High above Wine Country, an Italianate villa crowns the Mayacamas Mountains.
On one side, the Tuscan-style estate faces a small, private vineyard bound by a broad green lawn where deer graze in the twilight hours. On the other, the patio of a large pool with a sunken hot tub is lined with swooping loungers; a dreamy, vine-strung pergola hangs over a massive dining table next to a bocce ball court.
Villa Nel Bosco(Courtesy of BeautifulPlaces)
Villa Nel Bosco isn’t a hotel. You won’t find it on Airbnb or VRBO or Booking.com. Part of the collection managed by the 23-year-old boutique rental company BeautifulPlaces, only they hold the key to the four-bedroom manse.
There are around three dozen BeautifulPlaces in Sonoma and Napa (plus a handful of properties in the Virgin Islands and, soon, Santa Barbara) and the company’s name says a lot about its portfolio. They are, indeed, beautiful places.
“We like to say there’s a certain je ne sais quoi about all our properties, something unique and special,” says founder Liza Graves.
At Villa Nel Bosco, the oversized wooden door opens into an airy, high-ceilinged space with a dramatic, winding staircase at its center. The kitchen looks like it belongs to a professional chef, a row of windows across the back wall provides a view of the pool from the massive wooden dining table, and two separate downstairs sitting rooms are cozified with overstuffed leather couches and original art commissioned specifically for the home. Upstairs in the vaulted-ceilinged primary bedroom is a grand king-sized bed with a linen headboard and an en-suite bath with both a soaking tub and a glass-walled shower. A door opens onto the Romeo and Juliet balcony with a circular daybed big enough for two.
Simply Divine(Courtesy of BeautifulPlaces)
At $1,295 per night, this stunning estate for up to eight guests is one of BeautifulPlaces’ mid-range properties. On the high end is Sonoma’s “Simply Divine,” a 12-person, 7,800-square-foot wonderland with a massive stone fireplace in the great room, a huge screened-in porch/dining room, a media room, a game room, tennis and basketball courts, and a legit speakeasy with a pool table, full bar, and stage for karaoke.
A couple of the properties in Napa rival this unbelievable place just minutes from downtown Sonoma, says Graves. But while all of BeautifulPlaces’ rental homes are luxe, with impressive amenities and bespoke decor, most are modest enough for a family or group of friends to afford a taste of the good life.
“Lux on First,” a charming Craftsman less than a block from the Sonoma Plaza, is an oasis built for four with a recently renovated two-bed, two-bath interior, refurbished pool, and outdoor fire pit. Two petite upstairs apartments (Vine Alley 1 and Vine Alley 2) are even closer, literally overlooking the plaza from their balconies. The five-bedroom, 10-person “Twilight Ridge” is just far enough into the hills to capture some of the best views in Wine Country from its expansive pool deck and outdoor kitchen and dining room.
Twilight Ridge(Courtesy of BeautifulPlaces)
Short-term rentals like these have a three- to four-night minimum. For longer stays, monthly rentals like the Day Dreamer—an elegant, 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom home with a pool, pickleball court, sauna, and much more—range from around $12,000 to a cool $90,000 per month.
Regardless of the length of stay, these “vacation rentals can be anything you want them to be,” says Graves. If you want to throw a medieval party or arrive to a pool filled with balloons, the BeautifulPlaces operations team will take care of the details. They’ll arrange for a private chef to come and cook you dinner or a massage therapist to work out your knots in privacy. If any issues or last-minute requests arise, they’re always on call.
“I love it when people say, ‘we love the house,’” Graves says. “But I love when people say, ‘we loved being together at the house’ even more.”
Back at Villa Nel Bosco, we do love spending the time together on what feels like a European vacation that took less than two hours to reach. We make quick work of the complimentary wine left in the kitchen, sipping it in the jacuzzi under the stars. We eat our breakfast beneath the pergola and nap in the late-afternoon sun on the balcony daybed. We make dinner one night in the well-appointed kitchen and sleep deeply on beds so comfortable they’re hard to leave in the morning light.
Day Dreamer(Courtesy of BeautifulPlaces)
In the privacy of the Mayacamas, we feel as at home as we do far away from the day-to-day—which is pretty much what Graves has had in mind since starting the company in 2003. “We fell in love with the idea of living like a local,” she says. Given how often they welcome repeat clients, their guests have, too.
// See the vacation homes available for short- and long-term rental in Wine Country and beyond at beautiful-places.com
