Things to Do in Sebastopol, California
In short
Sebastopol is a Sonoma County apple town west of Santa Rosa, about 75 minutes north of San Francisco. Spend the day at The Barlow, walk Florence Avenue for the junk-art sculptures, and shop the Sunday farmers market on the plaza. The four homes we manage sit on farm roads outside town. Downtown is a short drive, not a walk.
Written by the Casago Sonoma team — we manage 4 homes in Sebastopol and answer guest texts about The Barlow and dinner seven days a week.
Last updated August 18, 2026 · Last checked on the ground August 18, 2026
Know before you go
- This is not a plaza-and-cabernet town
- Sebastopol grew up on Gravenstein apples, not a formal tasting street. The Barlow is the gathering place. Pinot and chardonnay live in the hills around town, and those rooms want a reservation. Come for food, the market, and a walk. Save the polished wine weekend for Healdsburg or Napa.
- Our homes are a drive from The Barlow
- The four homes we manage sit on Baker Lane, Graton Road, and Peaks Pike Road. None of them walk to McKinley Street. Budget a 10-to-20-minute drive, and read the listing if you need to be in town without a car.
- Monday dinner is thin
- Ramen Gaijin closes Sunday and Monday. Khom Loi closes Monday and Tuesday. If Monday night is the night you care about, eat at The Barlow or cook at the house. Don't arrive hungry and hope the plaza is open.
- Sunday is market day
- The farmers market fills the Town Plaza every Sunday, year-round, from 9 to 1:30. That is a different rhythm from Healdsburg's Saturday. If you want the plaza at its loudest, come Sunday morning.
- Mornings run cooler than the inland valleys
- Fog slides in from the west and burns off by midday most summer days. Pack a layer for the trail and the farm, even in July. Afternoons still get warm. West County is fire country too. Stick to the grill that shipped with the house, and stay with it until it is cold.
- Florence Avenue is someone's street
- The sculptures sit in front yards. Stay on the sidewalk, keep voices down, and don't block a driveway for a photo. The neighbors still live there.
Things to Do in Sebastopol, California
The Barlow
Start at 6770 McKinley Street. The Barlow is four blocks of a former apple plant, now tasting rooms, a distillery, breweries, and kitchens you can wander without a reservation for the campus itself. Individual rooms set their own hours. Dogs are welcome on the grounds. Park once and walk. This is the afternoon most guests ask us how to spend.
6770 McKinley Street, a few minutes from downtown, 10–20 minutes from the homes we manage.
Official siteFlorence Avenue sculptures
Patrick Amiot builds the figures out of scrap. Brigitte Laurent paints them. For three blocks of Florence Avenue, they live on front lawns — a fisherman, a ballplayer, a witch, whatever went up last. It is free and it is a residential street. Walk it. Then leave the cars and the noise behind when you go.
Florence Avenue between Healdsburg Avenue and Wilton. Studio at 382 Florence Avenue.
Official siteSebastopol Farmers Market
Sunday, every week, rain or shine. The market takes the Town Plaza on Weeks Way from 9 to 1:30, produce and makers on the grass. Come early if you want a parking space near the square. This is the morning that tells you what the town actually is.
Town Plaza on Weeks Way, downtown Sebastopol.
Official siteRagle Ranch Regional Park
Ragle Ranch at 500 Ragle Road is the town park. You get oaks, a paved loop past the playground, and more than three miles of dirt trail along Atascadero Creek. Parking is $8. Dogs stay leashed on the trails and can run in the enclosed dog park. The Gravenstein Apple Fair sets up here each August. The back trails can flood after a wet week, so stay on the high loop if the ground is soft.
500 Ragle Road, west side of Sebastopol.
Official siteJoe Rodota Trail
The Joe Rodota Trail is 8.5 paved miles from Sebastopol to Santa Rosa, built on the old railway. It is the walk or bike when you want farmland and the Laguna without getting in a car for the whole morning. Leashed dogs are welcome. In town, pick it up near Petaluma Avenue or Mill Station Road and Highway 116. Keep going north and it becomes the West County Trail toward Graton and Forestville.
Sebastopol end near Petaluma Avenue and Mill Station Road at Highway 116.
Official siteLuther Burbank Gold Ridge Experiment Farm
Burbank bought this Gold Ridge farm in 1885 and worked out hundreds of fruit and flower varieties here. The grounds at 7777 Bodega Avenue are free and open dawn to dusk. Grab the map from the kiosk and walk. Leashed dogs are allowed. The cottage keeps shorter hours. This is a quiet hour, not a theme park.
Enter at 7777 Bodega Avenue, a few minutes west of downtown.
Official siteEat & drink
Ramen Gaijin
Ramen Gaijin at 6948 Sebastopol Avenue is the lunch and dinner room on the plaza that guests ask about by name. Book on Resy. They close Sunday and Monday, so don't save Saturday's leftovers as the plan for Sunday night.
6948 Sebastopol Avenue, on the downtown plaza.
Official siteKhom Loi
Khom Loi at 7385 Healdsburg Avenue cooks Chiang Mai and Lao plates, and it is the other reservation worth making. They close Monday and Tuesday. Book on Resy. The lot is shared, so leave time to park on Florence or a side street.
7385 Healdsburg Avenue, a few blocks from Florence Avenue.
Official siteEat at The Barlow
If the two plaza rooms are closed, walk the Barlow kitchens. Hours change by stall, and new names move in. Check the campus board when you arrive instead of trusting last year's list. You can eat well here without a reservation for a specific room.
6770 McKinley Street.
Official siteGroceries & essentials
Safeway and Andy's Produce
Safeway at 406 North Main Street is the full supermarket, a few minutes from the plaza. Andy's Produce at 1691 Gravenstein Highway North is the farm stand the town actually uses for fruit and vegetables. Shop Safeway for the house. Stop at Andy's if you want the week's apples.
Safeway on North Main. Andy's on Gravenstein Highway North.
Official siteEmergency care
For a medical emergency, call 911. The nearest full-service hospital emergency rooms are in Santa Rosa, about 15 minutes east. Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital is at 30 Mark West Springs Road. This town does not have a general hospital of its own.
911 from Sebastopol. Santa Rosa hospitals about 15 minutes east.
Official siteTrails, heat, and fire
Ragle and the Joe Rodota Trail are the outdoor plan. The paved path is the easy morning. The creek trails at Ragle get wet after rain. Carry water in July. The fog burns off and the afternoon warms up.
West County burns. Light only the grill that came with the house, stay with it, and put it out cold.
Florence Avenue is a walk on a living street, not a park. Stay on the sidewalk. The sculptures do not need a crowd in the road.
What a Saturday morning here actually looks like
We drive in from Graton Road, park at The Barlow, and walk the campus while the coffee is still the loudest thing on McKinley. If the kids need a wiggle, we peel off to Florence Avenue for twenty minutes of yard art and get back before the tasting rooms fill.
Sunday we skip that and go to the plaza market instead. Ramen Gaijin if it is Tuesday through Saturday. The house if it is Monday. Apples on the counter either way.
From our team
- Florence Avenue is a neighborhood — sidewalks only, no driveway photoshoots, keep it short and kind.
- Ramen Gaijin is closed Sunday and Monday. Khom Loi is closed Monday and Tuesday. Plan Monday at The Barlow or at the house.
- The Sunday market is the plaza at full volume. Saturday downtown is quieter. Don't mix the days up.
- Light only the grill that came with the house, and stay with it. West County does not get a pass on fire.
- The homes we manage do not walk to The Barlow. If that walk is the trip, read the listing before you book.
Sebastopol questions
What is there to do in Sebastopol?
Walk The Barlow, see the sculptures on Florence Avenue, and shop the Sunday farmers market on the Town Plaza. Ragle Ranch Regional Park is the oak-and-trail park on the west side of town. The Joe Rodota Trail is a paved 8.5 miles toward Santa Rosa. Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm is a free dawn-to-dusk walk on Bodega Avenue. Eat at Ramen Gaijin or Khom Loi if they are open that night.
How far is Sebastopol from San Francisco?
Sebastopol is about 60 miles north of San Francisco, roughly 75 minutes via Highway 101 and Highway 12, longer on Friday evenings. Santa Rosa is about 15 minutes east. Guerneville is about 25 minutes northwest. Bodega Bay is about 30 minutes west. The town is in Sonoma County, west of Santa Rosa, not in Napa.
What is Sebastopol known for?
Gravenstein apples and The Barlow. The town sits in west Sonoma County with a Sunday farmers market, a residential street full of junk-art sculptures, and pinot and chardonnay in the hills. It is not a formal plaza wine town like Healdsburg or Sonoma. Guests who want cabernet reservations and a square of tasting rooms should look those towns up instead.
Can you walk to The Barlow from the homes we manage?
Not from the four homes we manage. They sit on Baker Lane, Graton Road, and Peaks Pike Road, 10 to 20 minutes from McKinley Street. Once you park at The Barlow, the campus is a walk. Read the listing if walking to dinner is why you booked.
Do you need a car in Sebastopol?
Yes for the homes we manage, for Ragle Ranch, and for the farm. Downtown and The Barlow work on foot after you park. The Joe Rodota Trail is the one outing that does not need a second parking space if you start in town. Rideshare exists and thins out on the farm roads after dinner.
How far is Sebastopol from Guerneville and the coast?
Guerneville is about 25 minutes northwest. Bodega Bay and Highway 1 are about 30 minutes west. You can spend the morning at The Barlow and the afternoon on the river or the coast without changing lodging. Sebastopol stays a west-county town first. Those are the day trips.
