The Perfect Girls' Weekend in Healdsburg
Every spring my inbox fills up with some version of the same question: "My girlfriends and I are coming to wine country. Where should we go?" And every time, I say Healdsburg.
I've lived in Sonoma County a long time, and Healdsburg is the town I send people to when I want them to fall in love with small town charm crossed with an elevated epxerience. It's also a town my family knows well. My daughter had her rehearsal dinner at Barndiva and her wedding at Montage Healdsburg, and people still bring up the setting and the food from both, years later.
Most everything in Healdsburg sits around one pretty plaza (outside of all the beautiful vineyards!). Here's the weekend I would plan for my own best friends. Fair warning that I'm a mahjong teacher, so you can probably guess what lands in the middle of it.
Friday: Enjoy the View
Afternoon. If the group is feeling generous, The Madrona or Montage Healdsburg will get gasps in the driveway. Hotel Healdsburg and Harmon Guest House put you right on the plaza. A vacation rental is a great choice too, and it sets you up perfectly for Saturday afternoon. More on that in a minute.
5:00 pm. Start the weekend with bubbles. Breathless Wines is a sparkling house right in Healdsburg, woman owned, with a patio made for a celebratory first toast. If someone in your group is marking a birthday or an engagement, ask about sabering a bottle. Yes, with an actual saber. It sets the tone for the whole trip.
7:30 pm. Dinner at Valette or Barndiva. Valette if your group likes a chef's tasting menu , Barndiva if you want the garden tables and string lights. Barndiva is where we hosted my daughter's rehearsal dinner, and I can tell you the garden at dusk is even lovelier than the photos suggest.
Then walk back to wherever you're staying (or use the Montage’s Cadillac shuttle service!).
Saturday: The Main Event
9:00 am. Pastries from Quail & Condor, which I truly believe is one of the best bakeries in Northern California. Go early and buy more than seems reasonable. Coffee from Flying Goat on the plaza.
10:30 am. One great wine appointment. Not three, not four. One. This is my most repeated piece of advice for groups, because a packed tasting schedule turns a girls' weekend into a logistics exercise. And for that one appointment, my vote is Flowers. Their House of Flowers estate on Westside Road is one of the most beautiful tasting experiences in Sonoma County, all coastal pinot and chardonnay, terraced gardens, and views you'll be talking about at dinner. Book a seated tasting and don't rush it.
1:00 pm. Lunch at Little Saint, which is plant forward and genuinely delicious, then a lazy hour poking around the shops near the square.
4:00 pm. Now for the part I promised. A private mahjong party at your rental or on your hotel patio. I bring everything: tiles, cards, the whole setup. I teach your group American mahjong from zero. Nobody needs any experience. Within the first hour you'll be building hands and talking a surprising amount of trash for people who learned the rules forty five minutes ago.
Here is why I put this in the itinerary instead of another tasting. It's the only stretch of the whole weekend where everyone is actually together around one table. No driving to the next stop, no shouting over a crowded tasting bar, no server appearing every ten minutes. Just your favorite people, a bottle from the morning at Flowers, and a game that gives you something to do with your hands while the real conversations happen. My party groups tell me this was the part everyone talked about on the drive home. A lot of them still have a standing monthly game.
8:00 pm. Dinner at Hazel Hill, the restaurant at Montage Healdsburg. This one is non negotiable in my book. The dining room looks out over the vineyard covered hills, and if you can time your reservation to catch the last of the sunset, do it. This is where my daughter got married, so I'll admit I can't be entirely objective about the view. But the food holds its own against the setting, and that's saying something.
Sunday: Take It Easy
Morning. The energetic half of the group can canoe a stretch of the Russian River (Russian River Adventures launches right in town) or hike the Healdsburg Ridge trail. The rest of us will be at the spa, or back at Quail & Condor doing important research.
11:30 am. One long last brunch, ideally on a patio. This is when someone pulls up the mahjong card on her phone and asks when the rematch is happening.
Before you leave. Swing through the plaza shops for gifts. And if your group caught the bug, ask me about starter sets. The game travels home a lot easier than a case of wine.
A Few Practical Notes
April through June and September through October are Healdsburg at its prettiest. July and August get hot, so plan around a pool. Book dinner and tasting appointments at least three or four weeks out in high season, and Hazel Hill even earlier. And since mahjong plays in fours, groups of 4 or 8 work perfectly, though I can make just about any size work.
If you'd like mahjong at the center of your own girls' weekend, I teach private group parties all over Sonoma County, at your rental, your hotel, or your favorite winery. Get in touch through the site and we'll pick a date.
Amy teaches American mahjong across Sonoma County: private lessons, group parties, and events. Learn more at mahjongwithamy.com.