Need to know
Rooms
130, including 34 suites.
Check–Out
Noon. Earliest check-in, 4pm. Both can be flexible, subject to availability on the day and on request.
More details
Breakfast isn’t included, but guests get Cadillac hire for up to four hours a day (and lifts to Healdsburg) and two hours of e-bike hire (both subject to availability), a half-bottle of wine, and use of sports kit. A resort fee of $55 a stay applies.
Also
There are several ADA-compliant rooms at Montage Healdsburg, from entry categories to suites, and public areas are easily navigated.
At the hotel
Spa and fitness center, yoga garden, beauty salon, sporting hub with free-to-borrow gear; country store, concierge, charged laundry service, and free WiFi. In rooms: fully-stocked custom-made honor bar, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine and tea-making kit, free bottled water, and Gloss Moderne bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Following the hotel’s clean, cool Norcal modernism, rooms and suites are kept fairly simple in style, pepped up with green, gold and red accents, and with quietly luxurious touches: a well-stocked, custom-made honor bar trolley; minibars filled with local snacks; a fire pit on the balcony (which all rooms have); and soft snuggly linens. First, decide if you want to look at vines (even after you’ve had a few), the heritage woodland, or Mount St Helena; then decide how much space you need – we’re rather taken with the Deluxe rooms for their outdoor, open-to-the-sun showers.
Poolside
No, you can’t float in a vat of wine here, we’re afraid, but the large zero-edge pool in the spa (for adults only; open from 6am to 10pm) is about as close as you can get, with views out over the vines as you swim, and Hudson Springs’ bar close by with bottles at the ready. There are shaded loungers aplenty, but you might feel cosier in a cabana, available to hire for an extra charge from 10am to 5pm.
Spa
The California coastline gives generously in the hotel’s 11,500-square-foot spa (open 10am to 6pm); in 11 treatment rooms (two for couples) rigorously trained therapists will work out knots with sun-warmed Russian River stones; gently wrap you in lavender; add CBD oils to Hypervolt percussive therapy; take you on a ‘scent journey’; and cocoon you in ginger, coriander and honey as you’re spritzed with a neroli mist. The couples’ ‘journey of the senses’ will give you added flower power with botanical polishes, showers and poultices, combined with chimes, vibration, and chocolate and wine to finish. Or, you could call on the big-gun glamorizers, with Valmont’s cellular-regeneration techniques and Anda’s gua-sha facials; red-light wands waved magician-like over your body; Oxylight’s immune-system-boosting combos; and collagen enhancements. There’s also a sauna and steam room, beauty and hair salon for finishing touches and a peaceful yoga garden. And the extremely well-equipped fitness center (open 6am to 9pm) has Peloton bikes and Technogym gear, plus a range of classes (HIIT, spin classes at sunrise and runs along the Heritage Oak Trail).
Packing tips
Turn your suitcase into a cellar on wheels with the number of wine bottles you’ll be tempted to bring home with you. But do also spare some space for the herb salves, hand-blown Sklo decanters, jars of house honey, pickles and olives, and more sold in the country store. Or pick up lotions and potions from Valmont, Lola’s Apothecary and McEvoy Ranch in the spa boutique.
Also
Stock your pic-a-nic basket at Healdsburg Country Store where there are jars of fruit, fresh pastries, sandwiches, salads, snacks and smoothies, plus locally brewed Black Oak coffee, some ‘harder’ libations, and artisanal gifts to take home.
Pet‐friendly
Up to two dogs under 45 pounds are welcome in each room for $125 a room, each stay. They’re not allowed in food and drink outlets, the spa and fitness center, or by the pools, but they do get their own room-service menu (6am to 10pm). See more pet-friendly hotels in Sonoma County.
Children
You needn’t be over 21 to have fun here. With a kids’ club, Montage merits earnt through activities, dedicated menus, free s’mores and plenty of family-sized room configurations pint- (carafe-?) sized Smiths will have as much fun as you do here.
Best for
Kids aged five (from when they can attend the on-site club) and up will get the most out of this stay.
Recommended rooms
Many of the rooms have a sofa-bed and nearly all interconnect, so you’ll have lots of choice. Larger families should check into the Guest House which sleeps up to six.
Activities
The sweet Paintbox kids’ club (for five-to-12 year-olds; must be booked 24 hours in advance) has games, crafts and adventures that let little Smiths get to know the region (without needing a fake ID); held daily from 1pm to 5pm. Each activity earns them a Montage-merit badge to collect during their stay. And on Fridays and Saturdays, from 5pm to 9pm, Children’s Nights Out keep kids entertained, so parents can enjoy date night, or yet more wine-tasting. They’ll also love the sports kit for hire, and Snoopy and Peanuts fans should tour the Charles M Schulz Museum in Healdsburg.
Swimming pool
Set close to Hudson Springs Bar and Grill is a smaller, shallower pool for little ones, with games (putt-putt golf, pool pong, countdown cactus) and floats. It keeps the same hours as the adults’ pool, and it’s unsupervised, so parents, keep an eye out.
Meals
Hazel Hill has a dedicated menu for little Smiths, with reliable favourites (mac and cheese, chicken fingers, cookies and ice-cream), and healthier eats (grilled chicken and a petite salad, wild king salmon with steamed veggies). And kids get their own room-service menu too. And what’s an outdoorsy stay without s’mores? Each Friday they’re offered free to kids – and big kids – in the spa courtyard, from 5pm to 6pm.
Babysitting
The concierge should be able to help secure a local sitter.
No need to pack
If you arrive with a babe-in-arms or tot, bring any essential kit.
Also
Kids will quickly make friends with Beau Alexander, the hotel’s canine ambassador (and truffle-dog in training) who’s very amenable to photo-ops and cuddles.
Sustainability efforts
Montage Healdsburg is dedicated to caring for California’s often fragile – sometimes temperamental – landscape, and in doing so it’s been awarded the EMA (Environmental Media Association) Green Seal for Hospitality and become silver-certified by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Indeed, the building appears to hover over the landscape, constructed with minimal impact, and was designed in harmony with the greenery. It operates sustainably too, with solar panels for most of the electricity, HVAC equipment to automatically close open doors or windows, motion-detecting LED lighting, sheep to keep the grass trim to cut down on wildfire-risking fuels, and swapping single-use plastics for bamboo straws, aluminium water bottles and other eco-friendly options. The brand enthusiastically integrates into the locality, with eating and drinking celebrating local growers, farms and makers; and artisanal products from Sonoma on display.