Portland Travel Guide
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Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland, Oregon, with a population of roughly 1.7 million in the metropolitan area, is a city of discreet charms. That the city claims a rose garden as one of its biggest attractions should give you an idea of just how laid-back it is. Sure, Portlanders are just as attached to their cell phones and pagers as residents of other major metropolitan areas, but this is the City of Roses, and people still take time to stop and smell the flowers. Spend much time here, and you, too, will likely feel the city's leisurely pace seeping into your bones.
While Seattle has zoomed into the national consciousness, Portland has, until recently, managed to dodge the limelight and the problems that come with skyrocketing popularity. For many years now Portland has looked upon itself as a small, accessible city, vaguely European in character. Clean and friendly are the two terms that crop up most often in descriptions of the city. However, as word has spread about overcrowding in Seattle, people looking for the good life and affordable housing have turned to Portland, which is now experiencing the same sort of rapid growth that Seattle began going through more than a decade ago.
Portland does not have any major sights to pull in tourists--no Space Needle, no waterfront piers, no Experience Music Project. Instead, it is a city of quiet charms that must be searched for and savored--the shade of the stately elms in the South Park Blocks, the tranquility of the Japanese Garden, the view from the grounds of Pittock Mansion, the miles of hiking trails in Forest Park. Sure, there's a good art museum and a world-class science museum, but these are not nearly as important to the city's citizenry as its many parks and public gardens. Not only does Portland claim beautiful rose gardens, the most authentic Japanese Garden in North America, and the largest classical Chinese garden in the country, but it also can lay claim to both the world's smallest city park and the largest forested urban park in the country.
The city's other claim to fame is as the nation's microbrew capital. Espresso may be the beverage that gets this town going in the morning (this is the Northwest), but it is microbrewed beer that helps the city maintain its mellow character. There are so many brewpubs here in Portland that the city has been nicknamed Munich on the Willamette. While in other cities craft beer has given way to cocktails and wine, here in Portland microbrews are still the drink of choice. Wine is a close second, though, which shouldn't come as a surprise, considering how close the city is to wine country.
Portland itself may be short on things for visitors to do, but the city's surroundings certainly are not. Within a 1 1/2- to 2-hour drive from Portland, you can be strolling a Pacific Ocean beach, strolling beside a waterfall in the Columbia Gorge, hiking on Mount Hood (a dormant volcano as picture perfect as Mount Fuji), driving through the Mount St. Helens blast zone, or sampling world-class pinot noirs in the Oregon wine country. It is this proximity to the outdoors that makes Portland a great city to use as a base for exploring some of the best of the Northwest.
