Stevie Wonder, Florence + the Machine, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. It’s no wonder the festival sold out for the first time in four years.

Napa provided the perfect backdrop for a music, wine, and food festival. Who knew you could see top musicians and top chefs (Gordon Ramsay and Iron Chef Morimoto were there) at one event? I loved that the fairgrounds weren’t too expansive so you never had to walk too far to get to your next destination. Perhaps even more of a plus was the lack of young hooligans. The festival’s audience skewed a bit more mature than most festivals, which equaled less unnecessary yelling, pushing, and puking.

4 tips for attending BottleRock:

• If you’re going for the whole weekend and don’t live close by, I suggest booking an Airbnb way ahead of time. We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb in Sonoma, which was a 45 minute drive from the festival.
• If you’re driving, LEAVE EARLY. My friends and I drove from San Francisco, and traffic moved at snail’s pace.
• Skip the zoo of a parking lot that the festival offers passes for and just park in the surrounding residential areas. We found spots everyday that were no more than a 20 minutes walk from the grounds.
• Bring lots of cash for the FOOD and DRINKS. Food ranges from $8-18 and drinks range from $8-12.

The festival in pictures…

Did you attend BottleRock? Did you want to? Share your thoughts below 🙂

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