Top 10 Things You Must Do In Portland

A Geek’s Guide to Enjoying Portland Oregon.

Couldn’t hold it to just 10, so it’s “Top-10-Plus.”
Just one set of opinions, perhaps a decent place to start your planning.
Top – 10 – Plus

1	Tax-Free Shopping (No Sales Tax, No VAT.)
2	Powell’s City of Books (503) 228-4651 The 3-story city block of books, is Downtown on the Streetcar (in The Pearl). They have a separate free-standing Technical Bookstore across the street. You’ll also find Powell’s Books inside the PDX Airport, in Beaverton and on Hawthorne. Visiting Author Readings (Calendar) are sometimes recorded for BookTV.
3	Oregon Wine: Try a glass. Hey, you’re here. Just saying.
4	Oregon Microbrew Beer: Try a pint or three. Hey, you’re here… Better yet, try a sampler at several Brew Pubs. They’re everywhere.
5	Oregon Brew Pubs: Visit, eat, drink the beer made here.
6	Walk in a Park: You deserve a walk in a park. “The City of Roses” is a City of Parks.
7	Walk in a Garden: They say it rains a lot in Portland but if you look at the stats, you’ll see that it actually rains just a little here… all the time. Perfect for gardens. Here’s some favorites: Rose Test Gardens Rhododendron Test Gardens Lan Su Chinese Garden a formal garden in the heart of Chinatown Japanese Garden one of the largest and best in the USA is in the hills above downtown. The Berry Botanical Garden in Dunthorp/Riverdale. The Bishop’s Close, Botanical Garden in Dunthorp/Riverdale. The Grotto is an indoor/outdoor cathedral, plus both formal and botanical gardens. Buy an elevator token to see the heated/air conditioned medititation room overlooking the city, more gardens, paved paths, BIG trees, statuary, and a convent the top of the bluff.
8	Portland Saturday Market: Hand-made merchandise sold by the person who made it. Saturday and Sunday Only.
9	Locally Owned Restaurant You’re going to eat anyway, why not have a unique Portland Oregon experience?
10	Hubers Experience their world-famous Flaming Spanish Coffee Ceremony performed at your table. Sample it on YouTube but see in person why Portland’s oldest restaurant sells more Kahluha than any other bar on earth. Drinking Made Easy shot it in HD, but the first vid shows the table side experience better.
11	Portland Streetcar Loop Use your all-day or all-week pass to do a loop on the Portland Streetcar. See Powell’s, Portland State University, NW 23rd, the Pearl, the South Waterfront development and the Tram. Eat or drink at the Spaghetti Factory chain’s flagship restaurant.
12	Tram Ride On a clear day, you can see Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson, The Willamette River, The Columbia River, The Airport, Downtown, SE Portland… Get there on the Streetcar.
13	Eat at a restaurant with a great view (and great food). Option 1 – Pricey City Grill Lunch, Dinner or just drinks on the 30th floor of “Big Pink” the second tallest building downtown. Option 2 – Pricey The Chart House Lunch, Dinner or just drinks. Southwest Hills with a view of Downtown and the Willamette River. 5700 SW Terwilliger Blvd (503) 246-6963. Take the #56 Bus (Scholls Ferry) from Downtown. Option 3 – Inexpensive Spaghetti Factory The international chain’s flagship restaurant sits on the Willamette River. Access w/Streetcar or automobile. Option 4 – Moderate prices. Full Sail Brewing Co: Riverplace View of marina, Willamette River, Marquam Bridge, OMSI. Access w/Streetcar or automobile.
14	Moonstruck Chocolate Chocolate to die for? Oprah thinks so. There’s an outlet in the Pioneer Square Fashion Mall right downtown.
15	Visit a Neighborhood Nothing against downtowns, airports and an endless series of strip malls; but a city is more than that. Northwest 23rd & 21st Hawthorne District Multnomah Village Alberta Arts District Belmont District Lloyd District Selllwood Old Town/Chinatown The Pearl …
16	Explore the Pearl A quirk of history kept a square mile near downtown undeveloped till the late 1990’s. Now it’s full of upscale new shopping, eating, galleries, theaters, brew-pubs, condos and apartments. You can get there on the Streetcar.
17	Oregon Museum of Science and Industry “OMSI” A real US Navy Submarine, IMAX Theater, Dinosaurs, Wooly Mammoths, A Planetarium, plus Traveling Exhibits.
18	Voodoo Doughnut World Famous. Amanda Seyfried shot the 2012 movie “Gone” in Portland. She gushed about her expeeriences in Portland and presented a signatue Voodoo Bacon-Maple-Bar to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.
19	Portland Walking Tours Fun and award-winning events explore the excitement, history, food, architecture, neighborhoods, bridges, parks, fountains, artwork, and just plain weird places in Portland Oregon.
20	Connect with a Community Portlanders do communities. Take a look. Drop in on one or more.
21	Powell’s We repeat ourselves, yes. However the Powell’s experience is so essential, we decided to bookend our list with it.

Things you can also do
if you have-or-rent a car

An hour or two:

1	Fry’s Electronics About 25 minutes South from Downtown off I-5 at the Wilsonville Exit.
2	Costco has 8 warehouses in the Portland area.
3	Multnomah Falls
4	Vancouver Washington / Old Fort Vancouver

All Day:

1	Mt. St. Helens
2	Mt. Hood Loop: Hwy-84 East into Columbia Gorge, stop at Multnomah Falls, take Hood River Railroad, South through Hood River, dinner at Timberline, back to Portland by 9.
3	The Pacific Ocean
4	Yamhill County: Visit Wine Country, stop at Evergreen Air & Space Museum ,visit a casino for dinner.