The Embassy Suites are nice and decently priced. or try one of the vintage Calistoga spa motels.

Limousines come in a wide range of styles and types and it can be quite confusing for users to choose which one should suit them best. Whether you want a limo for Napa wine tours or simple as a transportation medium to welcome guests at the airport, a limo must suit your taste and requirements. Each and every limo is different with specific qualities and features. Here is a list of some of world’s hottest limos on the basis of popularity amongst users.

Infiniti QX56

This full-size sport utility vehicle is based on the Nissan Armada full-size SUV. Designed on the F-Alpha platform, it has a comfortable seating arrangement for 20-22 passengers. It has got standard features such as a ten-speaker Bose system, DVD-based navigation system, leather trim for all seats, dual-climate control, 18-inch chrome alloy wheels, and an adaptive cruise control system.

Mazda RX-7

Manufactured by the Japanese automaker company, Mazda, Mazda RX-7 is a sports car. From top to bottom, this exotic limo is all about luxury and comfort. The main features of this car are the twin-turbo rotary engine, a sporty front, and rear-wheel drive layout and power side doors.

Lincoln Navigator

Lincoln Navigator is simply the ultimate model in urban luxury. Manufactured by Ford Motor Company, this full-size luxury SUV is well equipped with a powerful engine, contemporary exterior look and a trimmed interior cabin highlighted with every luxurious accessory imaginable.

Ford Excursion

This stretched SUV limo manufactured by the Ford Motors Company is quite similar to the Lincoln Navigator. Normally packed with all necessary luxury equipments, it comes with a comfortable seating capacity for up to 9 passengers. It is a favorite model with limo renters and buyers.

Chrysler 300

Designed by Haitian-American Ralph Gilles, Chrysler 300 is a full-size car based on the rear-wheel drive Chrysler LX platform. This high performance, sporty sedan has features such as front seat frames, wiring harnesses, suspension design, steering column, 5-speed automatic’s design, and an all-wheel drive system.

Corvette

A striking long machine, the Corvette is definitely ‘hot’. It is 220 inch long and features an electric fireplace, four flat screen TVs and a modern disco floor. This stretch limo can accommodate up to 10 passengers. Usually customized, this limo is a rare beauty that rules the road like a King.

Cadillac Escalade

This full-size luxury sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a product manufactured by the General Motors luxury brand, Cadillac. This cool model can hold around 17 passengers. With full bars, leather upholstered seats, fiber optic lighting, LCD TV’s and DVD players; Cadillac Escalade Limo has always been the favorite amongst people who prefer outstanding luxury and comfort.

Hummer H2

This popular limo manufactured by General Motors Corporation has got everything- power, strength and ultimate luxury. Hummer H2 has been designed to accommodate six passengers (including the chauffer) in a comfortable way. It comes with almost all the luxurious amenities that one can think of.

Party Bus

This luxurious limo has been designed to accommodate 20 to 35 passengers easily. In fact, a party bus is regarded as the coolest of all limos. Even though the exterior is bit boxy, yet it is highly modern. The interior of a party bus is well equipped with leather upholstery, sound systems, plasma televisions, DVD player, fiber optic lighting system, and also smoke machines.

Cadillac DTS

Manufactured by the Cadillac luxury division of General Motors, the Cadillac DTS is the best selling full-size luxury sedan in the USA. The interior cabin has everything from wet bars to big screen TV’s, special lighting systems, leather seats and a number of advanced communication equipments.

These top 10 limousines can be easily rented out from any reputed San Francisco Limo Rental, San Jose Limo Rental or Napa Valley Limo Rental. Just browse on the net to book your favorite limo.

According to one source, currently it is Cabernet Sauvignon with over 10,000 acres planted. But, another sources claims it to be Chardonnay. It probably varies by year. Napa actually has less than 2300 acres of Zinfandel planted, less than Pinot Noir, Sauv Blanc, Merlot, and Chenin Blanc, according to the source below. Perhaps they import much of the Zin used for that pink stuff?

Many of Napa’s wineries are now more commerical ventures. Mendecino has many more small personal wineries.
I can say that Raymond is smaller and the Raymond family still runs it. Fabulous wine, great prices.
Schramsberg is another smaller place, it still has a very small feel but makes some of the best Sparklers out there.
There’s nothing wrong with the larger more commerical wineries. Their quality varies just as much as a smaller one, and it’s the people behind the tasting bar that can make a huge difference in how you perceive it.
There are probably plenty more small wineries that people will suggest, but the most important thing to remember is to have fun!

You’ve got kids – lots of kids – and you’re wondering how you’re going to fit them into that resort condo unit. You also wonder how you’re going to keep them all happy and, maybe most important, how you’re going to be able to get away from them. Even the most devoted parent, now and then, needs to de-compress.

The answer: a really big houseboat. Being confined to a boat might not immediately top your list of good things to do with large numbers of kids. But if our recent experiment is any indication, the houseboat thing really does work.

So just how many kids are we talking about here? In our case, a total of eight: our grade-school age daughter and our grown-up daughter’s seven kids, ages 1 through 13. Figure in three adults and you can see that planning for this trip would be only slightly less complex than the Normandy invasion.

If you haven’t rented a houseboat before, the first thing to understand is that these boats are far bigger and more spacious than regular boats. In our first houseboat articles we used to compare them to waterborne RV’s, but the truth is houseboats nowadays are much bigger than even the most spacious RV’s. On this particular trip to Northern California’s Lake Berryessa, we rented a 70-foot Millenium – which is to a small power boat what a 747 is to a Cessna 150.

The 70-foot Mellennium features a kind of great room in the front salon along with a large dining table and chairs. There is a breakfast counter and fully equipped kitchen along with four private bedrooms, six queen beds, two full baths, a wet bar, sun canopy and a hot tub on the top deck. Like most houseboat rentals, this also featured a waterslide on the top deck that kids find irresistible.

The setting for our experiment – Lake Berryessa – is less than an hour’s drive east from Napa, and shares with the Napa Valley a landscape of sun-drenched scenery that is as pretty as anyplace you’ll find in California. The wooded hills, forests and country roads in this part of the state are perfect for enchanting Sunday drives or picnics or hikes. Adding to that is the 23-mile-long Lake Berryessa, a turquoise jewel that is as practical as it is scenic. This man-made lake is actually a reservoir known for excellent fishing and warm summer temperatures that make it ideal for swimming and other water sports.

Endless water recreation is one reason houseboats work for large families. It’s not like you’re crammed into a boat for your entire vacation – the boat is just a place to hang while you’re putting meals together or watching a movie on the elaborate satellite wall-mounted television. When you are beached, the water in that particular cove is now your swimming pool and a pretty big one at that. More than likely, you’ll find trails from your beach leading to hours of fun hikes and exploration, another activity that will keep the kids occupied and completely engrossed in what they’re doing.

With a houseboat, you can be as stationary or mobile as you want to be. We’ve done houseboat trips where we spent hours each day cruising and then found a new beach mid-afternoon to explore and settle in for the night. On our Lake Berryessa trip, we found the kids especially enjoyed the shore activities, so we kept our cruising to a minimum and set up camp sometimes two nights in a row in the same location. The point is, you can do whatever you want to do – there is no itinerary to keep, no deadlines to worry about. Just go where the spirit takes you.

It will come as no surprise to parents that kids can have a lot of pent up energy when they’re confined too long to one area — so spending a lot of our time on the beach solved this particular problem. But even that was not a big problem due to the size and design of the Millenium. The upper deck is so large that it was the perfect place to send the older kids to burn off their energy, leaving the main salon in relative silence as we cruised the Berryessa shoreline enjoying the coastal scenery. The other advantage to this boat was that, with so many bedrooms and separate quarters, the kids had places to put all of their belongings so that nothing was under foot — except maybe once in awhile when the youngest brought toys to play out on the huge 16-foot-wide salon floor.

Meals on the Millenium were easy to prepare with lots of counter space available and cupboards and drawers fully stocked with dishes and kitchen utensils. Hot dishes were easily prepared in the microwave as well as on the multi-burner stove. The refrigerator had plenty of capacity for a family this size, assuming you put cold drinks in the many ice chests available on the boat.

If you’re a first-time boat captain, the Millenium will seem huge when you first step onboard. But Forever Houseboats has figured out a way to make your first rental experience easy and stress-free. For starters you never actually are required to dock your houseboat or even operate it in close quarters – rental company personnel will take your boat from the dock to an open-water area before they hand you the controls. Then, when it’s time to bring the boat back, they’ll come out and meet your boat and dock it for you.

When you do take the controls you notice that everything’s been simplified and automated. You’ve already been given detailed instructions before you even leave the dock, so you’re completely versed on the throttles and shifting as well as electrical and other systems on your boat. An easy-to-read manual is always at the ready just in case you don’t remember everything.

The main thing a new captain has to remember is to stay away from shallow water where your prop can get damaged. The most technical thing you’ll be asked to do – and it’s not difficult – is to beach your boat. As we’ve done on previous houseboats, we determined ahead of time who would be our “stake-drivers” and then it was just a matter of A/ the captain driving the boat at low speed straight onto the beach and B/ the stake-drivers, one on each side, advancing onto the beach at 45 degree angles from the boat to pound stakes and tie lines from the stern of the boat.

One rule we imposed on this trip — because we had so many kids on board — was to put someone in charge of all the kids and take them to their cabins during the landing process. We didn’t want to have one of them jumping off too soon or distracting the landing crew.

The kids loved it all and looked forward to new spots to explore with every new beach we visited. Each new cove – and there are many on Lake Berryessa – was like a new Robinson Crusoe adventure. It all added up to a vacation the kids will long remember and one they say they can’t wait to do again.

AT A GLANCE

WHERE: Forever Houseboats are available at Pleasure Cove Marina, less than an hour’s drive from Napa. Because the lake level has been down in recent years, be prepared for carrying your supplies down and up a steep grade between the parking area and the dock. While the marina-supplied handcarts help, we found it much easier to drive our car down the boat launching ramp and then cut over to dock area where we parked our vehicle for unloading.

WHAT: Lake Berryessa is 23 miles long and three miles wide and is known for warm temperatures in summer and fishing for such species as rainbow trout, bass, catfish, crappie, and bluegill. With numerous coves, the area offers many places to safely beach a houseboat.

WHEN: Houseboats on Lake Berryessa are available year-round. Our August trip had ideal weather and water temperatures above 75 degrees. The downside is that peak summer dates also are the most expensive.

WHY: Houseboating is an excellent family adventure that combines boating, hiking, fishing, water sports and relative solitude in the Great Outdoors.

HOW: For more information on renting a houseboat on Lake Berryessa, call 800-255-5561 or visit www.foreverresorts.com.

yes

You can visit http://www.napavalley.com/lodging/ to check the hotels / bed and breakfast in Napa. My recommendation is Villagio Inn.
For chain hotels, you can check Marriott or Embassy Suites.
Have fun!

California is a world renowned tourist spot that draws the attention of millions of people round the globe. Most of the tourists are very much excited to visit the place because of Napa valley and its wineries. It is important to quote that the valley draws almost five million people every year…now that’s a big number indeed! The visit to wine country is filled with some of the most aromatic, visual and scenic beauty. The wine sommeliers and wine chefs from all over the world enjoy their trip to the beautiful wine country so that they can increases their horizons of knowledge in their specialized field of wine making. Further the wine tours are known for their service that they provide, these tours provide an opportunity in portraying the innate beauty of wine country, and they let you know about the wine- making process and even the opportunity to taste some of the fine wines. These wine tours are much more than just a mere holiday experience. We all are aware that the Napa valley is built around the scenic beauty, but the real power of it lies in the kind of wines that are manufactured and presented in the place. To be frank Napa valley is one of the hottest tourist destinations in the world with its finest wineries, the way the visitors are taken to these wineries is just cool. The visitors are taken to the valley through a 30-mile valley that reaches its destination point called as Calistoga. These tours start in the morning. Majority of these tours provide you the insights of three to four wineries. Though we may not know much about wines but the experience of having to visually see the making of wine right from the start till the final pour in the bottle and the exciting feature of having to taste the  most fine wines is great. These tours also provide you with the opportunity to procure these wines at discounted prices. Wine touring is fascinating, wine lovers think that this is the place that they need to be and for the beginners it is a place which increases their knowledge about the wine. The tours also have the feature of enrolment with local cooking classes, wine based seminars, but all these things will be important to the people who want to embark into a career of wine making. With regard to the tourists you can head to exciting things like special bicycle rides, hot air balloon and go river rafting. The wine tour companies start from San Francisco and provide the different services. There are companies who have special Mou’s with some of the oldest private wineries. Some companies have a preset itinerary and programs while others vary their tour programs based on the taste, preference and the budget criteria of their guests. Depending on your needs you can travel in tourist buses, trains or even a comfortable limousine. The fee range start from $70 and they can go upto $200 depending on the package chosen.

Yes it very safe, but no there are no taxis or at least not many. You would have to call and might wait a very long time late at night for a cab. It’s a car town and you should really have a rental (yes I know you want to drink, so call way ahead for a cab if you need one).
Napa is kind of spread out, it’s not really a walking town. If you are just taking a stroll that is one thing, but if you want to walk to someplace specific that is a different story. The distances are too great in most cases. Keep in mind that the Napa Valley is really made up of several towns that for the most part are a bit apart.

If so, who makes it? Where can I get info about it. I have a bottle of the Merlot, & I know the Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $75 per bottle online but it is pretty rare. I cannot find any information AT ALL about the 2000 Merlot. I think maybe Stonehedge Vineyards made it, but I can’t get any information at all. The website www.tistrya.com is not active. Help!