Destination: Vines RV Resort, Paso Robles CA

Not all those who take an Airstream trip are the rugged outdoorsy type.  Take it from me, you don’t need to be a nature-lover to love Airstream road trips.  I’m not particularly fond of camping (though when you’re in an Airstream, let’s be honest, you’re glamping).  So some of my favorite destinations tend to be small towns, especially those with a great food and wine scene like Paso Robles.

Paso Robles is about 3 hours south of our San Jose Airstream garage, off the 101 HWY.  The town is located in California’s central coast wine country, which tends to be overshadowed by the more glamorous (and more hyped) Napa and Sonoma Valleys north of San Francisco.  But if you’re looking for beautiful unpretentious vineyards and bold red wines, Paso Robles is the town for you.

We stayed at the Vines RV Resort, located right off of the 101, and loved the central location as well as the well-maintained RV park.  This RV resort has 130 spaces with full hook-ups, and some of those spaces are pull-through spots (which are perfect for the newbie Airstream-er).  Vines RV resort also has a sister RV resort called Wine Country RV Resort.  We didn’t stay there ourselves but had heard that Wine Country RV is equally well-maintained and accessible.  However, since Wine Country RV is closer to the Paso Robles airport there might be some air traffic noise.  Vines, on the other hand was perfectly quiet, even with the proximity to the highway.  They have excellent laundry facilities, a pool, and wifi.  Oh, but just be warned they’re quite a bit more expensive than the usual RV park and the everything there is pretty much concrete (with some bushes and lawns on the sides and back of each spot).

Just like Napa and Sonoma, Paso Robles has an abundance of vineyards so choosing which one to go to can be difficult.  I am no expert at wines, so I chose vineyards by looking at Yelp, TripAdvisor, and winemag.com.  But I found my favorite vineyards through the top-rated wines list in the Paso Robles region at winemag.com.  Then I cross-referenced them with Yelp or Trip Advisor to see if they had a tasting room, tasting room policies, and hours of operation.

Here are some of the vineyards I went to:

Epoch:  This was hands-down my favorite, best known for their bold red blends.  The staff was friendly and the tasting area was large with both an indoor and outdoor section.  It’s a little tucked away but so worth it!

Sextant: Good wines with views of their facility through a large glass window in the tasting room.  Very friendly staff!

Aaron Hill Vineyards:  Went here to eat some lunch and the wines were pretty good (though the food was so-so).

Justin: This might have been my least favorite vineyard since it was the most commercialized though they do have a well-rated restaurant on their premises.

Others on my list that I would try out next time I’m in the area: Kaleidos, Midnight Cellars, Law Estate Winery, Adelaida Vineyards and Winery, Tobin James Cellars (number one on TripAdvisor) and J. Lohr Vineyards.

If you’re not much of a wine-drinker there’s still plenty to do in Paso Robles.  For the beer-drinker, Firestone Walker is located in Paso Robles (and is the pride of Central Coast beer drinkers).  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to visit, but it is on my list for my next visit!

Hearst Castle is also accessible from Vines RV resort, though it is about an hour drive each way.

If you want to spend the day at a beach, Moonstone Beach Park is a 40 minute drive away.

For the plane-enthusiast there is the Estrella Warbirds Museum.  They also have a Paso Robles Pioneer Museum and The Studios at the Park, which is an open studio art gallery type space.

There are a plethora of things to do in this cute Central Coast town and is worth a visit.  If you would like to get some nature along with wine on your Airstream road trip, we recommend heading down to Morro Bay before or after your stay at Paso Robles!

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