I don't know about you, but whenever I visit a place, I want to try to find things to do that people who live there actually do rather than go through a checklist of all the tourist things to do. Whenever I am with clients who are from out of the area, as well as when people move to Healdsburg permanently, I often get asked for suggestions of things to do and places to go. Healdsburg is well known for many of the great things you can do but it is also nice to discover things that are not the obvious things to do. At some point I will probably write a blog post or create a video for my YouTube channel on the iconic things to do in Healdsburg but in this blog and I going to cover the less obvious things.
Of course it is nice to do all the things that Healdsburg is famous for such as go for a bike ride on West Dry Creek road or get a pastry from Quail and Condor. But there are so many hidden gems that most people don’t get to experience. In putting together this blog post, I have discovered a few things that are definitely going on my to do list.
If you are looking for a bakery where you can enjoy a pastry and a coffee in a relaxed atmosphere. This isn’t it! The Downtown bakery is very much an institution having been in existence for over 35 years although last year the bakery was taken over by some of the long term employees after the original owner retired.
They are well known for their sticky buns as well as their range of Galettes which come either as individual ones or larger ones. The Strawberry and Rhubarb is my favorite but they have other flavors including blackberry, apple and pear. The pies pair well with Noble Folk vanilla ice-cream but more on ice cream in a little bit.
A lot of people were fearful of it closing down and losing their supply of their favorite baked goods but after a brief shutdown it re-opened earlier this year pretty much exactly has it had been for the previous 35 years. Normal service was resumed.
This is definitely a locals pub and one which you will not stumble across because it is located on the left hand side before the traffic circle as you drive into town. The bar, or pub as I would call it, is fairly small but out the back is a good sized outdoor patio which is a great place to go on a summer evening.
They serve standard pub fare of hot dogs, hand pies and pizza but you don’t go there for the food. The food is there to sustain you through having a few drinks and listening to the live music.
Most Friday’s they will have a live band starting at 8 or 9 pm. They charge a nominal fee of about $10 but if you are into live music you won’t be disappointed.
In 2017, small “fairy doors” began popping around downtown Healdsburg. Apparently, the earliest confirmed door was by the museum curator and executive director. The first one appeared right by the museum. It actually looks like it is trying to replicate the museum door. The next doors that appeared were at a children's toy and clothing store. As you can see from the map they are located at various places around town.
As with the door at the museum, if you look closely many of the doors reflect architectural aspects of their host building. One of my favorites is the door at the Bradford Brenner gallery in the Healdsburg Plaza. In a future video, I’ll be doing a tour of the Plaza with Brad Brenner who is a well known artist in town. It should be fun one!
Healdsburg isn’t alone in having these fairy doors around town. It is one of a number of towns across the US and Ireland where mythical fairy doors have sprung up.
If you have young children, the fairy door treasure hunt is the perfect activity to intersperse with wine tasting to go an hunt for the fairy doors around town with your children.
If you are visiting Healdsburg but you have do some work or have an important meeting, you need check out CraftWork. It is Healdsburg’s version of We Work and as you would expect it is a little more relaxed with a great lounge area and fireplace at the front with a combination of hotdesks and permanent desks in a building that used to be an old furniture store and prior to that a bank.
As well as having my office on Healdsburg Avenue, I also have a desk here because it is just such a great place to work with a eclectic mix of people some are locals who would rather work in a space like this rather than at home and also people who have second homes in Healdsburg and use this as a place to work when they are in town.
Craftwork also has a couple of meeting rooms for large corporate meetings as well as a fun event space at the back which has both an indoor and outdoor option.
Healdsburg open space preserve was creating in 2003 and includes 155 acres of land that is protected by conservation easements. It has an impressive array of habitat consisting of a wide array of plants and animals including wetlands and oak woodlands, and open grasslands.
There are numerous trails throughout the preserve which make for an excellent place in the city limits to go for a hike or a trail run. Nancy’s trail is a good option (I don't just says this because my wife is called Nancy) because it is good for a quick hike to get some fresh air but is also very child friendly if either you or your friends have children.
If hiking isn’t enough exercise for you then you can buy a day pass at ParkPoint for just $30 and attend classes, use the equipment as well as the outdoor pool. Technically you are meant to be staying at a hotel or BnB but I don’t think they really care. If you like in town, have no pool or no access to a friends pool, and have friends staying for the weekend, this is a good option. If you are here for an extended period of time you can actually buy a pass for a month, with no joining fee at the moment, if you don’t want to sign up for the ongoing membership of $110 per month.
If you would rather just go to a spin, yoga or spin class at a studio then you should check out The Dailey Method where you can buy a one off pass for a single class or they also have a 10 pass pack that could be handy if you are up here fairly regularly and fancy taking part in one of their classes over the course of a weekend.
The studio was been going since 2019 and like many fitness studios had to adapt during Covid so it is great to see they are still going strong largely because they do have a very strong local following. I understand that over the coming months they are going to be broadening their range of classes so you will have even more to choose from.
I should issue a disclaimer for this one because I have never been on a skateboard in my life. However I do have some insight into it.
I have a client who has 15 year old son who was very excited to move to Healdsburg with his parents because he knew it had a skate park. He went there and confirmed that it was a great skate park BUT it was full of little kids on scooters so he decided it just wasn’t cool enough for him.
However, another friend of mine who was visiting from Marin, took his 7 year old who has a scooter and he thought it was the most amazing skate park so I’ll let you decide if this is the place for you or your family.
Pickleball Courts at the High School
If I was writing this a few weeks ago, I would have zero experience of Pickle Ball, but I can now say I am a signed up member. I bought the bats (apparently called Paddles) and started playing with a group of friends. I have known about it for quite a while but always thought I would do it when I got too old to do other sports but I have been lured in!
All you need are the paddles and balls and to find a court. The ones that I use are in Georigi park just outside of the downtown area which are Pickleball courts painted within the service lines of a tennis court. There are other courts around town such as the ones at the High School.
It is a cross between tennis and table tennis and is a lot of fun. the great thing about it is even if you have never played before you can quickly pick it up as long as you have someone else to score which is probably the most complicated part of it.
If you are over this side of town and you have worked up an appetite, you have to go to summers market for a sandwich. It is located about half way down Powell Street and does THE best sandwiches. It does a range of hot and cold sandwiches but my favorites are the hot sandwiches especially “the Andrew” which is a soft roll with a smoked meat and coleslaw. They also do a great Pastrami sandwich and a Rueben.
If you don’t fancy one of those then they also have a wide variety of cold sandwiches and salads to choose from.
If you fancy something sweet after lunch, head back to Plaza and get in line for an ice cream from Noble Folk.
This is run by a couple of entrepreneurs who also owns Moustache Baked Goods, which closed its Healdsburg location during the pandemic, as well as the Pastry Annex.
The flavors will often change with the seasons but they always have a few staples such as cookies and cream and salted Caramel. the first time I went there I looked at the size of the single scoop and thought it would be too small so I went for the double scoop. Trust me, one scoop is enough. I had a bad phase when I would end a bike ride here and have an ice cream. Even after a bike ride one scoop was enough.
I often forget, but as well as ice cream, they also do do great pies if you are every looking to buy a desert.
Once you have loaded up on ice cream you might want to work it off! Healdsburg Running Company is a local institution run by the energetic Skip. They have a very active running community meeting up for group runs.
Every Saturday morning at 8am they do a run starting at different locations every week. They have a variety of different locations where the runs start from which will mostly involve driving to the start. For example they will run at Lake Sonoma, in Annadel in Santa Rosa or out on the Coast on the Jenner Headlands.
In addition to the Saturday runs there is also a regular Trail sisters Run on a Tuesday starting at 6pm and a Thursday Run at 6pm which will typically end up at a place to eat and drink somewhere around town.
Healdsburg Running company also do some special events throughout the year for both serious and less serious runners. For example they organize the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Trot which has over 2000 runners taking part.
It is hard to create this video without mentioning at least one winery given locals spend quite a bit of time drinking wine. I don’t have the time, and I am sure you don’t, to listen to me going through a list of my favorites.
The one I would single out is Marine Layer which is located in the square. This only recently opened and is the brainchild of Baron Ziegler who also founded Banshee which was then sold to Foley Group. In many ways it borrows from a number of the elements which made Banshee so successful. Rather than just create a tasting room, they have tried to create an environment which is more like a lounge or wine bar than just a tasting room so if you fancy a glass of wine it is an alternative to going to a bar. Because of this, it is also open a bit later than a lot of the tasting rooms.
After having had an aperitif at Marine Layer, you can head off to Lo and Behold for some Global Comfort food which is how it describes its fayre. This is another place that has only opened more recently and is a good locals eating place as well as a good place for a cocktail.
It was actually set up by a group of people who use to work at Dukes (the bar on the north side of the Plaza).
The menu here comprises smalls plates that include egg rolls, crispy spareribs and chicken tender. Of the larger plates I highly recommend the Brisket Tacos.
If you go here in summer there is a great outdoor space at the back but there are also quite a few tables inside as well as under a covered area at the back so lots of seating choices.
Another new addition to the locals restaurant list is the restaurant at the Madrona. I am not normally a fan of restaurants that are part of a hotel (don’t ask me why, maybe it is a Brit thing) but the newly opened Madrona after a $6m facelift of the historic 19th century Madrona Manor is a great place to go for a cocktail and dinner.
They have done a great job creating a very relaxed, but eclectic, environment whether it is in the small bar at the back of the hotel, in the main dining area or else outside on the outdoor patio.
Depending on what mood you are in, there are lots of different places to hang out all of which have their own charm. I know when they were re-imagining the hotel they definitely tried to create an environment that was as equally appealing to locals as hotel guests. Even if you don’t have time to go there for dinner, it is worth going for a pre-dinner cocktail and hanging out on the porch.
There are numerous great rides starting from downtown Healdsburg. The most common one is to do some variation on a loop around W Dry Creek and Dry Creek with an extension out to Geyserville come back around on Hwy128 in Alexander Valley. This is a gentle 30 mile ride with just 1200 ft of elevation.
One of my favorite local rides is to ride over to Guerneville via Sweetwater Springs Road. If you leave town on Westside Road about half way down Westside road you will turn right onto Sweetwater Springs Road. For the next 10 miles you will unlikely to see another car or bike as you wind your way up and across a couple of ridges over to Guerneville.
This is a 37 mile loop with 2700 ft of elevation most of which is concentrated into the 10 mile section of sweetwater springs road with sections, although they are very short, that are as steep as 20% gradient.
If you do take on this ride, make sure to take appropriate clothing because when you drop down into Guerneville it can often be 15-20 degrees cooler than when you set off in Healdsburg. Follow me on Strava for other great ride ideas
Another locals favorite for a happy hour cocktail is the Spirit Bar which is the courtyard at the back of Hotel Healdsburg. The Spirit Bar offers an extensive drinks menu and an array of small-bite from Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen. As well as a curated list of single barrel scotches it does have an extensive list of wine by the glass from local wineries.
For wildlife lovers among you, this one is a little different. Every September, since 1989, a large flock of swifts stops to rest during the migration from Mexico to Venezuela. This isn’t just any old flock. There can be as many as 35000 birds that roost during the day then roost in a chimney at night. It is quite a sight. As the birds enter the chimney they create a tornado like pattern in the sky . The birds typically arrive in late August and leave by mid-September at the Rio Lindo Academy just south of Healdsburg. But this isn’t just a sight for locals as bird enthusiast from all of the country will come to observe this phenomenon. The school charges a small fee of $10 to get access to the school where the birds roost but it is worth every cent.
Most people come to Healdsburg for its wines but there are also a couple of distilleries you should check out. There is Young and Yonder as well as Alley6 both of which are on the west side of town.
Alley6 has a range of craft gins, whiskeys and sprits which you can taste for $15 when it is open from Thursdsay to Sunday. However they do also do a great range of cocktails which can enjoy at your leisure.
If you like what you taste there is a club with regular shipments to keep you stocked up on gin and whiskey. They also do regular events as you would get with a lot of the wine clubs.
Last but not least is Guiso which serves Latin Fusion food. I was debating whether or not to put this in. Not because it doesn’t deserve it but because I find it hard enough to book at table already, so I don’t want it to get too busy.
Guiso is located just off the square and is owned and run by a family from El Salvador. It is hard to describe exactly what El Salvadorian food is like apart from it is different from anything I have ever had and I have never been here and been disappointed.
Until Covid allowed them to open up an outdoor dining area on the patio, there were just 5 tables inside so it was incredibly difficult to book a table. Now they have double the number of covers with the addition of the outdoor space which also has heaters.
The food is all designed to be shared with some of my favorite starters being Pupusas which are like stuff corn dough pockets with a choice of pork or vegetarian version with Loroco which is a vine with edible flowers. One of my other favorites are the Cuban sandwich sliders which are just delicious. I challenge you to find something on the menu that isn’t!
I hope you enjoyed some of my suggestions for things to do that are a little different from the usual suspects. I know from my own experience of travelling to different places, it is much more fun to enjoy a place through the eyes of a local.
It’s not the same as living here but it gives you taste of what it could be like.
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