Petaluma
Petaluma is the historic riverfront city at the southern edge of Sonoma County — dairy country, chicken country, and the place where San Francisco-bound Highway 101 first feels like wine country. The downtown is one of the best-preserved Victorian commercial districts in California, and the river that defines the town carries echoes of its 19th-century shipping era. Petaluma is more lived-in than the wine country towns to the north — a working city with a serious restaurant scene, a deep agricultural identity, and proximity to both Sonoma and Marin.
Hospitality in Petaluma centers on Hotel Petaluma downtown, the Metro Hotel & Café with its French-leaning charm, and a growing inventory of vacation rentals in the surrounding farmland. Guests who base in Petaluma are often combining wine country with San Francisco, taking advantage of the 35-minute drive to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Sonoma Valley wineries are 30 minutes east, the coast 30 minutes west. Petaluma is the strategic base for the traveler covering more than one region.
