Portland, Oregon is one of the most popular places to move in the United States. The city is rapidly changing and growing, but Portland remains off of most travel radars.
For nature enthusiasts who like a little bit of city in the mix, Portland is the perfect travel destination. Portland is less than an hour from mountains, 90 minutes from the ocean and a couple of hours from high desert. Fertile valleys and vineyards are just outside of town.
Also known as the Rose City, Stumptown, PDX and Portlandia, the largest city in Oregon is well known as a center of ultra-progressivism and counterculture lifestyle, but there is a lot more to the city. It is home to a diverse group of restaurants, hundreds of food carts and about a hundred breweries.
I’ve been living in Portland for a few years – when not traveling, of course – and have been exploring since day one. Here’s what you need to know to thoroughly enjoy Portland and get the full experience, from food and beer to nature, transportation and where to stay:
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Exploring Portland
Portland does not feel like a big city. The numerous neighborhoods that make up the Rose City give it a unique vibe. Some of the neighborhoods are primarily residential or industrial, while others are perfect for exploring Portland.
Downtown Portland naturally attracts the most tourists. The highlights of downtown are Powell’s Books, Pioneer Square and plenty of shopping and restaurants. Otherwise, downtown is an ugly mark on the nice, clean city that is Portland.
For a more authentic look at Portland, visitors should wander away from downtown. Hawthorne Boulevard is one of the scenes most representative of Portland’s true weirdness. Elsewhere in Southeast Portland, Division Street, Montavilla and Sellwood are great areas to wander for food, culture, shopping or bar-hopping.
Northeast Portland also has its share of cool neighborhoods. Alberta and Mississippi Streets are centers of local shops and boutique arts. Each street is lined with restaurants and small galleries. Also in Northeast Portland is the rapidly-changing area around North Williams Avenue. This street is a prime example of how old neighborhoods in Portland have been leveled and new developments, with trendy shops and restaurants, are the now commonplace.
Stumptown is a fun city to wander. There is plenty to explore in the city, and travelers need not fear for their safety. Portland is also one of the most entertaining places for people watching anywhere.
Food & Drink
What is Portland Food?
Food in Portland is an enigma. The city is hailed as a center of great culinary creations, but what does that really mean?
Portland is touted by locals and food bloggers as one of the great food cities in the United States. This is partially true. There is a lot of great food to eat throughout the metro area. Fine dining is well-represented. Farm-to-table fare is fantastic and inventive, even if it is annoyingly overpriced. Food trucks and food carts are everywhere. Vietnamese, Thai, Korean and even Peruvian food. You can find almost any food imaginable in Portland.
But what is Portland food? Is there anything endemic, a local specialty?
Sadly, no. This is where food in the city is severely lacking. Other than picky eaters, the city has no culinary identity. Locals may boast of salmon or wild mushrooms, but this isn’t unique to Portland. All of the good food in the city has its origins elsewhere.
The Best in Portland Food
Despite the lack of local identity, Portland does have loads of great food. There are hundreds of food carts serving an incredible variety of food. And the city is quietly becoming one of the best pizza towns in the United States.
Here are a few popular choices and some of my personal favorites for eating in Portland:
For something different (not weird, though), Two Brothers Rakia Bar & Grill is one of my overall favorite restaurants in Portland. It is fantastic Balkan food prepared by a Balkan family.
Brunch. Brunch is the most popular meal of the week in Portland. Locals wait in long lines, often in the cold rain, to get a table in the latest hip, trendy brunch spot. Brunch is everywhere in Portland, not just on weekends. These are some of the best and most popular in town:
Screen Door is hailed by locals as the best place for brunch in Portland. It has a line out the door almost every day.
Dot’s Cafe is the place to go for great brunch and a slice of authentic Portlandia. It is dark, quirky and has great food. Check out this article I wrote for Fun Food and Travelling on Dot’s for more info.
Jam on Southeast Hawthorne always has a line. It must be good, right?
Pine State Biscuits is very popular and often has a line. With a few locations around Portland, Pine State is becoming one of the city’s top brunch spots.
Brunch Box is a simple, greasy and unpretentious option. This place may be the best cure for a hangover in PDX. There is a location downtown and another on the east side.
Portland may be the most underrated pizza town in the United States. The city’s obsession with freshness and local ingredients translates into a lot of incredible pizza. Here are some of the best:
Hogan’s Goat Pizza is a fantastic neighborhood pizza joint in Northeast Portland. Their pies are exceptional, and the service is the best in the city.
Pizzeria Otto is absolutely incredible. This small, Northeast Portland pizzeria has creative brick oven pizza that never disappoints.
Apizza Scholls is probably the most highly-praised pizza in Portland. It’s a busy place, but is worth the wait for pizza done right.
Blind Onion Pizza & Pub is my personal favorite pizza in the city. This dark, cozy and slightly grungy place reminds me of what pizza restaurants are supposed to be: straightforward and unpretentious.
Straight from New York has a few locations in Portland. This is undoubtedly the best place for a quick slice.
Check out the Hangry Backpacker’s Ultimate Guide to Pizza in Portland!
Ice cream in Portlandia has little competition. Salt & Straw takes any ingredient and creates masterpieces in a cone. Rated as one of the best ice cream shops in America (evident by the lines), Salt & Straw never disappoints. This place is absolutely worth the wait.
Food carts are a major part of Portland’s food scene. There are hundreds in the city. Cartlandia, in East Portland is the best. It has good prices and a great variety. Cartopia, in inner Southeast Portland, has an attractive (a little bougie) setting in a fun atmosphere.
Doughnuts in Portland are just okay. It’s really a competition of who can make the most extravagant, grandiose treat. I’m currently compiling a guide to Portland doughnuts. In the meantime, here are some quick tips:
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME AT VOODOO DOUGHNUTS! It’s an overrated, overpriced tourist trap. Maybe it was something good once upon a time, but it is not popular with locals. Blue Star is better and preferred by more Portlanders. Annie’s Donuts is my personal favorite. It is simple and straightforward. And, like doughnuts should be, it’s cheap.
Coffee. Portland is America’s coffee town. Good coffee goes further than Starbucks, so forget about Seattle. Coffee in Portland is on another level. There are thousands, seriously thousands, of coffee shops in Portland. It’s hard to find truly bad coffee in town.
Portlanders love to be special. That goes for their coffee, too. The invasion of the coffee shop culture that perplexes so many people across the towns of the United States is just the norm in Portland. Specially-roasted, super fair-trade, ultra organic fancy beans aren’t luxury in Portland. These might not be technical terms, but it exemplifies the coffee standards in PDX.
Coffee is such a big deal in Portland that the city has hosted barista championships (apparently that’s a thing) and coffee conventions. National coffee publications even call Portland, Oregon home.
Although I drink a lot of coffee and once had “barista” as part of a job title, I don’t know enough about coffee. I drink it black and I like the really strong, earthy stuff. With that said, I drink anything and these are my favorite coffee shops in Portland:
Case Study Coffee Roasters – this is my personal favorite. I love the calm atmosphere, on NE Sandy Blvd or Alberta Street.
Tiny’s – the first coffee shop I ever visited in Portland. I return for healthy doses of Portland vibes.
Stumptown – the biggest name among coffee brands in Portland. It’s probably grown too large for locals to give any praise, but I like their shop on SE Belmont Street.
Barista – This is my favorite coffee shop (Alberta Street location) to be productive. And if, for some strange reason, I am in Downtown Portland, Barista has three locations in/near the downtown area. Added bonus, Barista on Alberta also serves beer.
Hard Cider in Portland
Beer in Portland is well known, but what many visitors don’t know is that the Pacific Northwest has the highest concentration of cideries in the United States. Portland, as a hub of alternative everything, has embraced the world of hard cider. There are several cideries in the Portland area, and nearly every bar offers at least one hard cider.
For a taste of Portland ciders, try these places:
- Portland Cider House
- Cider Riot
- Schilling Cider House
- Cider Bite
Breweries in Portland
The most popular beverage in the Rose City is beer. Travel to Portland is not complete without a stop at one or two breweries. Official counts vary, but there are about 100 breweries in the city and a few dozen more in the metro area. The point is Portland has a lot of breweries.
Portland beer is high quality brew, not the watery nonsense flowing from most taps. So where should visitors head for a fresh, local pint?
Choosing which brewery to visit in Portland is a challenge. Unless you can look out your bedroom window to the brewery next door (yes, I am that lucky), there are too many options. That said, here are some of my personal favorite breweries in PDX:
- Base Camp
- Breakside (Dekum Street location)
- Cascade Brewing Barrel House (sour beers)
- Ecliptic
- Hopworks (SE Powell location)
- Lucky Labrador (SE Hawthorne location)
- Migration
Nature & the Outdoors
Oregon is an outdoor-lover’s paradise. Despite being a big city, Portland is on the doorstep of beautiful scenes of nature in every direction.
The Cascade Range is less than an hour to the east. The stunning Oregon Coast is less than two hours to the west. Beyond the Cascades, the Oregon High Desert is a few hours to the southeast.
Portland lies on both the Willamette and Columbia Rivers in the northern end of the Willamette Valley. The Willamette Valley is a fertile valley in between the Cascades and the smaller Oregon Coast Range. The Willamette Valley is home to most of Oregon’s population, but also to hundreds of vineyards and wineries that make for fun weekend plans.
Portland is the perfect destination for a lover of nature and the outdoors. Visitors to Portland don’t have to travel far to escape the city. Thanks to the vineyards, mountains, rivers and city parks, there are a number of ways to enjoy some time in nature during a visit to Portland.
Multnomah Falls
For a first-time visit to Portland, Multnomah Falls is at the top of the list. The waterfall has two drops, totaling 620 feet of cascading water. It sits on the Historic Columbia River Highway in a stretch of several impressive waterfalls.
Most visitors see the falls, take a few pictures and carry on to the next stop on the road. If you wish to make a day out of it, there are several hiking trails in the immediate vicinity of Multnomah Falls. An easy choice is the Wahkeena Falls loop. The trail starts (or ends) at Multnomah Falls and loops up and around for several miles to Wahkeena Falls. Hikers exit the trail about one-half mile down the road from the starting point.
The hike to the top of Multnomah Falls is the most grueling part of the hike. Once atop the falls, there are some undulations on the trails, but the hard part is over. During the week, the trails are not especially busy. Even on weekends, the trails are more sparsely populated than expected considering the large crowds at the falls.
This picturesque waterfall is easily accessible to visitors from Portland. The best idea is to rent a car so you can stop at all of the other beautiful waterfalls along the way. There is also a shuttle from Portland ($5 round-trip) to Multnomah Falls.
The Gorge
Multnomah Falls is on the western end of the Columbia River Gorge, Portland’s natural playground. The Columbia River Gorge is an 80-mile long canyon. The wide river and steep canyon walls make for a dramatic landscape like few others in the world. Within the Gorge, there are thousands of miles of hiking trails.
Vista House is a great place to start a morning in the Gorge. On your way out of town, sunrise at Vista House is spectacular.
Moving further into the Columbia River Gorge, once you reach Multnomah Falls, there are several other waterfalls nearby. Wahkeena, Latourell, Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls are all in a short stretch. The photogenic and often-crowded slot canyon, Oneonta Gorge, is one of the most fantastic natural sites near Portland.
The Columbia River Gorge is the perfect escape to nature and the outdoors from Portland.
The Best Viewpoint in Portland, Oregon
Portland has several great viewpoints. Some of the best views are from the skyscrapers in Downtown Portland. Other great views will be from the homes in the West Hills (small mountains west of downtown). Unfortunately, most of these are inaccessible for visitors to Portland. Travelers seeking the best vantage point in the city should head for Pittock Mansion.
Pittock Mansion was a huge house that has since become a museum surrounded by a lovely garden. There is also a great view of Portland. From Pittock Mansion, visitors can see all of Downtown Portland and beyond. On clear days, Mount Hood is visible over 50 miles away. Mount Saint Helens is also visible. On exceptionally clear days, Mount Rainier, over 100 miles away, is visible to the naked eye.
The best part about Pittock Mansion is that it is free to visit and wander the grounds. There is admission to the mansion, but the grounds, toilets and viewpoint are open to the public.
Other great views in Portland can be found from Mt. Tabor Park, which is also a nice escape within the city. Portland City Grill is an expensive restaurant with a great view. If you’re looking for that great view in comfort, stop by for happy hour.
Portland Parks
Portland has several parks that offer an escape from the surrounding city. The most notable of these is Forest Park. Forest Park occupies a few thousand acres of untouched nature within Portland. It also has nearly 100 miles of hiking trails. Forest Park is an easy getaway from the city, but if you’re looking to spend several hours in the outdoors, I recommend making the effort to reach the Columbia River Gorge.
Other notable Portland Parks include Mt. Tabor Park, Laurelhurst Park and Powell Butte Nature Park, to name a few. Portlanders are fortunate to live in a city with hundreds of public parks.
Visitors to Portland may find themselves in a big city, but the outdoors is easily accessible from Portland. For more on nature and the outdoors in Oregon, check out this post on the natural wonders of Oregon.
Transportation in Portland
Portland is one of the most pedestrian-friendly cities for travel in the United States. Much of the city is walkable, and pedestrians are so respected that it is an annoying hindrance to commonsense, practical driving. Anyway, the pedestrian-friendly nature of Portland makes it an easy place to travel without a car. If you do rent a car, make sure to keep an eye out for the mindless and entitled, also known as pedestrians and cyclists.
As for public transportation in Portland, the city’s bus system and light rail network make it easy to travel around town. The bus system is extensive and makes it easy to get anywhere. The light rail network, the MAX (Metropolitan Area Express), connects travelers across the Portland area, including PDX airport. The Portland Streetcar has a loop that goes around the city center on both sides of the Willamette River. It has stops on the east side, South Waterfront, downtown, the Lloyd Center and the Pearl District.
Portland is Biketown, USA, one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the United States. There are bright orange bicycle stations around the city, where you can rent a bike and easily explore. If you wish to ride on a better quality bicycle – and spend money with local business owners instead of the city government – many of the local bike shops in town also rent bikes. To travel around like a local, bicycling is the most Portland method of transportation.
Where to Stay in Portland
Portland, like most places in the United States, is not especially backpacker friendly. While it is easy to navigate and has plenty to see and do, there are very few hostels – only three or four – in the city.
For travelers with larger budgets, downtown has the highest concentration of hotels. Unfortunately, hotels in Portland are expensive. The few affordable options are either shoddy, shady or far from the city center.
The best option for finding accommodation in a good location at a reasonable price is to find a local rental through Booking.com or Airbnb.
For nature enthusiasts, there are ample camping opportunities in the surrounding parks outside of Portland. This is not to be confused with the thousands of vagrants living in tents around the city.
How Long Should You Visit?
For an initial visit to Portland, travelers should allot at least two to three days to take in the highlights of the city. This brief time is enough to have some fun, but is also just enough time to map out stops for the next visit. For a couple of days wandering, there is time to explore a few neighborhoods around the city, enjoy at least one Portland brunch and stop off at a couple of breweries.
For a more thorough visit, four to five days is enough time to see the highlights and travel further into the weirdness that is Portland, Oregon. The extra days will allow for time to enjoy the splendid nature around the city and some of the nightlife and entertainment as well.
When to Travel to Portland?
The weather in Portland is miserable for seven to eight months a year. During that time, roughly October-April, it rains a lot. By saying “a lot,” that means almost every day, but rain in Portland is rarely more than a sprinkle or a drizzle. However, it is endless. If you don’t mind cold and damp, this is a great time to visit the city. Life is slower with less traffic and fewer crowds.
The winters in Portland are exceptionally long. My first December spent in the city was especially brutal. Through 31 days in the month, it rained 28 of those days. Over the entire month, I never saw the sun. That really takes a mental toll on those not used to it.
The sunny months in Portland are roughly from May to September, although some years the rain lasts further into May and arrives earlier in September.
June, July and August are fantastic times in the Pacific Northwest. Oregon summers are warm and dry, and Portland buzzes in the sunshine. Patios are open and full from open to close. Even the hottest days of summer are not so bad. It’s a dry heat, so it’s nothing compared to summer heat in much of the rest of the United States.
Portland, Oregon is one of the most popular places to move in the United States, but the city is a perfect launching point for visitors looking to catch a glimpse of the Pacific Northwest. While Portland is not a cheap destination, it is more affordable (and less crowded) than Seattle, Vancouver or San Francisco.
Visitors to Portland will find plenty of good food, great wine and beer and an abundance of outdoor activities.
This is a great travel guide for Portland! Thanks a lot for the tips, I will add this great city to my travel list✌
Thanks! There’s certainly a lot of fun to be had in Portland!