Venue

Where To Stay

Getting Around

Getting Into Town:
Stylish people will surely arrive on Amtrak. You can take the state-supported Amtrak Cascades service from any city of note between Vancouver, BC and Eugene. 6 trains a day from Seattle, 2 from Eugene. For long-distance Amtrak, you can arrive on the daily Coast Starlight from California or the Empire Builder from the upper Midwest and Montana. Portland Union Station is a great example of Romanesque Revival architecture, and is worth a look even if you don’t arrive by train. It’s right downtown too, so easy to hop on a bus or light rail train to your hotel!

But the airport is no slouch either! A recent remodel is nearly complete and you can now enjoy an airport that doesn’t totally suck the life out of you. There’s a big airy atrium, lots of exposed mass-timber framing, and reasonable passenger flow (mostly). Take the MAX Red Line to downtown in just 40 minutes, or if you’re crunched for time pay 10x as much of a cab.

Using TriMet:
TriMet, Portland’s lovely public transit provider costs $2.80 for a ride, or $5.60 for a day pass. You can pay your fare using any contactless credit/debit card, or you can purchase a fare card at most MAX Stations (they have recently been replacing the old ticket machines with new fare card vending machines like you may see on the DC Metro or BART).

Buses and trains come fairly regularly, though we regret to inform you that the much-beloved #70 still sees pretty paltry service. You can find when the next bus leaves on your mapping app of choice but the official TriMet website offers a very good route planner (much better than Google or Apple), so that’s a good place to start. Send Andrew a text (608-509-2816) if you need help planning a trip, he would absolutely do it for you.

On a Bike:
If you’re here for long enough, it’s probably worth getting on a bike at some point. It’s not the most cost-effective option, but Portland this time of year is really best seen from the seat of a bike. Cycle Portland offers rentals. The City of Portland’s bike map is pretty good – if you stick to roads marked green or blue on it you should be okay.

Things to do:
Portland has a lot of great things to do, see, and enjoy. Our advice: Powell’s is mostly worth the hype, Voodoo Doughnuts is not. But if you like books, Backstory Books on Hawthorne or Belmont Books on Belmont are more our speed than Powell’s (honorable mention to Bingo Used Books on Powell if you want a real used book store time).

For restaurants, we’re spoiled for choice in Portland. On basically any street you can find exceptional restaurants offering $15 to $18 a plate meals that will potentially change your life. Here’s an abridged list of recommendations: