I am taking my wife to Portland for our anniversary and was wondering what kind of fun things there are to do in or around downtown?

The Oregon Brewfest will be going on while we're there so that is a definite on our list and we may rent a car for a day to head to Mt. Hood.

Anything else we should/must do? I am really looking forward to eating.

Are there some good places near Mt. Hood to do some very light hiking and scenery viewing?

Thanks!

A few very general things .....

Hard to give directed advice not knowing what you are in to or how long you are going to be there. For us food / drink is a huge priority since we only get to town 3 or 4 time per year. Check out the restaurant thread here as a start. The Brewfest should be great.

When we aren't eating/drinking we are usually walking. There are some large parks in/near downtown (e.g. Forest Park) where you can go on some great walks -- these are easy to find on a good map. If you are fortunate enough to have good weather, these walks are really pleasant. Bring a picnic, as you can spend a day. You can also explore the Hawthorne and Alberta neighborhoods among others (outside of downtown, but you can take the bus) and find some funky stuff.

There is the usual shopping downtown (blah, blah) and in the Pearl District. Its a bit cliche, but we spend a good bit of time at Powell's Books -- that's about all the shopping we do.

If you are a baseball fan, the Portland Beavers AAA team plays just a quick light rail ride away. Dirt cheap and fun if they are in town.

You can also do an Internet search and see what shows (of various types) are going to be in town and/or museum events, etc. One place to look is here.

I am sure that folks that know the city much better can give you more detailed info plus info on Mt. Hood.

Enjoy the trip.

Highlights for me from my recent visit - Powell's (of course - several times); the Japanese Garden and the views over the city; Voodoo Doughnut (perhaps a bit of a cliche, but I enjoyed it); browsing shops in Hawthorne; finding the smallest park in the world (having found out it existed there!); drinking from Benson Bubblers; the cute statues of local wildlife around the Pioneer Courthouse; and just wandering around and stumbling on stuff!

The hike up Multnomah Falls is a good one. So is the hike into Eagle Creek. You might also consider a trip to Mt. St Helens.

Brewfest is a blast. I'm jealous

The Rose Garden ( the garden, not the arena) is always a great place to visit. Saturday market, if you're here for the weekend, has loads of food, fun and trinkets. Keep in mind that public transport (MAX trains and the city buses) are free in the majority of downtown and the "Fareless Square" extends across the river to the Lloyd Center area.

The current "thing to do" is hang out around city hall and see which politician implodes next.

Yes, this is very good to do.

Saturday Market is great to check out and the Farmers Market by Portland State as it's also off the street car. Definitely review the restaurant thread since the eating is a great experience in PDX (having lived in SF and PDX). If you're a foodie, PM me and I can really get detailed on where to go.

Take a ride up the OHSU gondola for a view if it's nice. Catch a flick at Baghdad Theater for some pizza and beer in an old theater or chill out at Kennedy School for some local Portland chillness. (Beer is not that great but the ambiance is) Catch a show at Crystal Ball Room maybe.

If you take the long route to Hood (IE: 84 to Hood River, and then to the Mountain) then you have to to Vista House and Multnomah Falls.

+1 on Forrest Park. Wine country on both sides of the city within an hour drive.

The Brewers Festival will be packed and go on Friday since they run out of beer on the popular stuff on Saturday afternoon.

Check out www.oregonlive.com and alot of the other festivals are usually there to check out.

It is packed on the weekend, which is why we usually try to go down on Friday. It actually starts on Thursday this year, not sure if that is new, but Thursday should be a great day to go.

sample some Oregon Pinot Noir

Ohh I didn't know Thursday. I knew Thursday nights were the Brewers Dinner, nice. I am in.

Wow! Count on FlyerTalkers for some great ideas!! Many thanks! ^ ^

We'll be flying in on 7/24 and leaving on 7/28. We're staying in downtown PDX near Pioneer Square.

Right now I do not have a car reserved just because I figured we could get everywhere in town on a bus or the light rail.

Food will be a big priority. We will definitely try Voodoo Donuts (cliche but my wife loves trying different donuts everywhere) and a restaurant called "Beast". I'll look in the restaurant thread for other places to chow down.

Is downtown a generally safe area to walk?

You can easily get around downtown and the outskirts by the streetcar and the light rail. You can taxi to other areas like Sellwood (if you're into antiquing).

Beast is good and get the maple bacon doughnut at Voodoo ^.

And downtown is safe, some areas are a little sketchy at night, like around old town and china town, but if you mind yourself you'll be fine.

Good to know that other Flyertalkers are going to this as well.

2nd on PDX having a pretty safe downtown. Much like in DEN, violent gun crime is a very rare occurance in the downtown and I'm sure with the beer festival in town, the police presence will be higher than usual.

Definately wouldn't mess with the car unless you want to go to the coast. Even IKEA is near the lightrail in PDX.

I volunteer for GABF in DEN so I highly recommend going Thursday and Friday. Saturday/Sunday will be drunkfests more so than the earlier two days and the good beers will be gone. Is anyone thinking about doing the bike tour? Sounded interesting but you don't hit the tasting rooms at the breweries due to DUI laws.

There use to always be FT Do at the Oregon Brewers Festival, at least one year, a bunch drunks (I mean FTers) flew to SEA, rented an RV and drove down.

I don't see anything on the Community Board for this year, maybe everyone has sobered up.

I'm flying down for a quick afternoon visit in mid july and my plan is

Mothers
VooDoo Doughnuts
Clear Creek Distillery

Does anyone know if Tazo offers a factory tour or tasting room?

I saw this place on the Food Network, and its definitely on my list for a future visit.

I totally agree about Multnomah Falls. It's great to just look at, and then there can be short or medium hikes thereafter. But you'll probably need a car.

Portland is a great city, with great restaurants, bookstores etc. But other cities have those. The outdoors attractions (ranging from the Portland Japanese Gardens to the Columbia River Gorge [with the Falls] to the Coast [Seaside/Cannon Beach, and/or Lincoln City/Newport] etc.) are the things that, particularly all being fairly close, make Portland such a wonderful place. So enjoy Portland, but get outta town if possible.