The Napa Valley is such a beautiful place. I was born and raised in the valley and never really appreciated it growing up. Now that I’ve moved out of the Napa bubble it’s really nice to come home and enjoy it like a real tourist. Visiting wineries, wine tasting and going on a hot air balloon are all must do’s for a tourist but the one thing that everyone must do is go on the Wine Train!




Napa is not very vegan friendly so I was a little worried the wine train wouldn’t have any options for us. I called ahead (which is what I do for every restaurant) to make sure before booking our trip and the woman assured me that they can accommodate our dietary restrictions.




We arrived at the wine train promptly at 5:30 pm, checked in, and got a glass of bubbles while we waited in the their stylish 1990’s waiting room. We boarded the train around 6:00 pm and immediately got seated at a dinner table where we were greeted by our waiter who also brought us a glass of bubbles to get our train ride started.




Our waiter was very helpful and knowledgeable about the food and was able to tell us exactly what was vegan on the menu. We started with the Sonoma Mixed Greens salad: shaved fennel, summer strawberries, toasted almonds, with a side of balsamic and oil. Followed by a delicious Gemelli Pasta: Saffron and summer squash purée, jubilee tomatoes, with squash blossom pesto






What’s a wine train without wine? Just a boring train ride so we paired our wine train ride with the Flowers Pinot Noir. This is my favorite pinot, anytime a restaurant has this wine on the list I’m ordering a bottle!




Once dinner was finished, we walked two carts down for dessert and to enjoy the rest of the train ride. By this time it was dark outside so we aren’t able to see much outside the windows, so I would recommend doing the wine train during the summer when the sunsets later or doing the lunch tour instead of the dinner. The wine train offers winery tours, where you get to stop and get off at wineries for a tour and tasting which is the ultimate Napa Valley experience.




The Wine Train is a great way to experience the Napa Valley. I had a lot of fun playing tourist in my hometown. Maybe one day Ben will get over his fear of heights and take me on a hot air balloon ride.