1. Start your day with a cup of coffee

You won’t find a shortage of cafés here. Like the beer scene, the coffee scene is just as happening in Portland. My first Portland cup of Joe was at Coava Coffee Roasters. It was a honey latte and it was perfectly balanced. We also went to Stumptown to bring a few bags of beans to bring home

2. Enjoy the scenery in the Portland Japanese Gardens

It’s a nice little oasis right inside Portland. The gardens are located inside Washington Park, which is huge. I would say it’s Portland’s version of Central Park. We went in February, so there weren’t much flowers/plants to see but it was still very pretty. In May/June, their rose garden blooms and is home to 610 different varieties of roses across 10,000 bushes

3. Eat all the seafood

Oregon is located right next to the Pacific, so it’s no wonder that the seafood would be fresh. They’re most known for dungeness crab, oysters, and of course – wild salmon. Here is all the seafood we ate at Jake’s Grill

4. Grab a donut from Blue Star Donuts

Everyone goes to Voodoo Doughnut (which we didn’t try) but if you don’t want to wait in a massive line, Blue Star has some pretty unique flavors

5. Enjoy some biscuits and gravy

Yes, this is a dish that is typically known from being from the South, but you’ll find that it’s really popular in Portland, due to workers from the south migrating up to Portland back in the day. This article gives an excellent explanation of its popularity

6. Drink some beer

Portland is known for its beer scene. In fact, it has the most breweries per capita than any other city in the U.S. We visited the most obvious one, Deschutes and really enjoyed the beer. We also tried Cascade Brewing Barrel House, which is mainly sour beers

7. Buy some books at Powell’s City of Books

When is the last time you read a book? Well, Powell’s is a great place to pick up that habit again. It is the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world, and spans an entire city block. Even if you are not a reader, I am positive you will find a book that would catch your eye, given that the store has 3,500 different sections. It’s also nice to discover genres you never even knew about. For example, I saw a book about making crafts with cat hair. Not saying I’m interesting but it’s just so cool to see so many unique topics that you wouldn’t even think is a topic. There’s also souvenirs around the store, and a coffee shop if you want to read your newly purchased book there while enjoying some java

8. Learn some new things at the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)

I’ve been to my fair share of science centers across the nation. I don’t have any kids but I have a husband, who is like a big kid and really enjoys this stuff. So whenever we travel, we try to make it a point to visit that city’s science museum. I must say that OMSI was one of the better ones. Most are just geared towards kids, but I felt like I did actually learn a couple of things here

9. Marvel at the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon, Multnomah Falls

620 feet, to be exact. We took a half day trip here and you definitely need to rent a car, even though it’s only about a half hour drive from downtown. You would have no issue getting an Uber to Multnomah, but it’s the getting back that’s the problem. Besides, there are so many waterfalls/hikes along this stretch that you would want to go at your own pace anyway. Tip – also check out Bridal Veil falls right nearby but do this first if you’re coming from Portland. If you do it on the way back, you’ll have to loop back around for a few exits

10. Eat some cheese at the Tillamook Factory

Ever since Ben discovered Tillamook, he became obsessed with it. Then we booked a trip to Portland and found out that the Tillamook Factory was driveable from the city. It’s about 1.5 hours west of Portland. Since our time was so limited in Portland (4 days, 3 nights), we combined this trip with the falls and it was pretty rushed. I wouldn’t recommend it. Because all the tastings were already booked up, we really only just ate lunch at Tillamook and did the self-guided tour. I would only recommend it if you are planning to explore the coast of Oregon, especially since Tillamook is right there

11. Check out Pioneer Square

Just a touristy thing to do. It’s supposedly ‘Portland’s Living Room’ but not much people were around

12. Visit the food pods

The downtown ones are located on 5th and 3rd Avenues. I was told that this was a thing in Portland and I was really excited to try everything out but when we went there in the middle of the day, it was deserted. There were also many pods that were closed, and it seems people have set up their homes there. Maybe we just went to the wrong spot so if you find something good, let me know

13. Snap a picture with the White Stag sign

Just another one of those touristy things to do. I would have loved to see it lit up during the nighttime but the other side of the bridge is not an area you want to find yourself in, especially at night

14. DON’T go to Chinatown

Whenever I visit any new city, I always love visiting their Chinatowns just to see what they have to offer, and how it compares to my home city – NYC’s Chinatown. Admittedly, I hadn’t done much research on Portland prior to the trip. I saw a cheap RT flight from EWR for $200, and Ben and I were on the plane the following week. Once we landed, we took an Uber to the hotel from the airport, which by the way, is not cheap. (It costs $40 to go from airport downtown. At the minimum, it costs at least $10 to go anywhere within the city, even if it’s just for a mile). Anyway, we mentioned exploring Chinatown to our Uber driver and he said to avoid that area if we can, especially at night. He said that if he sees a ride request after a certain time going to/from there, he won’t even accept it. Ever since Covid, Chinatown has been declining. After a mental health facility shut down, they just dropped off all the patients there, and the neighborhood is a known area for drug use, and gang violence. To be honest, we didn’t even feel comfortable walking around the border of Chinatown in the daytime, which was where the bridge to view the White Stag sign crossed over into. We also tried to order delivery for a late dinner from two different restaurants in that area, and both orders ended up getting cancelled. We rented a car for a day and the car rental location was in Chinatown (this was before we found out about the safety issues) and the employee mentioned there are a lot of car break-ins there. Because of that, we ended up rushing back to make it in time before the rental company closed, and Ubered out of there as fast as we could. So that was our experience with Chinatown. Thank you for listening to my TED talk