Viator Exclusive: Street Art of Portland 2-Hour Bike Tour
Description
Portland's street art culture is older than any of us, but until the past decade, the culture was a shadowy one. Thanks to support from a strong collective of street artists, the inner Eastside is the heart of the intense, passionate street art scene. Start in that heart, where we will safely fit you for a bike and helmet, ready for a sweet 4-6 mile/8-10 km ride to visit some of the oldest art forms and canvases (wheat paste and an incredible user-created skate park) and some of the newest (cool spray paint styles and brand-new buildings made for art). You'll learn about graffiti culture and some of our long-time favorite artists and the city's newest darlings, pass by cool old import shops filled with art inside and out, learn how the art culture is connected to the protest scene, and leave with a phone packed with vibrant photos! Bikes, helmets and water provided.
Tour Options
Itinerary
After fitting for a bike and helmet at Around Portland Tours' shop at 833 SE Main #124, we'll head out to the streets of Portland for a slow-paced ride through the Central Eastside industrial district. We'll ride into the Hawthorne District, home to coffee roasters and breweries.
The Taylor Electric Building is a rich and ever-changing canvas of street art.
The import shop is such a haven for artists, that its building has long played host to one of the most colorful and popular pieces of street art. Occasionally (on rainy days!) we visit the shop for an immersion into local and international art.
The inner eastside industrial district is a profusion of art. Nearly every building is a canvas — either unauthorized or authorized. We’ll stop multiple times in the inner eastside to describe, discuss and photograph our favorite pieces.
Not only a host to amazing street art, but a user-created canvas too, the Burnside Skate Park is unmatched in street culture. We'll visit the park and meet some of the locals who are part of the skate community.
We will pass under the Burnside Bridge and see the art installations on the Eastside bridgehead
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- must be able to ride a bike
Reviews(33)
Fabulous tour. Austin, our guide was knowledgeable and fun. Learned so much about mural art and the history of Portland. Who knew?!
The guide was great. Street art was cool. We stopped for a cup of tea as well!
Left a lot to be desired. It started as a biking tour, which was accidentally booked when a walking tour was preferred. The bike waa super uncomfortable on the crotch area and I almost got run over in the street as soon as the tour started. At that point, I deemed the tour unsafe and put a stop to the tour at which point the tour guide asked if we wanted to swap to a walking tour. However, no credit for paying for bike rentals was offered, and I feel like the tour was half of what it could have been due to the sudden last-minute change. To sum it up it was boring…
Your response is disheartening as you communicated none of your concerns to us until it was too late. It IS unsafe to try to do a bike tour when you cannot ride a bike. It would have been better if you would have told us you didn’t know how to ride a bike and didn’t mean to book a bike tour at the beginning but you did not do that until you were attempting to cross a busy street on bike infrastructure. We do not want people in that situation, which is why we indicate that you must know how to ride a bike to do the tour; that is in our waiver. You were offered a walking tour at the beginning and did not take us up on it. The bike seat was uncomfortable because you had not ridden a bike in decades. I suspect that it was “boring” not so much because the content was boring but because you were angry at yourself for booking the wrong tour. We don’t offer a walking street art tour currently so we did our best to adapt to your needs. There is no circumstance in which we would, unasked, offer a refund for a customer’s mistaken booking. We made the guide and the equipment available. If you are in this circumstance in the future, I suggest asking your guides BEFORE they try to fit you for bikes that you didn’t mean to be here at all.
We had a blast on what turned out to be a private tour of Portland’s public art! Our guide Kelly went at our pace and shared lots of cool stories along the way.
Vibrant art around a nice little urban bike ride. Austin was a good ambassador for the art and for Portland.
We had a small group tour with Austin and Kelly. It was great. Very chill pace, time to stop at various pieces of art for pictures etc, and a nice way to see more of Portland. Our guides did a great job discussing the art and getting us thinking about the pieces.
I gave this bike tour as a 33rd birthday gift to my daughter. She and I both loved every thing about it. The street art was beautiful, powerful, and inspirational. Our guides, Austin and Kelly, were very knowledgeable about the art and artists and they both shared very inspiring, engaging stories. We will definitely go on this tour again.
Loved this bike ride! Our host, Kelly, was fantastic. She shared her knowledge about Portland’s murals, and the artists as well. Together, we leisurely rode around to take in the stunning murals with plenty of time to observe and take photos., and it was a wonderful way to experience one part of the Portland art scene.
This was amazing. Kelly made this the trip of a lifetime. She was funny, knowledgeable, and kind. We made a few pit stops that added to an already immaculate vibe.
Riding was easy and the street art was fascinating and impressive. Was as weird as we expected for Portland!
