Club Wyndham Vino Bello Resort drops a cluster of Tuscan-style villas into the rolling Carneros hills at the mouth of the valley, ten minutes from downtown Napa. Every suite is condo-sized - studios with kitchenettes, one- and two-bedroom villas with full kitchens, fireplaces, private balconies, and washer-dryers - so a group can cook, spread out, and settle in for the week. Two heated outdoor pools, three hot tubs, and a colorful kids’ splash deck sit among the courtyards, and a welcome bottle of wine is waiting at check-in.

The resort is connected to the neighboring Meritage campus, so guests can walk to the Estate Cave tasting room built into the hillside, the Spa Terra day spa, and the Crush bowling alley without leaving the resort. A complimentary evening shuttle runs into town, where First Street’s tasting rooms, the artisan stalls of Oxbow Public Market, and the depot for the Napa Valley Wine Train are all a few minutes away. Yountville’s fine dining, the Silverado Trail wineries, and hot-air-balloon launch fields over the vineyards round out an easy wine-country basecamp.