There are some places you can't help but fall in love with at first sight and return to year after year. We've chosen some of the world's most beloved (and touristed) destinations and, with the help of the best travel specialists in the business, have ferreted out their secrets, their treasures, their unmissable experiences. The result is a series of step-by-step trips that will surprise and delight those who've never been to the destination before . . . or have been a dozen times. Each of our highly detailed itineraries has been vetted and perfected by a Condé Nast Traveler editor, and each can be bought as is with just one phone call. Let the romance begin.

The Challenge

You've got less than a week to see Napa Valley, California's most famous farm country. But where to start among the roughly 450 wineries? Although the first commercial Napa grapes were planted by George Yount in 1838, it wasn't until 1976 that the region's winemakers earned international respect by beating true French Bordeaux and Burgundies in a blind tasting. Furthermore, you'll likely be sharing the 30-mile-long, 5-mile-wide valley with more than a few oenophiles: The more than 5 million annual visitors make Napa the state's second most popular tourist destination (after Disneyland). In the peak summer months, this means crowds running five deep at the most popular tasting bars, and one-lane highways choked with traffic. Even if you go in the off-season, don't plan on leaving things to serendipity: Many of the best wineries are open by appointment only, so no one will be there to greet you if you arrive unannounced. Finally, the sequence of your itinerary can be as problematic as the content: Each wine tasting and meal has a different stylistic note, and combining them is like composing a symphony.

The Solution

What you need is a Wine Country Concierge—and that's where Jackie Richmond comes in (see "Top Travel Specialists," August 2007; or go to cntraveler.com/travelagentfinder). A 22-year resident of the valley, Richmond helped me orchestrate a Napa itinerary that would delight a first-time visitor as well as a valley veteran, and a wine neophtye as much as the owner of a thousand-bottle cellar. She suggested high-volume wineries that I might have pooh-poohed and tiny operations I'd never heard of, and she steered me away from the big names that are either overcrowded or overly pretentious. The vast majority of Napa's visitors tour but a fraction of its wineries, so having a personalized experience is a matter of knowing where to go. Almost none of the wineries I visited are open on a walk-in basis, and at most you'll be the only guests present; one vintner wouldn't even have taken my call without Richmond's introduction. The wineries you'll find on these pages have been chosen for the quality of their products as well as the tasting experience. Each time you open a bottle brought home from your trip, you should remember the mimolette cheese that was paired with it, or the fields of chubby grapes you saw ripening for a future vintage. However, just because a winery isn't listed here doesn't mean that it's not worth the trip. There's only so much you can fit into five days, so the wineries we recommend represent a variety of sizes, tasting styles, and varietals. If you prefer to stick to a certain varietal or plan to buy by the case, let Richmond know and she can adjust the itinerary as necessary. You'll find point-by-point directions here in case you want to drive yourself, but if you plan on imbibing at every stop, you'll need to hire a driver (an infamous state statistic puts Napa County at the top of the list for DUIs). You'll note that we've omitted lunch on several days, since there are generous snacks at many of the wine tastings. If you get hungry, don't worry: Even Napa's delis rise to a higher standard.