If you said "California's wine country," you get half credit. But if you said "Napa County," go wash your mouth out with organic grape-seed soap. The four-letter county may be the more famous and oft-visited of California's vineyard havens, but for size, variety, and sheer joie de vivre--Sonoma County has Napa beat, hands down.

To understand Sonoma County, a quick geography lesson is in order. Most out-of-staters, and in fact, many Californians, tend to think of the wine country as one homogeneous area north of San Francisco. Closer examination reveals that there are two distinct wine-producing counties: inland Napa and coastal Sonoma. The border between the two isn't exactly the DMZ, and the average Sunday driver up from the Bay Area might not even notice crossing from one into the other. But it doesn't take long to appreciate the difference between compact, densely touristed Napa and sprawling, laid-back Sonoma. Sonoma County is huge, covering over a million acres, and encompassing 52 miles of coastline, rolling vineyard-studded hills, and the cities of Santa Rosa and Petaluma.

But ask any Sonoma County resident what the main difference is between the two, and what you'll invariably hear is "we're less commercial." Sonoma residents pride themselves on their neighborly towns and unpretentious wineries, where you're very likely to be greeted at the door by the smiling owner, whether or not you've made an appointment. Locals are also quite proud of the fact that their economy is not (quite) entirely dominated by the grape.

That's the other important thing to understand about Sonoma County: There's an entire vacation's worth of sights and activities that have nothing to do with wine. Even teetotalers can find plenty of activities where nothing gets fermented. (Well, almost nothing…more on that in a moment.)

The Spa Experience
Relaxation is a major Sonoma County export, and spas are a huge part of that. There's no Sonoma equivalent to Calistoga here, no one town with a huge concentration of spas. Instead, spas are scattered all over the county. It seems as though every hotel, inn, and B&B that does not yet have some kind of spa is in the process of building one. By and large, if a property doesn't have a full-time staff dedicated to pampering, chances are they at least offer a small exercise room and contracted massage therapists.

The queen of Sonoma County spa properties is the Sonoma Mission Inn. 2002 saw the hotel celebrate its 75th anniversary in its current incarnation, as well as the completion of a massive $50 million renovation project. Today the resort features 228 rooms and suites ranging from merely luxurious to jaw-dropping, $1,000 per-night lavish. Guests, even in the budget $259 rooms, are pampered with standard amenities such as cushy robes, sandals, complimentary wine, and generous samples of the Inn's own line of soaps and lotions. Guests can choose to eat at one of two on-site restaurants, either the gourmet Santé, or the more down-home Big 3 Café.

As spectacular as the rooms, service, and dining are, however, the spa facilities are what it's really all about. Loyal devotees would probably still come back again and again even if they had to camp. For starters, there's the water that comes out of the ground a silky, mineral-rich 135° F. Native Americans have used the healing springs for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Today, the waters are harnessed and used to fill every tub and pool on the property, and water is used in just about every treatment imaginable, from Shiatsu to Watsu and beyond.

The spa itself covers 40,000 square feet--imagine a half-dozen football fields devoted to pure relaxation and you get an idea of the scale. Most facilities are open to men and women at the same time, so bring a bathing suit. It's required in all group areas, which include the indoor and outdoor mineral pools, Jacuzzis, saunas, and steam rooms--in short, everything but private cabanas. Changing rooms are single-sex, however.

Guests, of course, have dibs on the spa. But the Sonoma Mission Inn does offer day-use passes, and non-guests can also sign up for premium massage and beauty treatments.

A completely different kind of spa experience is the Osmosis Enzyme Bath and Massage. Located in the tiny town of Freestone (pop. 92), the spa offers something you've probably only seen if you've been to Japan: the signature enzyme bath. Guests begin this treatment with a cup of enzyme tea. The brew is designed to speed the exit of toxins from your system, and tastes like a mild mix of peppermint and licorice. You'll also meet with your personal bath attendant, who will try to give you an idea of what to expect. Not that anything can prepare you for being buried alive under a pile of hot sawdust--and loving it.

When it's time for your treatment, you'll be ushered into a large bright room with a picture window overlooking a meadow. Two wooden tubs in the room are filled with what looks like sawdust but feels warm, heavy, and moist, like moss. The wood is in fact cedar mixed with rice bran and over 600 enzymes. The heat is caused by the fact that the enzymes ferment the wood, filling the room with the pleasant earthy smell of warm cedar. While in the bath, you look like you've been buried up to your neck at the beach, but that's not what it feels like. The sensation is more like lying under a dozen down comforters (all right, damp comforters). You can move if you need to, but after a few moments in the soothing, humid heat, you won't want to. Your muscles relax and stress escapes out every pore. The longer you stay in, the hotter and more penetrating the heat gets. Your attendant will check up on you frequently with water and cooling towels for your forehead.

He or she will also encourage you to pull an arm or a leg out from under the cedar if you're feeling uncomfortably warm, and will help excavate you when you're ready to come out completely. Most people have had enough after about 20 minutes, though there's no shame in bailing out early--you get most of the anti-toxin benefits after about 10 minutes, and everyone's body reacts differently to the heat.

Once you're out and rinsed off, you'll find your body feeling remarkably light and relaxed. Later, you may find chronically painful muscles and joints much improved. And once you've fully scrubbed away your cedar coating, you'll find your skin wonderfully exfoliated and moisturized.

After your bath, you'll be escorted to an outdoor (but private) area to rinse off, followed by a conventional indoor shower. If you're not noodle-limp already, you will be when you follow up your enzyme treatment with a 30-minute blanket wrap, a 75-minute massage, or a facial.

Afterward, enjoy your relaxed state on the grounds of the spa, which are landscaped in a soothing Japanese style.

Comfort Food
It's impossible to talk about relaxation and Sonoma County without mentioning food. It's one of life's great pleasures and in this sybaritic part of the world a good meal is something to savor and linger over. This local approach to dining holds whether you're enjoying a five-star repast, a simple café meal--or something of your own creation.

Ever taken a cooking vacation? For a select few (you know who you are), nothing beats a weekend learning how to whip up gourmet food. A stellar place for such a vacation is Ramekins Sonoma County Cooking School. The school offers a wide variety of classes of both the observational and the hands-on variety. Classes can last anywhere from three hours to the entire weekend and can cover anything from basic knife skills to advanced explorations of French cuisine.

All classes are taught by visiting professional chefs. And when we say professional, we're talking about some of the biggest names in food. Recent visiting celebrity chefs have included Rick Bayless, of Chicago's acclaimed Frontera Grill; Traci des Jardins, who put San Francisco's Jardinière on the map, and Martin Yan, of Yan Can Cook fame. This makes the next bit of news particularly sweet: You get to eat the meal when the class is over.

You probably won't feel like getting in the car and driving anywhere after this. Luckily the school doubles as a B&B, with six beautiful rooms upstairs. Do we need to tell you that breakfast is delicious? You don't have to be a guest to sign up for classes. Nor do you have to take a class to stay at the B&B. You do, however, have to be enrolled in a class to get an invitation to dinner!

If you're like the rest of us, the most relaxing thing you can think of is to sit down to a great meal someone else has slaved over. A few local standouts include:

• John Ash (4330 Barnes Road, Santa Rosa 707-527-7687). When you're ready to splurge a little, John Ash is the place. The restaurant is pricey, but you won't be disappointed by chef Jeffrey Madura's creations, which combine local meats and produce in innovative ways that defy classification. Meals are complimented by a magnificent dining room that features a stone fireplace and views of a nearby vineyard. The setting is not coincidental--the restaurant has a near-fanatical devotion to local wineries, and offers a tome of a wine list--the overwhelming majority being Sonoma County vintages.

• Duck Club (103 Coast Highway 1, Bodega 707-875-3525). Another destination restaurant is Bodega Bay's Duck Club. The Five Star Diamond-rated restaurant is located on the grounds of the Bodega Bay Lodge and Spa, but on any given night the dining room is full of non-guests who have driven in from all over Northern California. You don't have to like duck, but it helps, as the bird is indeed a specialty. Dungeness crab cakes are also a popular menu item.

• Santi (21047 Geyserville Avenue, Geyserville 707-857-1790). Some say Santi offers the best Italian food in Sonoma county. Certainly the restaurant is a surprising find in tiny Geyserville. If the weather is good, don't pass up the opportunity to eat on the patio, shaded by climbing grapevines.

• Feast (714 Village Court, Santa Rosa 707-591-9800). Feast bills itself as "an American bistro" and we can't think of a better way to describe it. Located in a downtown shopping area, Feast is a popular lunch spot offering a diverse menu with multi-ethnic influences. Pizzas are excellent, as are hearty sandwiches and creative (and huge!) salads like the Indonesian chicken and Greek salad plates. Don't miss the cheese tray, either.

Of course, this is just the beginning of food options in Sonoma County. For more, consult the Frommer's guide to the area. Or, just stroll down the street of whatever town you're in and take potluck. With the profusion of fresh produce grown in the county (especially in the rural west-county area), and the local penchant for fresh picked/roasted/baked/brewed everything, you almost can't go wrong.

Whatever it is that you find relaxing, you're sure to find it somewhere in the vast area that is Sonoma County. Go straight for the vino, if that's what floats your boat (so to speak). But be sure to give the area's more natural highs a try, as well. Get a massage. Take a drive along the coast. Eat yourself silly. All these pleasures and more await you in Sonoma. You'll never think of it as the wine country's other county again.•