Driving in Delta’s Wine Country: Private Self-Guided Audio Tour
Description
Are you looking for a way to discover California's Delta without joining a tour group? Explore at your own pace with this self-guided driving tour. • Find out about the area’s rich history and its agriculture, and point out the towns, museums, restaurants, and wineries you’ll pass. • Hear from producer Lynn Momboisse, a native of California with over 20 VoiceMap tours under her belt. • Do it all in 120 minutes or linger at stops along the way with complete control over when you start and finish. • Get unlimited use before your booking date and after it. • Use the virtual tour option at home. Once you’ve booked, you’ll receive a ticket with instructions and a unique code listed under "Before You Go". Then simply install the Voice Map app and enter your code. The app displays directions to the starting point, and when you’re in the right place, just tap Start. Voice Map has automatic GPS playback with turn-by-turn directions. It also works offline.
Tour Options
Itinerary
This tour starts in Freeport. From there, you'll discover that the California Delta’s numerous wineries, laid-back atmosphere, and rural charm draw plenty of visitors every year. But there is also a remoteness to Sacramento County’s quaint riverside towns, which have barely changed since the Gold Rush era.
On this tour, you'll have the opportunity to relive Delta stories of floods, fires, murder, prohibition, and steamboat racing.
On this tour, you'll have the opportunity to visit several of the Clarksburg Appellation’s wineries and tasting rooms, including Bogle Family Vineyards, Hemly Cider, and Scribner Bend Vineyards.
On this driving tour through the Delta’s wine country, passing the historical towns of Hood, Locke, Walnut Grove, Ryde, and Clarksburg, I’ll share the stories that most travelers miss.
Hear about Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge as you drive.
Pass by Greene and Hemly, hearing about it while you drive.
Drive through Courtland, uncovering stories of floods, fires, murder, prohibition, and steamboat racing.
You’ll hear stories about the area’s past, including forgotten hamlets like Paintersville and Vordon.
On this tour, you'll have the opportunity to visit several of the Clarksburg Appellation’s wineries and tasting rooms, including Bogle Family Vineyards, Hemly Cider, and Scribner Bend Vineyards.
On this self-guided driving tour, you'll explore the rustic towns of Locke and Walnut Grove and learn about the significant contributions made by the Chinese and Japanese.
Explore the rustic towns of Locke and Walnut Grove and learn about the significant contributions made by the Chinese and Japanese.
Drive through Isleton, uncovering stories of floods, fires, murder, prohibition, and steamboat racing.
Drive through Ryde, uncovering stories of floods, fires, murder, prohibition, and steamboat racing.
On this tour, you'll have the opportunity to view the opulent Grand Island Mansion.
On this tour, you'll have the opportunity to visit several of the Clarksburg Appellation’s wineries and tasting rooms, including Bogle Family Vineyards, Hemly Cider, and Scribner Bend Vineyards.
On this tour, you'll have the opportunity to drive along Clarksburg Wine Country’s back roads.
The tour ends in front of the Old Sugar Mill. Hear its history before ending the tour.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please note: You won't be guided through any museums or other attractions mentioned en route. If you choose to enter and visit such places, you'll need to pay for it independently of this tour.
Reviews(9)
Easy, fun, relaxing, and interesting experience! I live in the area, but I saw towns I didn’t know about. Also, the historical details were very interesting.
This tour was a fun adventure and we learned more than we expected. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant and very informative. Well worth the cost and time. We’ve driven some of this route before but learning about the history and visiting new areas made this visit special.
Excellent tour. Interest facts, precision tracking of vehicle with information, beautiful scenery, and pleasant audio to listen to.
The starting point is in a very congested shopping mall. Very hard to get out. The Hemley Cider place is closed indefinitely. No tastings. Wasted 30 minutes in there. The restaurant recommended by the host in Locke Al the Wops was not good for lunch. Husband got Fish & Chips, I got a burger. Nothing special. We could not finish the tour. That is as far as we got. Allow at least an hour more.
Hi there, Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I'm sorry to hear about your frustrating experience. You're right that the mall parking can be tricky during busy hours - for future guests, we recommend starting early in the morning to avoid the congestion. We're aware that Hemley Cider has closed and we've now updated our route to note this. Regarding Al the Wop's, we appreciate the feedback - while it's a historic spot in Locke that many visitors enjoy for its character, we understand food preferences vary. You make a great point about timing - we've adjusted our recommended duration to account for traffic, dining, and wine tasting stops. For anyone planning this tour, we suggest setting aside a couple of hours to really enjoy the Delta's scenic drive and tastings at a relaxed pace. Best, Helene
I learned a lot about an area that I knew very little about, despite living so close. It was so much fun driving thru the little towns and learning the history. I really like how we were able to go at our own pace and stop whenever we wanted to. I'll definitely check out some of the other tours offered.
Pros - We live in the Sacramento area and have wanted to explore the delta, but did not know the best way to learn the history and where to go exactly, so this tour fit the bill! - The technology worked great... the narrator and our location via GPS were always in sync. However, the "End Tour" button was a little confusing as the narrator prompted us to press it if stopping to explore. When I pressed it at our first stop a prompt came up asking me to rate the tour, so I worried I had ended it prematurely, but I was able to restart from that point later. A "Pause" button would have been more intuitive, with an "End Tour" button and rating prompt only at the end. Cons - While VoiceMap does provide a disclaimer that they cannot guarantee roads and places will be open, I looked online before we left for distances and route, plus hours of operation of the suggested places to stop. Even so, the wildlife refuge was gated off with a lock and sign. In addition, for Hemly Cider the narrator sent us down a one-mile side road and gravel path presumably to see a tasting area and shop, but we found nothing but work sheds. I later dug into the Hemly website more, which has lots of info about their products, family, etc., and saw that the "Hemly Hangar" (tasting area) is temporarily closed. It would have been nice if the Hemly's had a sign at the side road entrance stating this. - The suggested time for the tour of 2-3 hours was too short. We took 3 1/2 hours w/ minimal stops, waiting for drawbridges to open and close, and of course the detours mentioned above. We started the tour at 2 pm, which was too late in the day. We arrived at Bogle Winery at 5pm, which was lovely, but had just closed. The Grand Island Mansion was also closed, as was the Old Sugar Mill by the time we got there. We will have to see those another time. That said, overall, we enjoyed our day, seeing the delta and hearing about its history.
Great day trip, super informative, and affordable! I've lived in the area for years and have passed these locations multiple times but had no idea about all the history in the area. Great places to stop and explore.
We were pleasantly surprised to find another tour available from this company, with the focus on this tour being our own backyard! It was very well planned out and it was great to learn about the history of our community and some fun little factoids and insights. We were especially grateful to have fantastic weather while we explored!
My wife and I were looking for an interesting day trip idea and came across this driving tour of the delta. All I can say is Wow. We have lived in and around Sacramento for over thirty years and had no idea this amazing gem existed right in our own backyard. Love how the tour had us traveling along the Sacramento river and showed us the quaint little towns (LOVED Locke China Town and Al the "Wops" especially). Really enjoyed hearing about the robust history of the area - especially fun stories about the old riverboats that plied the river. Also got to see several really beautiful vineyards and wine tasting rooms. And the collection of wineries housed in the old Sugar Mill were really quite special. HIGHLY recommend as a great little day trip. Plenty of places to stop and enjoy along the way. Two great big thumbs up for this tour.
