Discover Sonoma for Your Stay

In Sonoma, historic sightseeing meets art, botanical design, and seasonal events. When planning your stay, it helps to distinguish between the different formats: some options let you explore historic buildings on your own, others consist of an online tour or take place on set days and at set times. This way, you can plan your travel dates around your interests and the specific schedules.

Explore history on your own or online

Mission San Francisco Solano is the last mission founded in California and the only one built during California’s Mexican era. Its historical significance brings together two distinctive features: its place among California’s missions and its origins in that era. Self-guided tours are available at Sonoma State Historic Park. You can explore the mission and other historic buildings at your own pace.

The Sonoma Plaza History Tour offers a different format: a free online tour featuring 23 stories about art, buildings, nature, memories, and wine. While tours at the Historic Park include visits to historic buildings, the online tour brings together a range of subjects in individual stories. The two formats therefore have different focuses, and should not be confused as the same sightseeing option.

Art and botanical design

The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art presents seasonal exhibitions of contemporary and modern art. It also offers educational and public programs for children, teenagers, and adults. In addition to exhibitions, the museum’s offerings include programs for different age groups. If you want to plan around a specific exhibition or program, check the relevant dates.

The gardens at Cornerstone offer a different focus: they are an ever-changing botanical setting featuring innovative designs by international and local landscape architects and designers. Unlike the historic buildings and art exhibitions, the emphasis here is on landscape design. The changing plans make the design itself a focus of the visit, rather than a single historic building or exhibition.

Market and seasonal dates

Sonoma’s Tuesday Night Market takes place every Tuesday from May through September at Historic Sonoma Plaza in downtown Sonoma; specific dates may vary from year to year. The market features locally grown, raised, and made products. The listed selection includes fruit, vegetables, eggs, honey, flowers, seedlings, freshly baked goods, specialty foods, beverages, and handmade gifts. The mix of vendors may change. If you’re planning to visit the market during a particular stay, check the dates for that year.

The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art’s Holiday Make-in is also on the events calendar as an annual family craft day. The museum estimates attendance at around 200 people; event details and attendance may change. For a specific visit, the current date is therefore the key consideration. This event differs from the weekly market: it is an annual craft day, not a weekly market date.

Tours at set times

Tours of General Vallejo’s Home are offered on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 3 p.m. Call ahead to confirm the schedule. These set tour times are different from the seasonal market period or annual family day. If you’re considering several of these options, compare their schedules: weekend times, a weekly market day during a season, or an annual event date.

Explore more destinations: Cazadero, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Annapolis, Graton, Cotati, Sebastopol.

For the broader travel overview: Sonoma.