Michael B

Review of Napa Valley Wine Train

A very nice experience. Staff were all very nice a...

A very nice experience. Staff were all very nice and helpful. Ventured to the gift shop before the train and picked up some wine, nice selection of gifts here and reasonably priced wine. Bring it on board the train and pay a $15 corkage fee. Bottles on the train were $50 up. There was an introduction speech then off to the train we went. One group by one taking photos. Then onto the train. The train is very nice and antique. We opted for the dome train with the curved windows then at the end you will have a quick tour of the train. The other cars were just as nice so you cannot go wrong. All tours are on the same train and there are different stops and different train cars depending upon which package you bought. Food and service was good. They expect a $15 per person tip at the end.

In my opinion, and train car is sufficient. The merlot lounge car has the seats facing out one by one with a nice view outward of the vineyards and the Pullman car has 2 top and 4 top tables. The dome car has lower ceilings as this one is double decker (the others are single deck) so the dome car is the upper deck and the 2 top tables were a bit crammed. Not sure how it would be with 4 people on the 4 top. We were 2 people on a 4 top table which was a good experience. Otherwise I would recommend the other cars.

Onto the packages, they are complex and a lot. So you basically have 3 options.

1. 1.5 hours on train + Vineyard tour + bus back
2. 3 hours on train (lunch package / no Vineyard tour)
3. 3+ hours on the train (3 hours on the train plus 4 stops to 4 different vineyards)

Personally I wouldn't do any of the vineyard tours. It's simply too expensive. AND you have to forfeit time on the train. 1.5 hours on the train is too rushed. Then you have to take a bus. Kind of defeats the purpose. If you want to do vineyards and the train then do the Quattro package train + 4 vineyards. If you don't need to do the vineyards then take the lunch package for 3 hours which gives you sufficient time on the train.

Keep in mind you can visit these vineyards yourself. Most of them have walk in availability and the fees are typically $20-25 and more if you want premium options.

The vineyard was extremely sales oriented and commercial. A big put off. The tours don't even tell you which grapes they use. So weird? I thought the grape type for every wine is crucial. Plus the wine is very expensive.

The train was expensive but if I had to recommend it to friends and family it would be the basic lunch package at $166 or the Quattro. Definitely don't do the vineyard tour with the 1.5 hour train experience.