Things To Do In and Around Portland
PORTLAND AREA | NEIGHBORHOODS | OUTSIDE PORTLAND | LINKS
   
Portland area
   

Downtown core - Pioneer Courthouse Square

Pioneer Courthouse Square, affectionately known as Portland's living room, is a public space occupying a full 40,000 ft² (3700 m²) city block in the center of downtown. The square is bounded by Southwest Morrison Street on the north, Southwest 6th Avenue on the east, Southwest Yamhill Street on the south, and Southwest Broadway on the west. Pioneer Courthouse Square hosts more than 300 programmed events each year. With more than 26,000 people visiting the Square each day, it is the single most visited site in Oregon's most visited city. Directly adjacent to the square is the Pioneer Place indoor mall and many other stores including Macy's (formerly Meyer & Frank). The MAX blue, red, yellow, and green lines pass by the square.

   

Waterfront Park - Eastbank Esplanade

Officially named Tom McCall Waterfront Park, but known to Oregonians as just Waterfront Park, this is often the center of activity in Portland. Festivals, parades, performers and more make it truly a taste of Rip City. There is always something interesting to see here at Portland's answer to Venice Beach in California. There are basketball courts and lots of open, green space along the west bank of the Willamette River. The need for additional parks and green spaces in the city led to the removal of a freeway and construction of the park. A pleasant walk is loop around Waterfront Park, Steel Bridge, East Esplanade, Hawthorn Bridge, an under 3-mile hike.

   

Saturday Market

The Portland Saturday Market is an outdoor arts and crafts market. It is the largest continuously operated outdoor market in the United States. The Market offers a unique opportunity for customers to meet the artist as well as see one of a kind pieces created in the artist’s booth. Over 350 small businesses and individual artists from the NW region and across the nation gather each weekend from March through Christmas with live music and a plethora of exotic foods that will satisfy everyone’s appetites at the junction of SW Ankeny and the Naito Parkway located under the west end of the Burnside Bridge stretching as far as Ankeny Park. The market's hours of operations are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m on Sundays, and admission is free. The market is accessible by foot, bicycle, and TriMet's MAX Light Rail line which stops within the market at the Skidmore Fountain stop beside Skidmore Fountain.

   

Washington Park - Japanese Garden - Rose Garden

Whether you are seeking excitement or tranquility, Washington Park is the place for you and your family. Washington Park is a public urban park that includes a zoo, forestry museum, arboretum, children's museum, rose garden, Japanese garden, amphitheatre, memorials, archery range, tennis courts, soccer field, picnic areas, playgrounds, public art, and many acres of wild forest with miles of trails. Washington Park covers more than 410 acres on mostly steep, wooded hillsides which range in elevation from 200 feet at 24th & W Burnside to 870 feet at SW Fairview Blvd. With trees, gardens, attractions and playgrounds and 15 miles of trails, this is an oasis of green space just minutes from downtown Portland. Easy access using MAX light rail Red and Blue line that has a stop beneath the park.

   

Forest Park - Wildwood Trail

An abundance of wildlife can be found in Forest Park. With its massive tree canopy and substantial undergrowth, the park serves as a natural air purifier, water collector, and erosion controller. The 30-mile Wildwood Trail in Forest Park is part of the region’s 40-Mile Loop system that links Forest Park to pedestrian and trail routes. A landmark on the trail is the Stone House. This structure was built in the mid-1930s by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as a public restroom. The infamous Columbus Day storm on October 12, 1962, took out the water line. Because the structure had been heavily vandalized over the years, the decision was made to gut the building rather than embark on costly repairs. It remains as a favorite spot to rest along the trail.

   

Oregon Zoo

The Oregon Zoo is home to animals from all corners of the world, including Asian elephants, Peruvian penguins and Arctic polar bears. From the mist-filled Africa Rain Forest to the majestic Great Northwest exhibits, the zoo encourages visitors to understand and experience the natural world. Committed to conservation of endangered species and their habitats—both locally and around the globe—the zoo is a center for wildlife preservation and field research. A summer concert series, seasonal events and the zoo railway help this popular Oregon attraction draw more than one million visitors each year. Easy access using MAX light rail Red and Blue line that has a stop beneath the zoo.

   

Portland Art Museum - Oregon History Museum - Schnitzer Concert Hall

The Portland Art Museum is the oldest art museum on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the United States. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum became one of the twenty-five largest art museums in the United States, at a total of 240,000 square feet. The permanent collection has more than 42,000 works of art, and at least one major traveling exhibition is presented most of the time. The Portland Art Museum features a center for Native American art, a center for Northwest art, a center for modern and contemporary art, permanent exhibitions of Asian art, and an outdoor public sculpture garden. The Northwest Film Center is also a component of Portland Art Museum.

The Oregon Historical Society preserves Oregon's unique history and brings it to life through world-class exhibits in their interactive museum, publications and research library. From the Oregon Trail, to Native American culture, to nationally renowned Smithsonian exhibits, the Oregon Historical Society has educated and entertained Oregonians and out-of-town guests for generations.

The Arlene Schnitzer Hall is home to the Oregon Symphony, White Bird Dance Company, Portland Arts & Lectures, and many more local performing arts groups.

   

Multnomah County Central Library

Multnomah County Library is the oldest public library west of the Mississippi, with a history that reaches back to 1864. Today, Central Library and the other 18 neighborhood libraries that make up the library system house about 700 computer search stations for the public and a collection of two million books and other library materials. Historic Central Library in downtown Portland is the heart of the Multnomah County Library system. First opened in September 1913 and extensively renovated in 1994-97, Central Library has more than 17 miles of bookshelves! Central Library offers books, audio and visual materials, periodicals and electronic resources in English and Spanish that can be accessed on site or from a home computer. Central Library also houses collections in Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese. Some 130 computer search stations are available to Multnomah County residents.

   

Convention CenterRose Quarter

The Oregon Convention Center (OCC) is the largest convention center in the Pacific Northwest. Located in beautiful and lively downtown Portland, Oregon, the OCC is the preferred destination for many groups because of its commitment to customer service and leadership in sustainable practices. The center's two grand ballrooms, 50 meeting rooms, 255,000 square feet of exhibit space, full-service catering, and experienced staff can handle events of any size, from 10 to 10,000.

The Rose Quarter is a 30 acre sports and entertainment district located in Portland's Lloyd District on the east bank of the Willamette River, just east of downtown. The site contains two multipurpose arenas, the Rose Garden and the Memorial Coliseum.

   

Portland Aerial Tram

The Portland Aerial Tram is an aerial tramway carrying commuters between the city's South Waterfront district and the main Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) campus, located in the Marquam Hill neighborhood. It is the second commuter aerial tramway in the United States (after New York City's Roosevelt Island Tramway). The tram travels a horizontal distance of 3,300 feet (1,000 m) and a vertical distance of 500 feet (150 m) in a ride that lasts three minutes.

An interesting hike, the 4T Trail, combines the Aerial Tram with three other forms of transportation in a 4.5 mile loop.

   

Powell’s City of Books

Powell's City of Books is a book lover's paradise, the largest used and new bookstore in the world. Located in downtown Portland, Oregon, and occupying an entire city block, the City stocks more than a million new and used books. Nine color coded rooms house over 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles. And the City's newest addition (October 2010) is Powell's Books Bldg. 2, a relocation of Powell's Technical Books, brings mathematics, sciences, computing, engineering, construction, and transportation sections closer to visitors at the flagship store. Bldg. 2 is located across the street from the City of Books on the corner of NW 10th and Couch.

   

Pittock Mansion

The Pittock Mansion is a French Renaissance-style "château" in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, USA, originally built as a private home for The Oregonian publisher Henry Pittock and his wife, Georgiana. It is a 22 room estate built of Tenino Sandstone situated on 46 acres that is now owned by the city's Bureau of Parks and Recreation and open for touring. In addition, the grounds provide panoramic views of Downtown Portland. This location was used in the 1989 movie, The Haunting of Sarah Hardy starring Sela Ward and Morgan Fairchild. This location was also used prominently in the 1993 film Body of Evidence starring Madonna and Willem Dafoe. This location was used as the finish line for the 13th season of the 6-time Emmy-winning reality game show, The Amazing Race.

   

Chinese Garden

Lan Su Chinese Garden is one of Portland’s greatest treasures—a powerfully inspiring experience that takes you through time, offering a window into Chinese culture, history and way of thinking. Ever changing, Lan Su always has something new to offer - by the minute, by the hour, and with the seasons. Enter the wonderland.

The garden, taking up a city block in the middle of Portland's Chinatown, transports you to Portland's sister city of Suzhou, China, with its architecture, plants, smells and even sounds. The Garden is the only one of its size outside of China.

   

OMSI

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (commonly referred to as OMSI, pronounced OM-zee) contains two auditoriums, including an IMAX Dome theatre, and a variety of hands-on permanent exhibits focused on natural sciences, industry, and technology. Transient exhibits span a wider range of disciplines. A submarine exhibit, the USS Blueback (SS-581) was purchased by OMSI in February 1994. This submarine appeared in the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October before being towed to its present location, a pier right outside the museum.[8] It was opened to the public on May 15, 1994, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in September 2008.[9][10] The propeller has been removed and is now a National Submarine Memorial, located outside of the main museum area, beside the Eastbank Esplanade. The submarine is available for daily guided tours and summer camps.

   

Council Crest

Council Crest is thought to be the highest point in Portland at 1,073 feet above sea level. Amenities include paved and unpaved paths, a dog off-leash area, picnic tables, public art, a vista point, and a wedding site that can be reserved. The 43.51-acre park, operated by Portland Parks & Recreation, is open year-round from 5 a.m. to midnight. It was the site of an amusement park from 1907 until 1929.

360-degree views look out to Portland and the Columbia River to the north and east, Beaverton and other communities to the west and south.

   

Audubon Society of Portland

The Audubon Society of Portland owns 150 acres of woodland adjacent to Forest Park, managed as a nature sanctuary and features indigenous vegetation and fauna, including a small stand of old growth timber. The sanctuary is open to the public for free. Much of the sanctuary surrounds Balch Creek near its headwaters and contains more than 4.5 miles of hiking trails which connect to Forest Park's extensive trail system. Within the sanctuary is a nature center containing classrooms, retail store, wildlife taxidermy exhibits, auditorium, and a wildlife care center. The care center treats injured and orphaned native wildlife utilizing professional staff and more than one hundred volunteers. More than 3,500 animals are brought to the center each year.

   

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens are botanical gardens located between Reed College and the Eastmoreland Golf Course in southeastern Portland. The gardens, at Southeast 28th Avenue and Woodstock Boulevard, cover 9.49 acres. They feature more than 2,500 rhododendrons, azaleas, and other plants in a setting of small lakes, paved and unpaved paths, fountains, and small waterfalls. In addition to the manicured areas that make up most of the gardens, patches of less orderly shrubs, upland forest, marsh vegetation, and submerged logs attract wildlife, especially waterfowl, most prevalent in winter. The Rhododendron Society has counted 94 species in the garden, including grebes, herons, ducks, Canada geese, wigeons, gulls, thrushes, nuthatches, hummingbirds, and others.

   

Portland Bridges

The bridges of Portland, Oregon are numerous and diverse. The structures, ranging in age from 27 years to 90 years of age, represent a variety of construction types including vertical lift spans, double-leaf Bascule drawspans, and the longest tied arch span in the world.

The bridges span the Willamette River that bisects east and west Portland. From north to south: St. Johns, Fremont, Broadway, Steel, Burnside, Morrison, Hawthorn, Marquam, Ross Island, Sellwood.

   

Transportation - TriMet - MAX

Portland has one of the best public transportation systems in the US. The award-winning system compromises buses, light rail (MAX), streetcars, and commuter rail. TriMet, more formally known as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, is a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area. It also runs the Portland Vintage Trolley on light rail lines in Downtown Portland and operates the City of Portland owned Portland Streetcar.

The convenient MAX Red Line goes from PDX Airport through downtown Portland to downtown Beaverton.