went! It was so much more fun than I expected.

We flew into San Francisco and from there Sonora was about a two-hour drive. As [almost] always, we stayed in an Airbnb and I would 10/10 recommend the place we stayed at. It was a chateau on a vineyard and I was in literal heaven. I will say, though, that this Airbnb was a little more expensive than what we typically spend on stays when traveling. This was also the first place we had stayed at where the host was actually there with us, I thought it was going to be kinda creepy but it was great and he was very informative and helpful! He even gifted us with a special edition bottle of wine!

My Top Tips and Takeaways From Our Trip

LISTEN TO YOUR HOST! All caps because yes, it’s important. If you stay in the same Airbnb that we stayed in, listen to George. He knows what he’s talking about and we had to learn the hard way not once but twice. The first time was when he warned us about Ward Ferry Road. When we were headed out to Yosemite he gave us directions and specifically told us not to take Ward Ferry Road. Welp, the GPS took us right to Ward Ferry Road and it was probably the scariest drive of my life (and that includes Italy).

I won’t lie, it was such a cool road and the views were insane, but I was sweating the whole time. I thought we were gonna go off the edge at any given moment. The road is small and there’s definitely not room for two cars if you come across someone.

The second time we learned that we should really just listen to our host was when we were actually visiting Yosemite. All of the locals told us that they wouldn’t let us in without chains on our tires (we visited in early December) but our host told us that we could get in no problem as long as we had four-wheel drive (which our rental did). Welp, AGAIN, we did not listen to our host, we listened to the locals. All chain stores have a strict no-return policy, so we spend over $100 on chains aaaaaand when we got to Yosemite we didn’t even need them. Needless to say, don’t buy chains for your vehicle unless you actually get to the entrance of Yosemite and they tell you that you have to. After that, we listened to everything our host said.

All of Yosemite is beautiful. Don’t stress about visiting the spots that you see on social media. Yes, those spots are gorgeous, but so is every other spot. Plus the Instaworthy spots are crowded because everyone and their mom wants a photo there too. Literally everything is beautiful and photo-worthy. Leave early in the morning and stop often, soak it all in. Photos truly don’t do justice.

Visit the Iron Door Saloon. The Iron Door Saloon is the oldest, continuously running, saloon in California and it’s so cool. The drinks are cheap and the food is pretty good. See if you can get a dollar to stick to the roof on the first try!

Go to Jamestown. Jamestown is a cute little town full of tasting rooms, shops, and bars with craft beers. We went in December so the town was also all decorated for Christmas, it was so cute. Definitely worth a visit! If you’re looking for a fun bar with craft beer flights, check out The Service Station.

If you know me, then you know that I love wine! I was the only one in the group that loved wine and they were nice enough to let me do some wine tasting in Jamestown. We stopped at the Gianelli Vineyards tasting room and, it turns out, you can really get a buzz on for $5. What a way to spend an afternoon! No, but seriously, I had some of the best tasting wine here that I’ve ever had and everyone in the group actually found a glass that they enjoyed! My personal favorite (and Dylan’s too) was the 2017 Petite Sirah. The bartender (is that what they’re called at tasting rooms?) was super nice and informative. 10/10 would go back here.

Eat at The Prospector. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I typically don’t recommend places to eat when traveling, but this one deserves all the praise that I can give it. This was a recommendation from our host, George (and you already know that we learned we need to listen to him), and if you like Pizza, you HAVE to eat here. I’m not a big pizza fan (cue the gasps) but DAMN this pizza was freaking good. This is a place you would never know about if it wasn’t for someone recommending it to you. When we were looking for it we drove right past it, it seriously just looks like someone’s house. It reminded me of a little dive bar.

Catch a late flight home. Checkout was at 11am but our flights didn’t leave until around 7pm so we used that time to explore San Francisco! I know that you can’t do San Fran in a day, but we did the two most important things: see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Full House house. It was a fun day full of exploring and it wouldn’t have happened had we not caught a late flight home!

There you go, that’s how you do the Sonora area in a weekend. We spent 3 days here and it was so much fun. I didn’t feel like I missed anything important but I also can’t wait to go back!