9 Best Hotels in Yountville, Napa and Sonoma

Travelers looking for personalized service from innkeepers who take the trouble to learn guests' names and preferences will enjoy this intimate inn just off Yountville's main drag. Two rooms are in the historic main house, built in the 1850s and moved to this site in the 1860s. The upstairs room is spacious, and the downstairs one, though smaller, has a private, shielded outdoor hot tub. Six courtyard rooms in newer buildings each have private patio entrances; two of these rooms also have private jetted outdoor tubs. An old barn on the property was converted into a loft suite. Each room has a private sitting area, and during summer the outdoor lavender courtyard that gives the inn its name provides a tranquil escape. Lavender, a Four Sisters Inns property, bills itself as a French country inn. Though you may not feel transported to Provence or Bordeaux, the palette of soft rich yellows and the rustic furnishings provide sufficiently Gallic echoes.

A two-story boutique property near downtown Yountville's northern edge, the North Block attracts sophisticated travelers who appreciate the clever but unpretentious style and offhand luxury. The 20 rooms cluster around a courtyard warmed by a fireplace when the weather demands it. All rooms have safes, dimmable lights, flat-screen TVs, quality music systems, Nespresso coffee machines, and refrigerators replenished daily with filtered water. Some rooms have fireplaces. Radiant floor heating warms the uncommonly spacious bathrooms, all equipped with deep soaking tubs. Olive and other trees shade the fenced-off pool at the back of the property. The pool and hotel's public areas always look spotless, and the management prides itself on the personalized service guests receive.

All the rooms at this splurge-worthy hillside retreat have broad lower Napa Valley vistas from their westward-facing balconies; indoors the comfortably chic decor and amenities that include a private spa add to the pleasure of a stay at this exclusive hideaway. The rooms have deluxe beds and linens and bathrooms with heated floors, soaking tubs, and steam showers. Customers return year after year for low-key pampering that starts at sunrise with pastries from Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, followed by a three-course gourmet breakfast cooked by the on-staff chef who, with notice, will prepare lunch or dinner as well.

Guests of the southernmost of The Estate Yountville's two luxury lodgings access their rooms and suites via an olive tree–lined walkway bisected by narrow, low-slung fountains. The verdant, 22-acre resort contains restaurants, shops, and a spa. The Villagio’s streamlined furnishings, subdued color schemes, and high ceilings create a sense of spaciousness. The accommodations, all with flat-screen TVs, safes, minibars, Nespresso coffeemakers, and balconies or patios, range in size from 475 to 595 square feet, their bathrooms equipped with oversized tubs, tiled walk-in showers with rain-shower heads, or both. A few steps in opposite directions lie a pool and the 13,000-square-foot The Rendez Veuve Spa. A six-minute walk north from Villagio's clubby lobby, mature trees shade the grounds of sister hotel the Vintage House, whose room decor is similar. Tasting rooms and high-profile restaurants are within easy walking distance of both properties.

The landscaped setting, resortlike pool area, and exclusive yet casual ambience of the Hotel Yountville attract travelers wanting to get away from it all yet still be close—but not too close—to fine dining and tasting rooms. The 14 stone-clad buildings here house clusters of chic rooms and suites painted in beige and brown shades with the occasional yellow or other accents. All rooms have large spa tubs, fieldstone fireplaces, and four-poster beds decked out in Italian linens. Given all the stonework, it shouldn't surprise that one of the treatments at the on-site spa involves heated stones; massages, body therapies, facials, and other skin-care regimens are also offered.

A stay at this comfortable, reasonably priced inn, said to be the oldest hotel in the Napa Valley, places you within walking distance of Yountville's fine restaurants. Rooms at this Four Sisters Inns property are in three buildings: the main house, built as the Magnolia Hotel in 1873; the Bakery Building, thought to have housed the Magnolia's bakery for a time; and the Carriage House. These structures all share a French country style but vary dramatically in size and amenities. The most spacious rooms, in the Bakery Building and Carriage House, with private entrances, decks, and fireplaces, provide great value for their price. The five smallest ones, four Petite Queens (10x12 feet with no televisions) and the even smaller but ever-so-darling Garrett Queen (9x9 feet but with a TV), represent Yountville's best lodging bargains.

Clean rooms in a convenient motor court–style setting draw travelers willing to pay more than at comparable lodgings in the city of Napa to be within walking distance of Yountville's tasting rooms, restaurants, and shops. The yellow exterior, Mediterranean-style roof, and vineyards that flank the property on two sides lend a touch of Tuscan grandeur, and the pool and hot tub are large and well maintained. A firepit keeps guests toasty on chilly nights. Guest rooms, done in soft whites and beiges and furnished with Nespresso coffeemakers, are in twin two-story buildings. (There's no elevator to the upper floors, so if this is an issue ask for a ground-floor accommodation.) Every room has a balcony or patio; some have views of the pool or a garden courtyard, others of grapevines.

Travelers, especially ones with kids, appreciate these cozy accommodations—most inside actual railcars—only steps from many of Yountville's best restaurants. The inn isn't fancy, but it's clean and well maintained, and except in high season, when rates trend up, you'll save money to spend on shopping, dining, and wine tasting. More than 100 years old, the railcars house seven long narrow rooms (an eighth room is not in a car) with a bit more style than your average motel. All have small flat-panel TVs, refrigerators, coffeemakers, and indoor and outdoor sitting areas. Double-paned windows filter out most outside noise except the sound of suitcase wheelies on the deck separating the cars. Some guests prefer the southern rooms on the east (Washington Street) side; they're the farthest away from Highway 29, about 100 yards to the west, and the Mini Model Bakery, which is on the inn's north side.