Life

You Can Book A Murder Mystery Tour On This Wine Train & The Details Sound Spooky As Heck

by Mia Mercado
Napa Valley Wine Train/Instagram

If you’ve ever been to a murder mystery party and thought, “You know, this would be much better if I were tipsy,”— or if you’ve ever been on a wine tour and thought, “this is great but what if there was more murder,” — your spooky, sippin’ prayers have been answered. The Napa Valley Wine Train is offering murder mystery tours for a limited time, letting you solve a murder mystery while drinking merlot. It is a dream come true if your dreams are specifically about theme parties, wine tasting, and trains.

In partnership with The Murder Mystery Co., the Napa Valley Wine Train will have three-hour wine tours in which passengers will help solve a 1920's-themed murder mystery. Like other murder mystery parties, guests will work together to gather clues before the “murderer” escapes. If you want a taste of what the tour will be like, here’s how the Wine Train website describes the night: “With jealous, jilted lovers, a rival Mafioso, and a pair of undercover feds on board, our vintage train is transformed into a stylish speakeasy…and a mysterious crime scene.”

You may have noticed the part where I said the tour is three hours long. THREE ENTIRE HOURS. Fear not, Gilligan and Ginger, there will also be food. According to INSIDER, guests will enjoy a multiple-course gourmet dinner by Executive Chef Donald Young. So, you’ll have plenty of fuel to get you through the 180-minute murder mystery party. Also, there will be the aforementioned booze.

Guests are encouraged to dress to the speakeasy theme, as is customary with most murder mystery parties. “Tap into your inner 1920s prohibition-era legend. Tassel skirts, pinstripe suits, and feather boas. Sequin headbands, elbow-length gloves, and fedoras,” the website notes. “Think The Untouchables or Dick Tracy.” You could even don your best flapper dress and a general disposition that says “white women just got the right to vote!” It’s the '20s, baby!

The Murder Mystery Tour train will only run eight days between April and November. So, if you want a spot, you’ll need to reserve one soon. It will likely come as little surprise that a three-hour, wine and multi-course gourmet dinner tour where you solve a murder isn’t cheap. Tickets start at $216 per person. Per the Wine Train menu, wine may come at an additional cost to the ticket price. It is expensive to drunkenly solve a fake murder!

If you want to indulge in a boozy tour sans murder, you’ve got options. The Napa Valley Wine Train also offers themed tours including a beer train and a tequila train. If you want all the sexiness of a fake murder mystery with none of the murder or mystery, there’s also a Romance on the Rails tour. On that tour, guests take a three-hour train ride through Napa Valley vineyards while indulging in sparkling wine and a gourmet meal. There’s also a Santa train if you want to willingly be stuck on a 75-minute train ride with a bunch of children.

If you don’t have $216 and a trip to Napa Valley to spare, you could try convincing your friends to throw a murder mystery party. Perhaps you start by inviting them over for dinner and drinks and oops surprise a fake murder just happens to occur.

Let's say all of this seems like far too much work — zero judgment if that’s the case — there’s always the option to marathon-listen to some murder mystery podcasts or marathon a Netfflix crime show while sipping on a thematic murder beer or wine. You could even invite a few friends over and dress in theme. (The theme is "Pajamas!")