Experience the best of Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa lies on a broad valley north of San Francisco, in the heart of Sonoma County's wine country. Railroad Square, a historic district of brick buildings beside the old tracks, holds antique shops and cafés, and the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens preserve the house and experimental plots of the plant breeder who lived here. The Charles M. Schulz Museum honours the creator of Peanuts, who made his home in town.

Wineries in the Russian River, Dry Creek and Alexander valleys are known for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Zinfandel. Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve has giant trees near Guerneville, Jack London State Park lies in the hills near Glen Ellen, and the Sonoma Coast has rocky headlands and beaches around Bodega Bay. Sebastopol's apple orchards and the cheese dairies of Petaluma are close, and the Napa Valley lies over the hills to the east.

Sonoma County's farm-to-table cooking draws on local vegetables, apples, cheeses, oysters and wine, and farmers' markets fill the squares. Summers are warm and dry with cool foggy mornings near the coast, the grape harvest brings activity in September and October, and winters are green and rainy.