America’s most luxurious version of having a designated driver, the Napa Valley Wine Train, has announced the 2020 lineup for its popular, interactive Murder Mystery Tour, presented in partnership with The Murder Mystery Company. This year’s wine country excursion includes crime solving paired with time travel as passengers turn back the clock to relive the 1920s, ’50s and ’80s while sorting through clues.
Photograph: Courtesy Napa Valley Wine Train
Available on select dates every month through December, each excursion encourages guests to don period-appropriate outfits and participate in various decade-themed storylines. These include “Crime and Punishment,” which takes place during Prohibition and involves 1920s mobsters, jealous lovers, rival Mafioso and a pair of undercover federal agents, and “Death of a Gangster,” another flapper-era thriller. Likewise “Dance with Death” will whisk players back to the noir ’50s, while “Totally ’80s” celebrates the Wine Train’s launch in 1989 with a visit to the Reagan years.
Photograph: Courtesy Napa Valley Wine Train
If your more of a Harry Potter fan, the “Wizarding World” tour lets you scratch your itch to dress like a witch or wizard. Other programs include “Till Death Do Us Part,” a wedding night caper and “Midnight at the Masquerade,” which susses out the wrongdoer at a swank gala.
A multi-course gourmet dinner is being served by Executive Chef Donald Young, providing some of the best food in the Napa Valley. And needless to say, there will be wine served onboard as well as during stops at celebrated Napa Valley wineries along the way.
The Wine Train’s 36-mile round-trip journey goes from Downtown Napa to St. Helena along an historical railroad route originally built in 1864. Travel is aboard meticulously restored Pullman cars more than a century old. If you’re interested in role-playing while riding and dining in comfort through rolling landscape, you can find out more about schedules and tickets here.
Before you go, check out our complete guide to the best things to do in Napa.