12 Fun Things To Do In Portland, Oregon: A Guide For First Time Visitors
Portland is one cool city. Its slogan “Keep Portland Weird” runs through the people that live here and it gives the city its unique personality it’s well known for.
Located in Oregon, Portland is a city on the USA’s gorgeous west coast and is known for it’s cool vibe, great breweries and proximity to nature. If you’re a first time visitor to Portland, it might be hard to know how to start planning your trip. After spending 5 nights here in September, I haven’t seen everything Portland has to offer but what I did see, I really loved. There’s no doubt I need to go back to explore more though. However, if what you’re after is great food, beer, coffee and days out, here’s 12 things to do on your first visit to Portland.
- How To Get To Portland, Oregon from the UK
- Where To Stay In Portland
- Best Things To Do In Portland On Your First Visit!
- Other Things To Do In Portland
How To Get To Portland, Oregon from the UK
If you’re traveling from the UK to Portland, you have a few options. Firstly, you can fly direct to Portland from London with British Airways on a 10 hour flight.
Alternatively, there are indirect flights from London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool and lots of other UK airports.
We flew from Leeds to Seattle via Amsterdam but there was also the option to fly via Amsterdam and Reyjavik from Leeds if we wanted to. It’s great there were so many options available to us.
Where To Stay In Portland
I highly recommend staying at the Moxy Portland Downtown. It’s within easy reach of great coffee shops and only a few blocks away from Powell’s City of Books. This was by far the most reasonably priced hotel we found for our stay in Portland. We also looked at the Hoxton, Portland but couldn’t justify the extra £400 although I would love to stay here one day.
At The Moxy Downtown Portland, you’re offered a welcome drink on arrival, there’s a great fire in the lobby to keep you warm, and there’s a bar on the ground floor if you want to enjoy a nightcap before bed.
The only downside I found were that the rooms could be noisy if you had particularly active neighbors but most of the time we didn’t hear a peep. Rooms are well equipped with a comfy bed but space is at a premium so you have to remain fairly tidy and be okay with storing your luggage under the bed.
Best Things To Do In Portland On Your First Visit!
So what do you do on your first visit to Portland? Well, depending on how long you’re staying in the city, here are 8 fun things to do in Portland, Oregon.
Enjoy A Pizza Tour Around Portland
Portland is well known for its Pizza. In fact, after New York and Chicago it’s a must visit destination for pizza lovers. In fact, it is often called the best city for pizza in the USA and I’m going to say, I believe them. Every single slice of pizza I had here was chef’s kiss delicious.
If you’re a fan of pizza, just like me, you have to do a pizza tour. Whether you do a DIY pizza tour for a budget friendly few hours, or you enjoy a professionally guided pizza tour where you’ll learn about the history of Portland’s pizza scene, it’s well worth doing.
Carve out an afternoon to indulge in pizza – you won’t regret it.
Read More: How To Do A DIY Pizza Tour In Portland
Check Out Portland’s Breweries
As well as pizza, Portland is well known for its beer. The Willamette Valley Hop Region, around 40 miles south of Portland is the second largest growing hop region in the USA. That means lots of delicious beer and lots of breweries to visit.
Make sure to pin on your Google Maps the following: Breakside Brewery, Great Notion Brewing, 10 Barrel Brewing, Deschutes Brewery, Backwoods Brewing Company, Little Beast Brewing Company, Storm Breaker Brewing and Ecliptic Brewery. There are so many others to try out and you’re likely to stumble across a few (Assembly Brewing, Gigantic Brewing and Grand Fir Brewing are just a few we didn’t try out) on your travels around Portland.
Most breweries offer flights of beer if you’re indecisive, or you just want to sample a few and many also offer cider and other alcoholic and soft drinks if you don’t want a beer.
Why not enjoy a guided tour of some of Portland’s favourite breweries?
Powell’s City Of Books
Powell’s City Of Books is the singular reason I would return back to Portland. I could easily have spent several more hours wandering between the bookshelves searching for books to fill my already packed suitcase.
This bookstore is the largest used and new bookstore in the world housing around 1 million books! It takes up a whole block and is a few stories tall so there’s plenty to look at! From new and current reads to old treasures and banned books, Powell’s City Of Books is a dream land if you love books.
There’s also a lot of lifestyle items here including jigsaws, planners and diaries, stationary, Portland gifts and much more! I came away with a few books to devour and would happily have bought more if my luggage allowance had the room!
Powell’s City Of Books Address: 1005 W Burnside St., Portland, OR 97209
Opening Hours: 10am to 9pm, Monday to Sunday
Half-Day Trip To Columbia River Gorge
One thing about Portland is that it’s incredibly close to some beautiful nature. One trip worth doing to take you out of the city is a half-day trip to the Columbia River Gorge. This 4 hour adventure takes you from Downtown Portland to wonderful waterfalls in 30 minutes.
Your guide for the morning or afternoon will give you some history about Portland before taking you to the gorgeous falls of Multnomah, Latourell and Horseshoe Falls. You’ll also get to visit Crown Vista House for panoramic views down Columbia River Gorge.
If you have time, you can also do a full day tour to Mount Hood which also includes waterfalls and wine! Well worth doing on a good weather day!
Read More: How To Explore Columbia River Gorge On A Half Day Tour From Portland
Sip Coffee In The Coffee Shops Of Portland
Pizza, beer, and finally coffee. It’s hard to miss out on the delicious coffee Portland has to offer and my goodness there is a lot to try out. Stop by Case Study Coffee Roasters, Stumptown Coffee, Never Coffee, Sterling Coffee Roasters, Barista, and Daylily Coffee Shop. Of course there are so many others…
Case Study Coffee Roasters was one of my favorites, along with Sterling Coffee Roasters where I think I had the best Chai Latte ever.
Go Out To The Oregon Coast
The Oregon Coast is one of the main draws of coming to this area of the USA. Famed for being wild and rugged, it’s a huge stretch of coastline that has plenty of beaches to explore.
It’s easy to do this by taking a day trip to the Orgeon Coast from downtown Portland. There are plenty of choices available but most include a stop at the iconic Cannon Beach where you’ll find Haystack Rock towering from the ocean. Well known as a location from classic film “The Goonies”, Cannon Beach is often a lunch stop on tours allowing you to explore under your own steam.
Other tours, depending on which one you pick, might include stops at places like Short Sand Beach, Manzanita and Ecola State Park. A full day tour takes around 8.5 hours but is a great way to explore the beautiful nature that Portland has on its doorstep. If you’re into wildlife, it’s definitely worth taking your binoculars!
Cocktails At Freeland Spirits
I know Portland is a great city for beer, but if you’re around the Northwest District of Portland – maybe on your DIY Pizza Tour – stop in at Freeland Spirits for a delicious cocktail.
This was a surprise find for us as we wandered up to Great Notion Brewing. We saw it on our way there, Googled it, and decided we would stop on the way back to more pizza in Slabtown.
Freeland Spirits was amazing. The cocktails were absolutely delicious. So fresh and made with such care and skill, you can tell the team know what they’re doing when putting them together.
Created and run by women, Freeland Spirits comes from a passion of agriculture and this shows through the wonderful flavors which include Side Piece, a combination of gin, brown butter squash simple syrup, and rosemary bitters. Then there’s Eternal Sunshine, a scrumptious mixture of gin, blood orange puree, lemon juice, clove simple syrup, cinnamon bitters and pineapple foam.
I love that Freeland Spirits does a flight of cocktails, enabling you to sample a few, as well as mini cocktails and mocktails too! There’s also a selection of wine, beer and non alcoholic drinks along with food if you’re feeling hungry!
Freeland Spirits Address: 2671 Northwest Vaughn Street, Portland, OR 97210
Opening Times: 12 – 8pm Monday to Sunday
Eat At The Delicious Street Food Trucks
One thing you’ll notice about Portland is its abundance of street food trucks. They’re dotted all across the city and there are some you absolutely HAVE to try out. Firstly there’s Fried Egg, I’m In Love, the home of the most incredible fried breakfast sandwiches on sourdough bread. Located in Pioneer Courthouse Square among some other great food trucks, Fried Egg, I’m In Love is the best place to grab some breakfast!
Another food truck I’d recommend is Matt’s BBQ on Mississippi Avenue, a place that’s legendary for its Texas BBQ. All meats are cooked on the day so make sure you get there early because once it’s gone, it’s gone! We got a tray full of sliced brisket, mac and cheese, pork belly burnt ends and pulled pork and it was SO good. Definitely worth the hype it gets and with food that delicious, there’s no wonder the food sells out so quickly!
Other Things To Do In Portland
See The Keep Portland Weird Sign
The unofficial city motto and the Keep Portland Weird sign can be found on 3rd Street between Burnside and Ankeny. Grab your camera and strike a pose!
Do A Downtown Donut and Coffee Tour
Get really into the heart of Portland’s coffee scene on this 2.5 hour tour with visits to some of the city’s best craft coffee houses. What better accompaniment to coffee than doughnuts and this tour will also take you donut places you can only find in Portland. If I went back to Portland, this is something I would definitely, definitely do!
Portland: Downtown Coffee & Donut Tour
Underground Shanghai Tunnel Tours
This is one thing that was recommended to us but we sadly didn’t have time to do it. An underground tour of the Shanghai Tunnels in Portland is a great way to learn about the haunted history of Portland’s network of passages. It’s a history I had no idea about and it’s a great way to discover more about Portland’s past.
Portland: Underground Shanghai Tunnel Tour with Beer Tasting
A Guided Walking Tour Of Portland
One way to really get orientated around the city is to do a guided walking tour. It’s something I wish we’d done because, even though we got to see a lot of the city under our own steam, there will be lots of things we missed out on. A guided walking tour would be a great way to see other parts of the city. This guided tour also explains how the city of Portland grew and how it’s developing today.
Guided Walking Tour of Downtown Portland, Oregon
What will you be doing on your first visit to Portland?
Hey, I’m Emma!
