Things to Do in Portland: Tours, Tickets & Day Trips

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) Multnomah Falls and the Columbia River Gorge waterfalls, 2) a Mount Hood day trip with Timberline Lodge and Hood River, 3) the Oregon Coast at Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock, 4) a doughnut and food-cart walking tour, 5) an e-bike tour of the bridges and neighbourhoods, 6) Powell’s City of Books, 7) the International Rose Test Garden and Japanese Garden in Washington Park, 8) a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir wine tour, 9) a craft-brewery tour and 10) a Portland ghost walk through Old Town.

Plan three days. Day one covers the city: Powell’s, Washington Park, the food carts and a bike or food tour. Day two is the Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood — combined tours run about ten hours. Day three goes to the Oregon Coast (Cannon Beach, 90 minutes away) or the Willamette Valley wineries. Add a fourth day for Portland’s neighbourhoods, Mount St. Helens or Hood River.

Browse Powell’s City of Books, walk the International Rose Test Garden (600 varieties, peak June), hike Forest Park or the Wildwood Trail, shop the Saturday Market, stroll Tom McCall Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade loop, climb Mount Tabor for sunset and visit Pittock Mansion’s grounds for the best skyline view with Mount Hood behind it. Multnomah Falls has no entry fee.

The Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls (30–45 minutes), Mount Hood and Timberline Lodge (90 minutes), the Oregon Coast at Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park (90 minutes), the Willamette Valley wineries around Dundee and Newberg (one hour), Hood River’s Fruit Loop orchards and, in summer, Mount St. Helens (two hours). Guided tours with pickup cost from about $69 for a Gorge half day to $140–150 for the coast or Mount Hood.

Join a ghost tour of Old Town and the Shanghai Tunnels, take a Portland Spirit dinner cruise on the Willamette, catch a show at the Crystal Ballroom or Doug Fir, work through a brewery crawl in the Pearl or on Division Street, watch the sunset from Pittock Mansion and finish with a late doughnut at Voodoo or a scoop at Salt & Straw. Summer brings outdoor movies and concerts in the parks.

Ski or snowboard at Mount Hood — Timberline is open nearly year-round — visit the Gorge when the waterfalls are at full force, and use the rain for the Portland Art Museum, OMSI and Powell’s. From late November there are the Christmas lights of Peacock Lane, ZooLights at the Oregon Zoo and the Christmas Ships parade on the Willamette. Food-cart, brewery and doughnut tours run all winter.

OMSI (the science museum with a submarine), the Oregon Zoo, the Washington Park train and playgrounds, the easy paved walk to the Multnomah Falls bridge, Voodoo Doughnut, Powell’s children’s section, the Saturday Market and a bike ride along the Waterfront and Eastbank Esplanade. Older kids enjoy the Oregon Coast tide pools at Cannon Beach and the tunnels of Timberline Lodge.

June to September is dry and warm, with the roses peaking in June for the Rose Festival and every day trip in season. May and October are quieter and still mostly dry. Waterfalls in the Gorge are strongest from March to May. Winter is grey and wet in town but brings skiing on Mount Hood.

Yes — it is the highest-rated experience in Portland, with thousands of five-star reviews, and the best way to see Multnomah Falls plus four or five other waterfalls without fighting for a parking permit. Morning departures beat the crowds; combine it with Mount Hood if you only have one day outside the city.