Appellation Healdsburg Named No. 1 in Northern California and No. 24 in the World by Condé Nast Traveler Readers
Voted No. 1: What the Readers’ Choice Awards Mean to Us
Appellation Healdsburg has been named the No. 1 Best Resort in Northern California in the 2026 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards — and No. 24 on The Best Resorts in the World, ranking in the top 25 of the world's 50 best resorts.
More than 750,000 readers in the United States shared their experiences to decide this year’s results. What this means is this was not an editorial decision or a judging panel – it was guests like you who had a meaningful experience and made the time to vote.
It is the second time this year that readers have put Appellation Healdsburg first. In July, the readers of Travel + Leisure named us the No. 1 Resort in the Continental U.S. and the No. 1 Resort in California. To be chosen twice in one year – in our first full year of operations – by two different sets of readers, tells us something that could only be validated by you, our guests.
It is also a first. Appellation Healdsburg is the only resort to have been named No. 1 in the Continental U.S. and California by Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards and No. 1 in Northern California by Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards in the same year.
Reinforcing Our No. 1 Ranking
There is a particular kind of recognition that cannot be pursued. You cannot pitch for it or design toward it. It arrives from experiences, from people who stayed here, dined with us, rested in our rooms, and formed a private opinion they later took to the ballot.
That is what both of these awards are. And it is why the second one matters as much as the first: one result can be a moment, two in a year is a pattern.
“What matters most about this one is where it came from. More than 750,000 readers voted, and the people who chose us were describing something they experienced here themselves. We set out to build a place where food, community and this landscape come together in a way that feels genuinely of Sonoma County. To have readers name us the best resort in Northern California tells us that vision is resonating and Charlie and I could not be more overjoyed that our dream of a different kind of hotel has become a reality.
— Christopher Hunsberger, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
About Condé Nast Traveler's Readers’ Choice Awards
The Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards are decided each year by the magazine’s audience, who rate their recent travel across hotels, resorts, cities, islands, airlines and more. In the United States alone, more than 750,000 readers submitted responses for the 2026 awards. The results are published online and carried in the November issue of Condé Nast Traveler US.
There is no submission process, no judging panel, and no pay-to-play options. The only way onto the list, especially at the very top of the list, is for enough people to have stayed somewhere and remembered it well enough to say so months later.
That distinction matters to us more than the ranking does.
What It Means to Be the Best in Northern California
Northern California is a competitive place to stake this claim. The region holds some of the most established hospitality in the world: coastal landmarks, valley institutions, legacy resorts that have been defining wine country travel for half a century.
And the vote did not stop at the state line. The same readers placed Appellation Healdsburg 24th among the best resorts anywhere in the world — on a list led by Cheval Blanc Seychelles, and populated by properties that have had decades to earn their place. We opened in September 2025.
To be named first here, in a region this renowned, reflects what Appellation Healdsburg was designed to be from the outset: not just a wine country hotel, but a resort that could only exist in this one. Twenty-seven garden beds feeding the kitchens. Terroir Spa, drawing on the botanicals and rhythms of the surrounding land. Andys Beeline Rooftop and its views across the vineyards. The Crafted series, which puts guests directly in front of the artisans, winemakers and growers who call Sonoma County home.
“Sonoma County’s growers and makers are the reason every experience here tastes like this Appellation. From the gardens here at the hotel to the rooftop at Andys Beeline to Terroir Spa, all of it comes from this valley. To be named the best resort in Northern California by the people who travel here means a great deal to me - to our teams, our families, our partners, and our guests.
— Chef Charlie Palmer, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Place defines us. The recognition reflects it.
Who This Belongs To
A reader-voted award measures something you cannot build or renovate into a property. It measures how people were treated — by the front desk at eleven at night, by the server who noticed, by the housekeeper who remembered. Every one of those 750,000 responses came from somebody describing a human being doing their job well.
So this belongs to the team at Appellation Healdsburg, to the growers and vintners and makers of this valley who supply and shape everything we do, and to the town of Healdsburg, which took us in as neighbors.
Thank You
“These awards are decided by the people who actually travel. You stayed with us, and then you took the time to go and vote, and that is not a small thing. Every one of those votes is a testament to our team. On behalf of all of us, we thank you.”
— David Emig, General Manager, Appellation Healdsburg
To everyone who voted: thank you. Your voice is the most honest measure there is of what a place actually delivers.
We will keep earning it.