Close friends of ours were suppose to get married this month in Los Olivos but..COVID. We were excited to go explore the area, so we decided to go a year early with the soon-to-be newly weds since they know and love the area! Also, this is the same couple we went to Portland with! 😊 Its always the best when you have friends that are a couple and also amazing travel partners.
We stayed at Hotel Corque in Solvang! It was between The Landsby (another popular hotel nearby) or this hotel, and at the time, Hotel Corque was slightly cheaper, plus it had a pool (a must with 90+ temps.) I messed up and didn’t book it right away, so we paid about $350/night. You can definitely get this at a more affordable rate if you book in advance, I saw prices way above $400/night when I checked again before we left! Don’t procrastinate like me. This hotel was perfect for us. They took great safety measures, even checking your temperature every time you entered the hotel. Parking was easy, right in front of the building, which was great going in and out of your car from tastings in nearby areas. It’s always a little annoying to have to call the valet multiple times a day. The rooms were luxurious with beautiful tubs and robes — you all know by now how much I love a hotel #robelife moment! The pool was beautiful, too. We totally enjoyed a little crisp sparkling wine in the hot tub before dinner! Oh, and did I mention the whole cast of Vanderpump Rules was staying there the same time as us? We spotted Lala! Shout out to my Bravo-aholics. 😉
We drove down very early on Friday morning from SF. I considered flying, but the time between the two airports and flying was basically the same as driving straight there. We left early so that we could work all day at the hotel since our friends were arriving from LA around 3pm. Worked perfectly!
We met our friends at Lincourt Vineyard around 3:30pm (their last tasting time of the day.) We couldn’t start off the weekend without a quick tasting! This was my favorite wine stop of the trip, it has beautiful surroundings and a gorgeous landscape. Everything was so spaced out and safe. They had a nice Chardonnay and we snacked on a yummy cheese plate while catching up with our LA people!
After freshening up at the hotel, we walked over to Copenhagen Sausage Garden, a brewery in downtown Solvang. It was so nice to go out to brewery and not have to order food! (Not the case in the Bay Area.) We sipped on refreshing Hefeweizen’s.
For dinner, we drove the 5 minutes to S.Y. Kitchen (we had a DD!) Our friends love their Brentwood location. This restaurant was SO delicious. They had great service (with great wine recs) and the food was super memorable. Try the mushroom pasta! I will say, we ended up waiting over 25 minutes after our reservation so that was the only flaw, but the wait led me to try their cilantro (!) black salt margarita. Delish!
Its funny, while traveling now, there are no bars to go to for “one last drink”, ha! We had a super early night and woke up refreshed for a long 1-hour walk through town. I stopped at Good Seed Coffee, a spot I stumbled upon among the many danish bakeries dotted all over town. This was definitely the coffee-snob spot to go. Such a strong, delicious cup, and the cafe was adorable inside.
We decided to go on a “danish bakery” stroll late morning when we met up with our friends. We stopped at a few places along the main area, but The Bread Shop was my clear winner, try the chocolate croissant and cheese pretzel! They also sell the book Flour Water Salt Yeast, which is the book Kyle uses for all his pizza and bread recipes at home.
After our carb heavy morning, we headed off to our first tasting at Fess Parker Winery. They have a beautiful property, and make sure to ask for the sparkling rosé to start. Following Fess, we went to Firestone Vineyard, which had a great selection of reds with a fun little patio to taste on. I personally prefer Napa & Sonoma CA wines compared to what we tried in central CA, but they had gorgeous wineries and fun little tasting rooms at half the price as the Wine Country we’re used to!
After our early afternoon tastings, we stopped in downtown Los Olivos which is adorable! There, we grabbed delicious sammies at Panino and spent the next few hours pool side at the hotel.
Before dinner in downtown Solvang, we walked over to two tasting rooms in town which were so fun, I highly recommend! The first was Sanger Family of Wines, which had the best Chardonnay out of the whole trip, and the second was Dana V. Wines, a woman owned small business (love that) with a fun grassy patio with fire pits. After a few more tastes, we walked to dinner at Mad & Vin, which is inside The Landsby Hotel. We had the most gorgeous cheese plate and fish entrees while dining in their courtyard.
Before driving back to San Francisco we had eggs benny’s at Succulent Cafe. We were suppose to go to the famous Paula’s Pancake House, but it was SO crowded which made us feel a bit worried health wise. Our second option was a great choice!
Leave a Reply