If a Bedford Falls-style holiday sounds dandy, but you’re typically more of a city mouse, the Hotel Healdsburg is your country home away from home, minus the ruffled curtains and flowered wallpaper. Your metropolitan aesthetics will appreciate the hotel’s chic interior against the backdrop of Healdsburg’s bucolic town square — so festive this time of year Jimmy Stewart would be proud. If you book one room at the full rate, the nice folks at the HH will give you 25 percent off additional rooms from December 1 through 26.
Those evenings when you’re looking for a fancy meal, dine at Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen right downstairs. When you want more of rustic experience, head to the Dry Creek General Store, and nosh on the front porch, or have a picnic on the charming grounds at Preston winery while you taste their amazing (and organic, bonus!) offerings. While you’re exploring the Dry Creek area, I also recommend Porter Creek for some of the best Pinot Noir anywhere, and Quivira for its gorgeous surroundings, biodynamic methods, and, of course, fantastic wines.
