Travel
Wine Country Travel
Plan your journey into the world's great wine regions
Wine travel is unlike any other kind of travel. The destination is the landscape itself — the vineyards, the cellars, the villages, the tables. This guide brings together everything we know about planning a wine country trip: when to go, where to stay, how to get there, and how to eat and drink as well as the locals do.
Travel Guides
Everything You Need to Know
Trip Planning
How to Plan a Wine Country Trip
From choosing a region and setting a budget to booking cellar doors and building a flexible itinerary — a practical guide to planning a wine trip that goes beyond the tourist trail.
From the Field
Six Rules for Better Wine Travel
Book cellar doors in advance
The best small producers — those making the wines you actually want to drink — rarely accept walk-ins. Email three to four weeks ahead, be specific about what you want to taste, and always confirm the day before.
Rent a car, but plan a driver
Wine country is almost always best explored by car, but tasting at six estates in a day means someone isn't drinking. Hire a driver for the serious days, or alternate designated drivers across the trip.
Stay in the region, not the city
The best wine travel happens when you're embedded in the landscape — staying in a village or on an estate, not commuting from a city hotel. Even one night in a working domaine changes the experience entirely.
Eat where the winemakers eat
Ask your host where they go for lunch. The answer is almost never the restaurant in the tourist guide. The best meals in wine country are in places with no website, a handwritten menu, and a carafe of the local wine on every table.
Leave room in your luggage — and your itinerary
The best discoveries in wine country are unplanned: the estate you stumble on, the bottle you buy on impulse, the lunch that turns into dinner. Build slack into every day and don't over-schedule.
Learn a few words of the local language
In Burgundy, Rioja, and the Douro, a few words of French, Spanish, or Portuguese open doors that remain closed to the purely English-speaking visitor. Winemakers respond to effort, however imperfect.
Where to Go
Regions Worth the Journey
Ready to start planning?
Browse our curated itineraries — day-by-day guides to the world's great wine regions.