| Domestic |
| View By U.S. States |
|
|
|
View By U.S. Cities / Regions
|
|
|
|
| International |
| View By International Countries |
|
|
| View By International Cities / Regions |
|
|
|
| Ranking Among U.S. Cities / Regions: #12 |
| Venturers: 10 |
| Mid-Venturers: 8 |
| Centrics-Venturers: 7 |
| Centrics-Authentics: 7 |
| Mid-Authentics: 6 |
| Authentics: 6 |
|
| • Portland got its name based on a coin toss. The name that lost? Boston |
| • Powell’s City of Books is the world’s largest independent bookstore |
| • Mill Ends Park is the world’s smallest dedicated park, a circle 24 inches across |
| • In Portland, the visitor is never more than 15 minutes from a craft brewery |
| • More than 5,000 Portland residents commute to work by bicycle (2000 census) |
|
|
Going green
Portland is known for its parks and its roses, its proximity to some of Mother Nature’s finest works (Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens are visible to the east), access to Willamette Valley wineries, the plethora of in-town craft breweries — and tea shops, of all things. Portland is not about glitz; visitors come because they like the lifestyle represented by mountains and rivers, by the focus on well-done food and drink.
More and more, they appreciate something else: Portland is a leader in environmentally driven public policy; as a result, the city is exceptionally friendly to pedestrians, bicycles and public transport.
About Portland
Oregon’s most important city sits in the rich Willamette Valley in the northwestern part of the state. It is 78 miles from the Pacific Ocean and still closer (about 50 miles) to Mount Hood and a mere 14 miles from the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. It is the state’s largest city, but small by some standards: around 550,000, within a total metropolitan area of approximately 2 million people.
The rich valley referred to above supports numerous wineries (Willamette wine country is on the same latitude as France’s Burgundy wine region); Pinot Noir is the state’s signature grape. Other fruit goes into brandy made by the local Clear Creek Distillery.
The rich valley also supports 14 varieties of hops plus two-row barley, the preferred barley for quality craft beers. In addition, proximity to Mount Hood translates into pure glacial water used in beer-making — and running through Portland taps, besides. These things explain the city’s claim to be the beer capital of the world.
Portlanders work with Mother Nature in a number of ways. They tend numerous flower gardens, earning for the city the label City of Roses. Portland counts 288 public parks; the greater metro area has set aside 37,000 acres of parkland. Portlanders recycle more of their waste than any other U.S. city. Portland also encourages use of public transportation and bicycles. Within a 330-block downtown area, transportation is free on all light-rail trains, buses, trolleys and streetcars. In addition, cyclists can take bikes on trains; buses have bike racks, and the city maintains racks on the streets. There are 246 miles of bikeways, 29 miles of bicycle boulevards and 156 miles of bike lanes. No wonder the cycling tourist likes to visit here.
Not to be overlooked, there is the matter of weather. Temperatures are mild, but Portland can be rainy. Officials point out the annual average of 36.3 inches is less than the average for Atlanta and Indianapolis, among others. The hitch is that the rain often comes as a mellow shower, meaning the clouds are overhead for quite awhile. The best time to visit, to avoid rain, is summer and early fall.
back to top
|
|
|
• Strap on the in-line skates for a turn in the milelong Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park; the park was formerly a four-lane highway that stood between the city and its river, but these days is the site of several of the city’s major festivals.
• Schedule your visit to attend the largest of the city’s beer blasts, the Oregon Brewers Festival. If that is not convenient, the city hosts several smaller beer events each year.
• Participate in the Providence Bridge Pedal, which takes you by bike across all 10 of the city’s bridges (36 miles). Alternatives include eight bridges (24 miles) or six bridges (14 miles). At the same time, walkers can participate in the Providence Bridge Stride, a five-mile route that crosses two bridges.
• Be cool. Attend the Portland Jazz Festival in February. Or, make that the Waterfront Blues Festival in July.
• Tune up your funny bone and attend the Faux Film Festival, held on the weekend closest to April Fools Day. Filmmakers enter their parodies, satires, spoofs and “mocumentaries” at this event.
• For a unique tasting experience, go to SakeOne in Forest Grove to sample saketini, a cocktail based on sake. Alternatively, attend a concert or other event at SakeOne, which is the only American-owned maker of sake. Or get to the Clear Creek Distillery in town for a tour and/or tastings of the firm’s brandies, which use apples, cherries, pears, plums or raspberries for their flavors. Book tours and tastings in advance. See www.clearcreekdistillery.com.
• Head to Old Town/Chinatown, a lively arts and entertainment area and site of the city’s best music spots and comedy clubs. Or, consider the bohemian Hawthorne district where nightlife can be grittier.
• Arrange for a ghost tour in the Old Town/Chinatown area. See the Portland Underground which refers to tunnels used by unsavory men who shanghaied unsuspecting victims. Then, eat at the Old Town Pizza Co., which has trap doors in the floor of its 1880s building, doors that lead to the Portland Underground. The above-the-tunnels site evokes another piece of the past, with velvet couches, fringed lampshades and a grand saloon bar.
• Take a high-speed jetboat excursion on the Willamette. Or, if you prefer different moves, rent a kayak or go sailing.
• Go climbing, or depending on season, go skiing or snowboarding on Mount Hood, about 50 miles out of Portland. You can ski at night, too.
back to top
|
|
|
• Have a cup of coffee that is ablaze when served. It’s Spanish coffee at Huber’s Cafe, a historical landmark, and made with several liquors. There are several other Portland-only coffee choices, with Stumptown Coffee Roasters rated tops.
• Sample as many of the unique craft beers as you can work into your schedule. There are some 38 craft breweries in the metro Portland area.
• Drive the Historic Columbia River Highway to see the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, only 14 miles outside of Portland. Stop to hike the trails found at several of the waterfalls along the way.
• Tour a winery or two, and visit their tasting rooms. Portland is a 30-minute drive from Willamette Valley wine country. If you time it right, your tasting can coincide with the valley’s July International Pinot Noir Celebration.
• Hop on Portland’s public transportation system and see the neighborhoods. Stroll the bohemian Hawthorne or the more upscale Pearl district, an area with a past — as an industrial section of town. Then shop in Nob Hill/Northwest, an area with scores of both whimsical and sophisticated boutiques.
• Fill up at the Bite of Oregon, an August foodfest on the Portland waterfront. More than two dozen restaurants offer tastes of Oregon to thousands. Other foodfests are a little more focused: the garlic and crawfish events in August and the sauerkraut fest in September. Not enough choices? The Portland Farmers Market stages a host of special events, including a Berry Festival, a Great Pumpkin event, Summer Loaf Festival and TomatoFest.
• Cycle the 17-mile Springwater Corridor, a rail corridor transformed into a recreational trail. Or, follow the 30 miles of bike terrain in the city’s Forest Park. Portland is a bike-friendly town with several hundred miles of developed bikeways and bike lanes.
• Sit in on the taping of Live Wire, a two-hour variety show that airs on radio station KOBP-FM. Recalling radio arts of earlier days, actors from the Faces for Radio Theater create the sound effects and play multiple roles in spoofs of radio dramas and commercials.
• Join the First Thursday Gallery Walk or a similar event called Last Thursday. On the first Thursday of each month, galleries and shops in the Old Town, Pearl district and downtown neighborhoods stay open late, and artists make themselves available to the public, as well, sometimes with new exhibitions and receptions. Last Thursday is an art walk on the last Thursday of the month on Northeast Alberta Street.
• Strap yourself into a smoke jumper’s harness for a parachute jump into a forest fire. Well, do a mock jump at the World Forestry Center Discovery Museum, which offers a raft of interactive exhibits meant to accomplish a key goal, illustrating the importance of forests to our lives.
back to top
|
|
|
• Take tea at the Tower of Cosmic Reflections Teahouse at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. Or, if you are as passionate about tea as many Portlanders, make a day of it, hopping from tea shop to tea shop to sample the variety available in the city.
• Go interactive at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Exhibits are designed to let you experience an earthquake that registers 5.5 on the Richter scale, touch a tornado, race a sailboat and climb into a space capsule.
• Choose your flower and come to town for a festival. Choices include tulips, roses and the nearby Hood River Blossom Fest in April, featuring fruit trees in full bloom.
• Take a lunch or dinner cruise aboard the Portland Spirit. Or, come aboard for a Saturday moonlight dance cruise. Alternatively, take a brunch or dinner cruise aboard Sternwheeler Rose, a working paddle-wheeler.
• Plan a trip to coincide with a food or wine event, or both. Choose the February Oregon Seafood & Wine Festival or the Portland Indie Wine Festival in May, the latter featuring only the products of the state’s smaller wineries.
• Seek out your fine dining experience on 21st Avenue, known as the city’s Restaurant Row.
• Pick up a walking map and take a self-guided walking tour. Or, join one of the walking tours that leave Pioneer Courthouse Square each day.
• Deposit a letter in a drop box at the Oregon Zoo or on a locomotive of the Washington Park & Zoo Railway. That letter will be hand canceled by the railway, the last U.S. railroad with an authorized railway postal cancellation stamp. The cancellation mark is a collector’s item.
• Go to the theater. There are plenty of choices, beginning with the regional Portland Center Stage. Or consider the Miracle Theater Group for a Hispanic focus, or Imago, a small troupe that combines mime, movement and visual illusion to create its performances.
• Visit a museum that is a museum piece itself. The Oregon Maritime Center & Museum is housed aboard the sternwheeler tugboat Portland on the Willamette River. This steam-powered vessel formerly guided ocean-going ships into Portland and was used as a .location in the movie, “Maverick.”
back to top
|
|
|
For more information, consult the Portland Oregon Visitors Association at www.travelportland.com
back to top
|
|
