Town Guide · Napa County · Modern Love Living
Main Street Napa Valley. The town the rest pretend to be.
A tree-lined Main Street with the best shopping in the valley, Meadowood up the road, Press, Goose & Gander, the CIA, and a hundred years of wine history within ten minutes.
The brief
St. Helena is the Napa Valley town the others reference. Main Street has the best independent shopping in the valley — Footcandy, Acres of Hope, Steve's Hardware. Goose & Gander pours the best Old Fashioned in California from a converted craftsman bungalow. Press is the steakhouse where Napa winemakers entertain themselves. The CIA at Copia's Greystone campus is here. Beringer is across the street. Charles Krug is around the corner. And Meadowood, just up the road, is the resort the rest of the world's resorts try to reproduce. St. Helena is the trip you take when you're ready to do Napa right.
What to do
Experience 01
Footcandy, Erin Martin Design, Acres of Hope, Sunshine Foods. A morning, a bag, a coffee.
Experience 02
Garden patio, dry-aged ribeye, a half-bottle of Far Niente.
Experience 03
Built 1884. The cellar tour is the right way in.
Experience 04
Basement bar, the Old Fashioned, the booth in the corner.
Experience 05
Christopher Kostow's casual Meadowood spinoff. The wood-fired everything.
Experience 06
Bale Grist Mill: a working water wheel from the 1840s, in the woods just north of town.
Where to stay
The legacy stay
The valley's legacy resort. Croquet, golf, the spa, the cottages in the woods.
The legacy stay
The hillside terrace, the Michelin restaurant, the most-photographed view in Napa.
The boutique stay
Cliff-edge pool, modern rooms, walkable to Main Street.
The inn
12 rooms on Main Street. Boutique, walkable, the right answer for shoppers.
Where to eat
Model Bakery St. Helena
The English muffin, again.
The Charter Oak
Christopher Kostow's casual room. Wood-fired, garden-driven, the long lunch.
Press
Steak, Napa cab, the most serious dinner in the valley that isn't Michelin.
Cook St. Helena
A counter and a few tables. The pasta, the regulars, the off-list pinot.
Acacia House
Inside Las Alcobas. Chris Cosentino, the patio, the pre-dinner.
The tasting list
St. Helena
Founded 1876. The Rhine House tour and reserve tasting.
St. Helena
Napa's oldest winery (1861). Estate tasting on the grounds.
St. Helena
Frank Gehry-touched modern winery. The Bunny Foo Foo sculpture.
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Experiences provided by Viator, a Tripadvisor company. Modern Love Living may earn a commission on bookings made through these links, at no extra cost to you.
The honest answers
St. Helena for shopping, resorts, and Main Street. Yountville for tighter food density. They're 15 minutes apart, so many couples do one night each.
If you want the legacy Napa resort experience, yes. The cottages in the woods, the croquet lawn, the 30-mile views. Book seasonally.
Beringer at 10am, Press for lunch, Hall at 3pm, drinks at Goose & Gander, dinner at The Charter Oak.
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