Petaluma

A charming city of about 60,000 located in Sonoma County, Petaluma is known for its picturesque downtown, historic architecture, and world-renowned food, wine, and beer scenes. Only 40 miles north of San Francisco, it deserves to be on any visitor’s short list of must-visit destinations while exploring the Bay Area.

Petaluma’s Famous Produce

Petaluma was built on the river it shares its name with, which made it easy to deliver goods, like its world-famous eggs and chickens, to Oakland and San Francisco. Today, it’s still known as “the Egg Basket of the World” and as the source for other world-class food goods sought out all over the country, such as McEvoy Ranch olive oil and both Rocky the Free Range Chicken and Rosie the Original Organic Chicken (both from Petaluma Poultry, founded in 1969 and still immensely popular).

Restaurants in Petaluma

By the same token, it’s no wonder downtown Petaluma restaurants are held in such high esteem (see: Central Market, Cucina Paradiso, and two Michelin Bib Gourmand–awarded spots, Stockhome and Risibisi). Locally produced ingredients star on plenty of restaurant plates around town, like the cheeses from Marin French Cheese Co., the oldest cheese company in the nation (established in 1865), or the roasted chicken, avocado, mozzarella, and mixed greens on hearth-baked pain de campagne at the beloved Della Fattoria’s artisan bakery.

Table Culture Provisions, where guests choose from two tasting menus and one social hour à la carte menu, is also a standout with offerings such as a portobello and chanterelle ragout and Mt. Lassen trout with a leek roulade. With such high-end local specialties as these, it’s unsurprising that Petalumans’ preference for quality also extends to coffee; Grand Central Café offers customers Ecuadoran fair-trade coffee as well as chocolate and empanadas, all right on the banks of the Petaluma River.

Things to Do in Petaluma

After indulging in some of those quintessentially Sonoma County offerings, walk it off on a tour of Petaluma’s historic downtown led by costumed docents. Held on most Saturdays, May through October, participants will see the town from the perspective of its earliest 19th-century founders. Going back even further in time, a visit to Tolay Lake is an opportunity to visit a place that held great importance to the native tribes of the region; it was known as a place of healing, and many arrowheads and prehistoric charmstones have been recovered in the area, supporting belief in the ritual that whoever threw the stone would be rid of affliction and disease.

Movie buffs can visit the many sites that have been used as locations in movies, among them American Graffiti, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Inventing the Abbotts. Or, experience the neighborhood from yet another perspective while getting out on the water. At The Floathouse, a linear, dock-based park along the river, you can paddle, pedal, row, or pilot other watercraft on the Petaluma River’s calm waters year round.

Terroire and Tasting Experiences in Petaluma

If you’re wine tasting here, you’ll likely hear the phrase “Petaluma Gap” at some point. It’s a curious term, since there are only a few wineries in Petaluma—like Keller Estate and Parum Leo—but the 15-mile-wide "gap" allows wind and fog to flow from the ocean through the coastal range mountains, then into San Francisco Bay. This results in a microclimate that is cooler and more moist than the surrounding areas, and wines so distinct that they earned the region its own Petaluma Gap AVA. Taste them at the aforementioned Keller Estate and Parum Leo, at downtown’s Barber Cellars and Black Knight Cellars, and also at nearby Reis Ranch and Karah Estate Vineyard. Check out more Petaluma tasting spots.

Wine isn’t all you can savor here, either. Sonoma Portworks, down on the Foundary Wharf, offers port tasting in a quaint river wharf district. Also centrally located are Crooked Goat Brewing for craft beers, and Hoocha, where you can order a tasting flight or full pours of their house-made hard kombucha. On the East side, visitors flock from all over the world to the top-rated Lagunitas Brewing Company, often stopping across the street for more tasting experiences at HenHouse Brewing and Griffo Distillery. In the historic downtown district, visitors also sip spirits at Barber Lee Spirits (next door to Barber Cellars).

Petaluma Live Music and Theatre

Nightlife is another hallmark in this stretch of normally sleepy wine country; check out The Block Petaluma, a food-truck market with 30 taps and onsite wood-fired pizza, or the historic Mystic Theatre, famous for hosting such big-name acts as the Black Crowes, the Pixies, and Los Lobos. Indeed, when it comes to live music, this is one town that punches way above its weight: it’s also home to the nonprofit, community-oriented Phoenix Theater and The Big Easy (for jazz, blues, jug band, Americana, you name it), and plenty of restaurants, wineries, and brewpubs—including Brewsters and Lagunitas—frequently offer live music as well. Fans of theatre have a home at the Mercury Theater, where plays as well as musical events are are put on regularly.

Petaluma Shopping

Spend a day shopping for memorable finds at the shops and boutiques that line Petaluma Boulevard North and Kentucky Street. The tree-lined thoroughfares are home to such browsing havens as sustainability-minded clothing and home goods go-to Estuary, the you-never-know-what-you’ll-find Thrifty Hippy, handbag specialists Pennyroyal Design, fine jewelry at Robindra Unsworth, and kitchen, home, and gift boutique I Leoni. For hunters of that one-of-a-kind vintage treasure, the town’s various top-notch antique stores deserve an afternoon all to themselves.

Where to Stay in Petaluma

There’s no shortage of places to stay when visiting the area—you’ll find well-known national chain hotels like the Hampton Inn, as well as bed-and-breakfasts downtown and bucolic cottages. For a modern hotel in a historic building, try Hotel Petaluma. If you’re looking to commune with nature, there are several campgrounds in the vicinity, including both KOA sites and ones that offer a more cushy glamping experience.