We spent a long weekend in August of 2012 in the Willamette Valley, located about 30 minutes southwest of Portland, to visit several of its wineries in Yamhill County. I also have blog entries from this trip on dining and on the wineries we visited.
I planned the trip only a few weeks in advance after finding out I would have a business trip to one of my offices in Salem, Oregon. I figured we should take advantage of my mileage reimbursement and spend the weekend prior to the business trip exploring the Willamette Valley as it has been on my to-see list for awhile.
The Willamette Valley encompasses quite a large area, but after doing some research I determined that McMinniville and Newberg were the largest cities in the area and therefore had the most lodging choices. After doing further research on the wineries that we would visit, I decided to go with Newberg since the majority of the wineries we would visit were within a close proximity to the city. Finding a place to stay with such short notice and under my budget of $125 per night wasn't easy, but I eventually found a cute little studio apartment as I often do on VRBO. I was slightly weary to reserve this particular room as it didn't have too many ratings at the time and also because of the setup/configuration (guest house attached to the owners home). However, the price was right, the location was ideal for us, and it was available on both nights we needed so I went ahead and reserved it. Thankfully, any reservations I had were soothed upon our arrival. The apartment had its own driveway and entrance which made it feel quite private. There was a lovely creek situated directly next to the house which was very serene and calming. The apartment itself was large and included a full kitchen, dining area, lots of seating, a recently remodeled bathroom, plus a washer and dryer. And, much to our happy relief it included air conditioning, which became an absolute necessity on the 100 degree weekend that we visited! The owners also provided a bottle of wine which was a very nice touch.
We would definitely stay here again and recommend to no more than two adults looking for a reasonably priced place to stay in the Willamette Valley.
