Sonoma named in national ‘Best Vacation’ spot rankings

Sonoma’s popularity as a tourist hot spot is unlikely to wane anytime soon as U.S. News & World Report has just released its Best Vacation rankings for 2017-18, and Sonoma has assumed a top spot.

The news site selected Sonoma over Napa (and everyone else for that matter) as the “Best Small Town to Visit in the USA.” The magazine praised Sonoma’s “bucolic charms and array of wineries” and described the town as “Napa’s rustic, less-refined and more-relaxed sister.”

“The reason Sonoma is so often ranked as a destination city is because travelers love coming to places where they would like to live,” said Mayor Rachel Hundley about the news. “Sonoma has found a balance between accepting tourism as a major economic driver without allowing it to change the character and values of our City. The wine and food doesn’t hurt either. The challenge moving forward is to maintain and in some areas restore this balance so that Sonoma remains a place that people love to visit and, more importantly, where residents love to live.”

U.S. News & World Report compared cities with populations of 100,000 people or less that offer enough of an array of restaurants and attractions to make them worthy of being chosen as a vacation destination.

California had three cities named as the best small town to visit; along with Sonoma, both Lake Tahoe and Monterey earned a mention. Colorado bested California with four spots on the list.

The category, “best small town to visit,” is new to the list this year but the magazine has released its annual ranking of vacation destinations for more than a decade.

Read the full article online at http://travel.usnews.com/rankings/best-small-towns-in-the-usa/.