Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon: The City That Peaked and Is Figuring Out What Comes Next

Portland in 2024 is not the same city it was in 2015, and pretending otherwise would be misleading. The downtown core along SW 4th and Burnside saw significant disruption during 2020-2022 and some blocks are still noticeably rough. The city has been actively working on recovery, and the outer neighbourhoods - Alberta Arts District, Mississippi Avenue, Hawthorne, the Pearl District - are largely as good as they ever were. The honest framing: Portland is still worth visiting and in places it is excellent, but arrive without the assumption that every neighbourhood will match the Instagram highlight reel.

What is genuinely good

Powell’s Books on West Burnside is still one of the great independent bookstores in the world. It occupies a full city block across multiple floors, divided by subject into colour-coded rooms. The used books mixed in with new means you can spend USD 30 browsing and come out with five things. The technical and science fiction sections are particularly strong. Allow two hours and expect to find something you did not know you were looking for.

Forest Park is 5,157 acres of forested hills accessible from the western edge of the city. The Wildwood Trail runs 30 miles through it. On a Tuesday morning in October the trail is empty by city standards - you are genuinely in forest with no road noise, 20 minutes from downtown. This is Portland’s best card.

The International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park tests new rose varieties before commercial release and has been doing so since 1917. Peak bloom is mid-May through June. Entry is free. It is directly above the city with views down to the Willamette and east to Mount Hood. The Portland Japanese Garden, adjacent, is one of the finest Japanese gardens outside Japan; admission is USD 20 and the design is worth studying.

Eating and drinking

The food cart pods are the best-value eating in the city. Cartopia at SE 12th and Hawthorne runs late (until 03:00 on weekends) and has consistently good options - the wood-fired pizza at Pyro Pizza is not trucking-around-mediocre, it is genuinely good. The Saturday Market under the Burnside Bridge (open Saturdays and Sundays, March through December) has around 250 craft vendors and decent street food from about USD 10-15 per plate.

For proper restaurant eating, Ox on NE 28th is an Argentine-influenced spot doing wood-fired everything. The offal section of the menu is the kitchen’s actual interest; order adventurously. A full dinner runs USD 50-80 per person. Han Oak in the Pearl District does Korean food that is several steps above casual - the cold noodles and the dumplings are excellent.

On coffee: Stumptown Coffee began here, and the original Annex location on SW 3rd is where the brand was developed. Worth one visit for the context. The more interesting coffee now is at Water Avenue Coffee in the Central Eastside, which focuses on single-origin and does not do flavoured lattes.

Staying and getting around

The Ace Hotel on SW 10th was the prototype for the hip-industrial-hotel format that every city now has; the Portland original is still the template. Rooms from around USD 140-220. The Hotel Eastlund in the Lloyd District is a solid mid-range option at USD 100-150 with a rooftop bar that has useful views.

The MAX light rail covers most areas a tourist would want. Bikes are widely used and the infrastructure is good; ZipTrip and BIKETOWN bike share both operate. Avoid driving downtown if you can help it; parking garages are expensive and the one-way street grid is confusing.

Columbia River Gorge is 45 minutes east by car and is worth a day trip for Multnomah Falls (best visited on weekday mornings before tour buses arrive) and the Historic Columbia River Highway.