Calistoga - Napa Valley's Comfort Zone

Many Napa Valley daytrippers never quite make it up to Calistoga, a city of 5,300 nestled in the northern end of the valley. But that's okay - this sleepy little town is just fine the way it is.

Best known for its theraputic hot springs, Calistoga was named a Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which means that it is a "unique and lovingly preserved community". Quiet tree-shaded streets lined with well-maintained Victorian architecture make up much of the town. Lincoln Avenue, the main street, even has a bit of the "Old West" feel to it with its shaded wood plank sidewalks and frontier-era storefronts.

The Wappo tribe made its home in the area until Spanish colonists began arriving in the early 1800s and then the American settlers in the 1840s. In 1862, Samuel Brannan - California's first millionaire - opened the first spa in the area where the Indian Springs Spa & Resort now stands. He intended to make Calistoga the California equivalent of Saratoga. Local legend has it that one night when he was drunkenly bragging about his plans, he mistakenly said he was going to make the town "the Calistoga of Sarafornia", and the name stuck.

Today you can "take the mud" at more than a dozen spas around town. It is definitely an interesting experience to be submerged in a "bath" of heated volcanic ash and mud - and one you will not forget! Follow up your mud treatment with a massage or other spa choices, and then wander down to one of the many local restaurants for a relaxed meal. Town laws forbid any fast food restaurants, so what you'll find is excellent fresh food at reasonable prices to match a wide range of pallettes.

Unique shops line Lincoln Avenue, inviting an afternoon of exploring: book stores, art galleries, clothing shops - all local, no mall-brand shops here. Buy spa supplies and mud bath samples to take home, relax in a coffeehouse, shop for wine.

This is a wonderful area to explore by bike or on foot - it's less crowded than most of Napa Valley, with friendly, laid-back locals. There are more than two dozen wineries in the area, producing a range of varietals across a range of prices, so you should be able to find something to your tastes.

Quick Tips:

SPAS
For a listing of spas and available treatments, check out the Calistoga Chamber of Commerce.

Some tips about spas:
- Utilize the web. Many spas routinely offer "Internet-only" specials, or discount rates if you book online.
- If a spa is attached to a hotel, there is usually a discount for hotel guests. Some spas also have arrangment with offsite properties, so be sure to check with your hotel as well.
- Tipping: Tipping is usually not directly incorporated into the bill; you will often be given an envelope which you can then use to discreetly tip your attendant. 10-20% is the norm, depending on how much they did for you.
- Many spas include use of their mineral pools if you have had other treatments (ie. massage, mud bath).

WINERIES
Winery hours vary, anywhere from 9am to 6pm; if there's a "must-see" winery, be sure to check their website or call ahead to see if you'll be able to visit when you want. Here are a few of the bigger name wines around Calistoga:

- Charles Krug Winery was opened in 1861, and is the oldest winery in Napa Valley.
- Chateau Montelena helped put Napa Valley wines on the map when its Chardonnay won out over the French competition at the famous 1976 Paris Tasting.
- Clos Pegase blends art and winemaking at its colorful winery south of Calistoga.
- Sterling Vineyard, perched atop a hillside, offers visitors the unique experience of a gondola ride to its winery.

MISCELLANEOUS
- If beer is more your style, you might pay a visit to Silverado Brewing Company, located next to the historic Freemark Abbey winery.

- At the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (CIA), you shop, dine, or watch cooking demonstrations. Located on Route 29 between St. Helena and Calistoga.

- Find wines you cannot buy elsewhere - not to mention bargains! - at the wonderful Wine Garage.

- Take home a little bit of Calistoga from Mudd Hens, a shop that specializes in spa and mud products, including cotton spa wraps and Calistoga mud products.

Best Way To Get Around:

You can reach Calistoga from either the north or south via Route 29 (west side of Napa Valley) or the Silverado Trail (east side of Napa Valley). Lincoln Avenue connects the two major roads through the center of town.

The best way to reach Calistoga is by car rental, but once you're here, you might want to rent a bike from Calistoga Bike Shop and tour the local countryside under your own leg power, or have them design a bike tour just for you.

Not only is this a bike-friendly town but it's also very pedestrian-friendly, which is the best way to enjoy wandering around the town center, anyway!

Parking is free in most areas of town; there are a few stretches, such as the main shopping area along Lincoln Avenue, that have metered parking.

Looking for the famous "Welcome to Napa Valley" sign? It's on Route 29 between Calistoga and St. Helena, on the east side of the road. Pullout spot/parking available.


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Helpful websites:

- City of Calistoga website

- The Calistoga Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau

- The Weekly Calistogan, one of two local papers

There are many more restaurants far more famous (and thus more crowded) in Napa Valley - most of them located more towards the southern end of the area. Let them stay that way - and come to Calistoga and discover the awesome dining experience known as Brannan's Grill.

I first discovered Brannan's several years ago when I took my first solo trip to Calistoga to enjoy the spas. I had passed by Brannan's nouveau-rustic location on Lincoln Avenue, thought it looked interesting, and made a reservation for after my spa appointment. I could not have asked for a better ending to my day - and have made Brannan's a must-go each time I go to Napa now.

Brannan's has a prime location smack in the middle of Calistoga's main shopping street, which offers lots of great people watching, if you have a window seat. True to the spirit of the man who is their namesake (Sam Brannan started the town's spa industry), Brannan's is decorated in what I call "nouveau rustic" - that is, it makes you feel both rustic/frontier-like and yet at the same time makes you feel as if you are in a cutting-edge-design locale. The warm mahogany tones, spacious main room, and slab fireplace create a place that is intimate, welcoming and warm.

The staff here is fantastic: extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and professional without making you feel rushed. Their suggestions are excellent, for food or wine.

Brannan's offers an interesting selection of different tastes. Their steamed PEI mussels in a saffron broth are a great way to begin any meal. For dinner, I am particularly fond of their wild King salmon, pan-seared with a mustard-Verjus sauce, although I have found their gnocchi to be excellent, too. Ingredients here are very fresh, and as often as possible, local. And of course, this being a wine country, they have a well-stocked wine list that favors wines from the Napa and Sonoma regions.

Save room for dessert. They have not only a good selection of dessert wines and drinks, but their desserts are simply divine. The first time I went, I had a fabulous flan. I've tried to get something different each visit, and frankly, you can't go wrong with any of the choices; if in doubt, ask your waiter!

Brannan's is a first-class find. And it is great having a place that is a little less known than places further down the valley, so it is not overrun or too crowded, makes you feel as if you're a local. Two forks up!

Café Sarafornia has been a local favorite for a number of years, dishing up reliable fare at a reasonable price in the heart of Calistoga.

Whenever I visit wine country, I usually visit Sarafornia at least once, generally for breakfast. It's always busy, although any waits are short, and the food comes out fast and hot. It's like being in a diner, but with better decor.

You can grab a seat by the front windows - these are often the most popular spots. Or you can join the various locals at the central counter. Newspapers are handy for those who need their daily reading material.

Although Calistoga attracts its fair share of tourists - primarily due to its numerous spas and mud 'baths' - it is the least touristy-feeling of the Napa Valley towns. You may be sitting next to a local vinter who is getting ready to head out into the fields, or the owner of one of the many shops that line pedestrian-friendly Lincoln Avenue, or a local spa worker. The Café is always busy.

The menu - and the café walls - sport the quote that gave the town its name, and where the café took its name from. This area was originally settled by the Wappo tribe, and later, Mexican ranchos. Samuel Brennan was a rather infamous California figure - he moved to what would eventually become San Francisco, and became California's first millionaire, thanks to the Gold Rush. He eventually bought land in Calistoga, and built a resort there, the Hot Springs Resort, taking advantage of the natural mineral hot springs, opening in 1862.

As legend has it, one night he was a bit in his cups, and bragging about his spa-to-be, and comparing it to the famous New York spa city of Saratoga, Brennan declared, "I will make this place the Calistoga of Sarafornia!" To his chagrin, or perhaps delight, the name stuck, and the town became known as Calistoga.


If you want some quick, decent food without paying crazy prices, you'll enjoy Café Sarafornia.

When Calistogans want a cup of freshly brewed coffee or a great coffeehouse to kick back and relax in, they head to Calistoga Roastery, located in the heart of town on Lincoln Avenue. This cheerful coffee house/roastery offers a wide variety of reasonably-priced coffees, teas, fruit juices and goodies to get you going any time of day.

Calistoga Roasters is not only well known in their hometown, but throughout Napa Valley as well - a variety of wineries and B&Bs, as well as the prestigous Roux and Greystone restaurants, have their own house blends created here. Take home their fresh-roasted coffees for $10.50 a pound, or Calistoga Roastery will also sell you green coffee beans, if you like to roast at home, for $4.50 a pound.

Look for their name on a crimson-red awning - and inside, the coffeehouse is an attractive blend of original wood flooring, and warm yellow walls. This is my favorite place in Calistoga for a quick pick-me-up coffee before heading out for a day in the wine country. They also get bonus points in my eyes for being the only coffee house that managed to make a proper cappucino of all the coffee houses I visited on my last trip to California!

The Mayacamas Indians who lived in the Napa Valley region were the original beneficiaries of the natural hot springs in the area, then early Spanish settlers. Eventually Napa became known for its farmland, and winemakers began moving in. Sam Brannan, who had amassed his riches selling shovellers to gold prospectors, bought much of the land at the northern end of Napa Valley, intending to make the area the "Saratago Springs of California." Legend has it that one night, while a bit drunk, he was speaking of his plans and proclaimed, ""I will make this place the Calistoga of Sarafornia."

Whether or not the legend is true, the name stuck, and Sam Brannan's Hot Springs Hotel, opened in 1860. Others eventually followed, but Brannan was supposedly the first to make the combination of volcanic ash from nearby Mt. St. Helena with the hot geyser waters to make Calistoga's now-famous mud baths. Today, most mud baths in town use a combination of clay, peat, hot mineral waters, and some still use ash. This mixture is then heated, and enjoying a mud bath helps clean impurities in the skin, relaxes muscles and joints, and makes your skin softer too.

I first "took the mud" in Calistoga in 1998. I was concerned at the time about how sanitary it could be to sit in mud used repeatedly, but between customers, the mud is brought to over 212 degrees and thoroughly raked.

I went a few times to the same spa because they were economical, but then I found the Golden Haven Hot Springs Spa & Resort from their website. Golden Haven offered a variety of good package deals via their website, including discounts if you stay at the hotel. I had another trip to California coming, so I squeezed in some time to go to Calistoga, and booked a combination spa/lodging package.

Golden Haven is located on Lake Street, a fairly quiet residential area of town. There is ample parking. Like many of the spas in town, their original building construction dates to the 1970's or earlier, but the rooms are very clean and tidy, and the bed was plenty comfortable. A faint sulphuric odor is noticeable throughout much of Calistoga, but once you have been there for a while you don't even notice it. Golden Haven has a variety of accommodations available, from bare-basics queen room to a king sized suite complete with private jacuzzi.

The main reason I chose the Golden Haven this time was that they offer private spa facilities, where 1 or 2 people at a time can enjoy treatments. (Several of the other spas have communal mud bath areas, which is fine if you're either an exhibitionist, or don't mind, but I prefer a little privacy.) You can do these treatments either in the nude or wearing a bathing suit or underwear, but be warned that the mud gets everywhere, and it is very fine, so it can be difficult to wash out of clothing.

My spa attendant led me to the private treatment room, and left me for the moment to my privacy, where I took a quick shower and then enjoyed a soak in a hot mineral bath. After about 10 minutes were up, the attendant helped me into my mudbath.

The first time you enter a mudbath, it's a very weird thing. It's really hot, it smells odd (the sulfuric content of the mineral water), and to be honest, it feels like stepping into a giant sarcophagus of muddy oatmeal. The attendant scoops out a depression in the mud, and you step in, sit down, then lean back, and stretch your legs out and try to wiggle your butt a little deeper into the mud so that the attendant can scoop the mud over you. At first it's hot and feels a little oppressive on the chest, but after a few minutes and the heat has begun to seep into your bones, it feels wonderful. They place a cold cloth on your forehead and will come by to give you cold water. You can feel your aches just disappear.

After about 10-15 minutes, depending on how long you can stand the heat, the attendant helps you out of the mud and leaves you to your shower. Now, I cannot say that the mud itself has any properties to soften the skin, but as you rub and rinse it from yourself, it does feel like your skin is softer. Once you are showered and wrapped up in a big sheet, they take you to a quiet area where you lie down and are covered with an herbal blanket to relax and cool down. This is all pretty relaxing, so I generally fall asleep at this point!

You can do any combination of treatments along with or independent of the mudbath, including herbal mineral baths, hot tub, body wraps, facials, or massages. I usually opt for a 90-minute massage after a mudbath -- and never will a massage feel so good as when you are already a relaxed limp noodle! And if those treatments aren't enough, at Golden Haven you also get unlimited use of their outdoor mineral pool.

My main tip about getting a mudspa treatment is that since it's so incredibly relaxing, it's great to have them late in the day. That way you can have dinner or go right to bed after. When I am in Calistoga, I like to get my treatments around 4-5pm and then go for dinner at Brannan's in the center of town: a great evening all around.

Golden Haven Hot Springs
1713 Lake Street
Calistoga, CA 94515
707/942-6793 | www.goldenhaven.com