2 Best Hotels in Napa, Napa and Sonoma

Bright and spotless with a staff trained to please, this four-story property provides value with a splash of boutique style in its public areas. A double-sided fireplace catches the eye in the lobby, whose bar has views of the large outdoor patio. Morning light streams into the nearby breakfast room, where (for a fee) guests dine on dishes that include omelets, avocado toast, and pancakes. There's no lunch, but you can order a light dinner from the bar. The nondescript hallways give this corporate hotel's game away, but design touches like bathroom barn doors, leather headboards with decorative straps, and nightstands with faux-marble tops lend the guest rooms, done in shades of beige and brown, a modicum of flair. At the southern end of Napa's auto row on a busy four-lane road, the Knoll Hotel lacks Wine Country glamour but delivers a more than satisfactory experience.

Guests gush over the hospitality at this inn, where the painstakingly restored 1905 mansion facing 1st Street contains five rooms, with five additional accommodations, all suites, in a building behind a secluded patio and garden. A welcome and romantic modern touch are the whirlpool tubs, two heart-shaped, with space for two. (With one exception, in the mansion, the tubs are in the main room, not the bathroom.) The rooms all have gas fireplaces as well.