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Last Saturday (June 24th), we celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. By the way, I did a whole series when I was planning my wedding and you can check it out here. We kept our actual anniversary relatively low key and did our bigger celebration (Napa Wine Train) the following day. We're big fans of Napa - check out my Napa Travel Guide. I've known about the Napa Wine Train for ages but haven't been drawn to booking an experience. I've never seen anything that really caught my attention. Cue Instagram.

I stumbled upon a Reel a couple weeks ago about the new afternoon tea service, in partnership with Chandon. I was immediately intrigued by the decor, food, and beverages. I asked Joe his thoughts and he liked the idea for our anniversary. Our actual anniversary was sold out but Sunday the 25th had seats available! I also learned it was cheaper to go on Sunday so win win. Now without further ado, let's get into what the Napa Wine Train is, what's involved in the afternoon tea and my thoughts on the experience.

Napa Wine Train Afternoon Tea Experience

What Is The Napa Wine Train?

The Napa Wine Train is a luxurious vintage (100+ year old) train that runs through Napa. The 36 mile roundtrip route travels between Napa and St. Helena. There are a number of onboard experiences and a few add on winery stops. To my knowledge, the majority of experiences run for three hours. I believe there are some shorter (two hours) and longer (six hours) options as well. You can learn more about the train and book experiences on their website.

What Is Included With The Afternoon Tea?

As per the Napa Wine Train website, here is the description of the afternoon tea: True to our old-world charm while infusing modern day luxuries, the Napa Valley Wine Train is eager to whisk our guests to a bygone era with Afternoon Tea service. The hectic stresses of the day-to-day routine melt away and allow for intimate conversations and unexpected delights as the three-hour journey progresses.

Includes:

Selection of fine steeped teas
Chandon Garden Spritz cocktail on arrival
Demi-tasse portion of soup and petite salad course
Finger sandwiches, scones and accompaniments
Signature mini desserts
3-hour journey aboard our vintage train

My Experience

We booked the afternoon tea experience for our wedding anniversary. It was a special way to celebrate. Starting with the lobby and check in, the station(?) was thoughtfully designed and there was plenty of parking. We arrived about 45 minutes before departure (we weren't sure how traffic would be). The station has a cafe, gift shop and lots of seating. It was a comfortable place to wait for our train. We were called out by car; each experience is in a different train car. Boarding didn't take too long and they take a professional photo of your group as part of your ticket (top photo in this post).

Once we got on the train, we were impressed with the decor. The Napa Wine Train partnered with Chandon to create a Secret Garden themed experience from April - October 2023. This special event includes the floral decor, a garden spritz upon boarding and a commemorative pin. Note: the event increases the ticket price by 10%. I've was drawn to the afternoon tea experience because of this event. Was it worth the additional fee? It was nice for a special occasion but I probably wouldn't just do this on a whim.

The actual train ride is roughly three hours. We departed at 11:30AM and returned around 2:30PM. We meandered from downtown Napa up to St. Helena. The train made a couple stops - once for wine tasting (add on feature with some experiences) and in St. Helena (to move the engine and make the return trip). Our train car had an open air area and two restrooms. Our seats were velvet swivel chairs, which faced the window. There were a couple four person booths as well.

Overall the food was good! We enjoyed the amazing tomato soup; the salad was fine (nothing to write home about). The presentation of the tea sandwiches and a lobster pastry bites on the gold tiered stand was delightful. My favorite sandwich was the smoked salmon and cream cheese. They even gave us extra, which was nice because the radish bite was quite dry and I didn't finish it. Towards the end of the ride, they brought out dessert. We had an assortment of sweet bites and cheese, grapes and mini scones. They also wheeled by the tea cart several times throughout the journey. There were four options: black tea, early grey, roobios and chamomile. We were surprised they didn't give us individual pots but realized that would have been tricky on a moving train 🙂

Overall Thoughts

The Napa Wine Train Afternoon Tea was lovely and I recommend it. Would I do it again? Probably not. Why not? The experience was expensive (we paid around $570 total, including the event fee and tax) and I don't feel like I'd get more out of it by going again. I saw the views, I enjoyed the food, and I soaked in the experience. That was enough for me. I think the Napa Wine Train is absolutely worth doing but I also think once is enough. I am happy with the experience we chose. A lot of the other options were much more expensive and I'm not sure if they would have been worth it. If they come out with something unique and different, I'd consider riding the train again. For now, I'm set with my one visit.