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“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, to gain all while you give. To roam the roads of lands remote, to travel is to live.” – Hans Christian Andersen. To Hans, I say…thank you for your sage words of wisdom. When your wanderlusting heart aches for a little adventure but you can’t jet off to Europe, the little Danish town of Solvang, California could be your answer!
Normally, I travel with my other half, but this visit was for a bachelorette celebration for one of my very best friends. Solvang is not only a really great choice for a Bachelorette weekend, it’s a great destination for any girls or couples weekend getaway!
Located just north of Santa Barbara, Solvang is filled with many novelty shops, bakeries loaded with Danish goodies, and great restaurants! Not to mention it’s in the heart of Santa Barbara wine country.
This was my second visit to Solvang, with my first being a few years ago with my husband. In fact, my Solvang Weekend Guide is one of my most popular posts on the blog – check it out for more ideas!
Even though our visit here was amidst a global pandemic and probably one of the worst wildfire seasons in California’s history (as evidenced by the smoky tinge in all of my photos), it was just as good the second time around, and I included a lot of new experiences to change it up a bit.
Day 1: SF Bay Area to Solvang
- Road trip from Bay Area to Solvang
- Stop for Lunch at Firestone Walker Brewing in Paso Robles
- Check in to WorldMark Solvang
- In-room happy hour & room decoration time
- Dinner at Mad & Vin at the Landsby Hotel
We currently reside in the San Francisco Bay area, so the drive to Solvang is around five hours or so. If you’re coming up from the LA area, it is a much closer jaunt!
Lunch at Firestone In Paso Robles
We officially commenced our weekend festivities with a stop for lunch at Firestone Walker Brewing in Paso Robles.
Coming from the Bay Area, our lunch stop was about three and a half hours south into our drive. In the late summer heat, it felt great to throw down a cold beer and fill up on some grub for the remainder of our drive to Solvang.
What We Ate at firestone
Our bride-to-be had the fish & chips, which was the best of the bunch (light, crispy and well-seasoned), and the wild mushroom & goat cheese pizza and ahi bowl were well-loved! I had the yellowtail fish tacos which were nice and light, but I would probably skip them on the next visit in favor of the fish and chips.
Check into the WorldMark Solvang
From Paso Robles, we drove straight to Solvang to check into our condo for the weekend! I booked the WorldMark Solvang via Hotels.com because of their excellent cancellation policy when booking a “Refundable Rate” room.
Seeing as how we were visiting during the pandemmy, I wanted to make sure our cancellation options were flexible. I also earned rewards for our stay at Hotels.com.
Our room was great! Nice and clean, and big enough for the four of us. We had a master with a king-sized bed and en suite bathroom; a second bedroom with twin beds; a second full bathroom; and a couch with a pull-out queen-sized bed.
The rooms at the WorldMark also come equipped with a full kitchen, but we didn’t use it (other than the fridge to chill our drinks) as we were only in Solvang for a couple of days, and there are just too many good restaurants to check out nearby.
Happy Hour & Room Decorations!
We really wanted to make our bride-to-be feel special, so we toasted to our weekend ahead and shoved her in the twin room with a glass of wine to relax while we got to putting up some decorations for her enjoyment.
We all threw together some fun gift bags/boxes for each other as well with a bunch of bachelorette weekend survival goodies. You can find some really cute things on Etsy these days, like silicone wine cups, novelty sunglasses for the bride and the I Do Crew, and lip balm!
Party City is also a great place for stocking up on decorations, and I highly suggest getting some fun shirts made for the occasion.
Dinner at Mad & Vin
After we worked up an appetite putting up the decorations, it was time for dinner at Mad & Vin! Mad & Vin is located in the Landsby Hotel, and the property was such a beautiful backdrop for a late summer evening dinner.
We started our meal off with luscious cocktails under the string lights out in the courtyard of the hotel, and transitioned to a dark Cabernet Sauvignon from Daou to pair with dinner.
I had the Seafood “Hot Pot,” which was essentially a spicy cioppino with wild red shrimp, clams, scallops, and linguica sausage in a saffron broth – light, delicious, and flavorful. The scallop was the highlight for me (yes, there was only one – but it was a good one, and I’m not usually a big scallop fan).
At the table, we also had the ceviche, Wagyu burger with duck fat fries, and the roast chicken with chorizo whipped potatoes.
Most importantly, I wanted to highlight the desert we shared to end our evening at Mad & Vin. If you only go here for one thing, let it be the banana bread pudding! This was arguably one of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time, and I’m not even a big fan of bananas. Every bite was worthy of being savored!
Our first evening in Solvang ended with a relatively early night so that we were fresh-faced for our wine tour the next day.
Day 2: Pastries & a Wine Tour
- Quick breakfast at Birkholm’s Bakery
- All day wine tour (lunch included) with 805 Wine Tours
- Happy hour in the room with charcuterie and a dance party (dinner would also be a good idea if you’re hungry!)
Breakfast Pastries at Birkholm’s
You simply cannot visit Solvang without hitting up one of the many Danish bakeries in town! I had previously visited Mortenson’s, so I wanted to try a new one and Birkholm’s was within quick walking distance to our condo at the WorldMark Solvang.
I had the lemon Danish pastry and it was SO good! Flaky, with just the right amount of sugar and and lemon. I devoured it (and subsequently went back to take a box of goodies home for my husband).
Santa Ynez Wine Tour
I went back and forth between two different options for wine tasting for our Solvang weekend getaway, and those were 1) walk around Solvang for the day and stop off at different tasting rooms in town, or 2) take a wine tour out in the Santa Ynez Valley. We opted for the latter to have a more private experience and get away from a bit of the crowds.
I booked with 805 Wine Tours, though I’m not sure if they’re still in operation (here’s a similar company) and worked with the owner to make sure we had a special day planned for our bride-to-be! Seeing as how none of us had visited any of the wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley before, we did not have a preference on where to visit. I left the picking of the destinations up to the tour company. Everything was awesome and were taken great care of!
Tour Inclusions: Our tour included stops at three wineries, lunch from Paninos in Los Olivos, and bottled water.
Wine Stop 1: McKinney Family Winery
Our first stop was our favorite! McKinney Family Winery is normally a private appointment-only tasting located on the property of the McKinney family. We had a special experience with Meghan that was intimate and educational.
There is also an extremely friendly large orange cat named Weasley (where my Harry Potter fans at?!) who has no shame in jumping on your lap for a snuggle!
Part of the tasting experience takes you out to the vineyards where you can taste grapes right off the vine, and pick grape leaves to feed to the family goats. That was definitely a special little touch!
We also just really loved their wines. My personal faves were the Grenache Rosé and the Siren, which was a really nice light white blend that ended up going home with me.
Wine Stop 2: Santa Ynez Valley Wine Collective
Stopping off at another homestead location, we visited Santa Ynez Valley Wine Collective (now closed unfortunately), which poured us four wines from small batch wineries. SYVWC’s program was designed for small wineries who produce less than 1,000 cases per year. Definitely a unique way help spread the knowledge of the small wineries!
A Little Lunch
Our wine tour included lunch, which was sourced from the Los Olivos Paninos. They were delicious and fresh sandwiches! They have quite an extensive menu to choose from and the tour company had us pre-select our choices prior to our tour.
Wine Stop 3: Esfuerzo Wines
Our final wine stop at Esfuerzo was a fun one – the guys there are a riot! The Esfuerzo tasting room is in a non-traditional winery setting, located in an industrial building with about eight other businesses in Buellton.
They made sure to pour a large sample of the wines they offer, and had plenty of jokes and hilarious stories to keep us laughing throughout our tasting. A great last stop on the tour!
Bonus Stop: Figueroa Mountain Brewing
Okay, so technically our final stop on the tour was actually Figueroa Mountain Brewing. This wasn’t a part of the tour, but our driver kindly gave us a half hour to check out the local beer scene at a brewery they affectionately dub “The Fig” in Buellton.
We also got a couple of snacks here, including buffalo cauliflower (yum!) and mac and cheese bites to go with our delicious beers.
Final Wine Tour Notes
Pick up and drop off was at the front lobby of our accommodation, and we got to ride in style in a limo!
The Cost of the Wines: I found the pricing of the wines at all three stops to be on the higher side (in the $40 range on average). This is a little steeper than what we are used to going out to places like Lodi and Murphys in Northern California. There’s no obligation to purchase wine on the tour of course, but it is great to support smaller family-owned wineries and wine businesses.
Snacks & a Dance Party (or Dinner)
We had plans to go to the Copenhagen Sausage Garden for an easy and affordable dinner after our wine tour, but we weren’t super hungry after having snacks and beers at The Fig. So, we just ended up having happy hour in our room, accompanied by a charcuterie platter and a dance party into the early morning hours.
Day 3: Brekkie & a Walk Through Town
Eeeesh. Waking up the next morning to pack everything up and check out may have been a liiiittttlllleee rough after that late night, but it was all worth it for a bit of fun. Luckily, we just had brunch planned with a walk through the town to check out some shops.
Brekkie at…Brekkies!
Brekkies is a casual place to sit down and get a nice, hearty breakfast before a day of exploring. We had the Chorizo Breakfast Burrito (with veggie chorizo), Danish Omelette, Monte Cristo, and the Breakfast Bowl. They also have really cute coffee cups to take home as souvenirs here!
Pictured below: The Monte Cristo sandwich, and the Veggie Chorizo Breakfast burrito. Everything comes with nice and crispy tater tots.
Walk Through Town
Our last morning in town was a good time to take a little walk and duck into the shops that we hadn’t explored yet. If you are looking for trinkets and souvenirs, there are a ton of the little shops to peruse!
I also highly recommend popping into one of the bakeries and taking some Danish pastries home with you. I really loved the Danishes at Birkholm’s and they also have amazing cream puffs.
Also be sure to be on the lookout for some Danish “Easter Eggs” placed throughout the town. Can you find the Little Mermaid statue? How many windmills can you count? Where can you find a statue of Mr. Hans Christian Andersen himself???
And that concludes our successful bachelorette weekend in Solvang! After brunch and our walk through town, it was time to hit the road back up to the Bay Area.
Have you been to Solvang before? If you visit, be sure to let me know what your favorite things were!
Read Next:
- How to Spend a Weekend in Solvang
- Checking in to Hotel Corque and the Wine Valley Inn
- My restaurant review of the Copenhagen Sausage Garden
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