[2024] Is Portland Worth Visiting? Eh... Maybe

The most touristy things to do in Portland

You haven't tasted an unforgottable doughnut until you've visited Portland.

Forget the big names like Dunkin Donuts, Tim Hortons, or Krispy Kream (even though, yeah, Krispy Kreams are pretty amazing...)-- the best doughnuts you'll ever eat are found in Portland!

Located in Old Town Chinatown is Voodoo Doughnut-- a corner shop with as much personality as their pastries have flavor. Can you think of another independently owned doughnut shop with its own record label!?

Both of the slogans for Voodoo Doughnut are clever double entendres: 'Good Things Come in Pink Boxes' and 'The Magic is in The Hole'.

My recommendations: the Portland Cream, Oh Captain My Captain, and a tried-and-true Chocolate Ring.

Prior to COVID, Voodoo Doughnut was open 24 hours a day. Now, they are open 22 hours a day-- being closed from 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Unless you are comfortable potentially standing in line for over a half hour-- which, hey, could be argued as being part of the Voodoo Doughnut experience-- I would suggest arriving in the early morning hours on weekdays.

Conveniently across the street from Voodoo Doughnut is one of the three Portland signs-- the other two of which I'll include later in the article.

The 'Keep Portland Weird' sign is on the back of a music venue called Dante's.

Many cities will have a public square located in the center of downtown, like with Campus Martius in Detroit. In Portland, that public square is Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Pioneer Courthouse Square has a little secret! There is a circle where, if you stand directly in the middle and say something, you'll be engulfed in your own voice! The "echo" is instananeous and thus amplifies your voice in a way where only you hear the reflection.

Another thing you must see in Pioneer Courthouse Square is the signpost. It's very similar to the 'Center of the Universe' sign in Seattle.

Measured directly from the signpost are the distances of other famous landmarks around the globe, and humorously, some very nearby spots in Portland-- one of them being the Trimet office less than a couple hundred feet away!

Less than a five minute's walk from Pioneer Courthouse Square is the statue which inspired the name for the television show Portlandia.

The statue-- also named "Portlandia"-- is hosted above the entrance to the Portland Building in downtown. It is the second largest copper statue in the U.S, only bested in size by the Statue of Liberty in New York.

In the same manner that the Statue of Liberty depicts a female, the Portlandia statue also resembles a woman. It is cool how the statue looks down at you and extends her hand out, as if she wants to help pull you up to the roof of the building!

The final item of the most touristy things to do in Portland is to check out Powell's Books. Being the world's largest independently owned bookstore, you are bound (as always, pun intended) to discover literature covering any topic you can conjure!

Powell's Books is a multilevel store and plenty of fun to quietly explore (that rhymed). Many of the floors and literary genres are divided by color.

As you saunter through Powell's Books, be sure to check out their rare books room on the third floor. Space is limited to fourteen customers at a time. To enter, you have to pick up a badge at the counter outside the rare books room which you wear around your neck.

To recap, the five most touristy things to do in Portland are to check out Voodoo Donuts, the 'Keep Portland Weird' sign, Pioneer Courthouse Square, the Portlandia statue, and Powell's Books.

However, this is certainly much more to do and see in the Rose City-- and this next section covers more things I'd highly recommend doing!

Other cool things to do in Portland

At some point through your Portland trip, you're going to need to eat!

The food cart block pictured above is called Midtown Beer Garden. It is located at on SW 5th Ave between Oak and Harvey Milk (formerly called Stark St).

Food cart culture is just as enjoyable for the locals as it is for travelers! The cuisine served at the many food cart blocks scattered around Portland frankly are better than many sit-down restaurants in the city-- and even more creative!

As an example of the food being more creative, one food cart I was fond of was Spice and Slice Pizza. It serves pizza but with Indian flavors and spices!

Some of the joys I've had from traveling are trying out fast food places that aren't available or abundant in my home state of Michigan. Like Swensons in Cleveland. Or Whataburger.

Then, there's Burgerville-- a fast food burger chain which only has locations in Washington and Oregon. The burgers at Burgerville have perhaps the most unique taste I've ever had in a burger-- and it's due to a signature secret sauce they put on their burgers!

The Burgerville location pictured above is in the northeast quadrant of Portland on NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.

If you are flying into Portland through Portand International Airport (which, by the way, is one of the best airports in the country), there is a Burgerville located inside.

Speaking of the airport...

Portland International Airport, aside from being one of the top-rated airports in the country, is also well-known for most of the airport being carpeted. In particular, the airport sports a sea green carpet with a pattern of colored curved lines.

Taking pictures of your shoes standing on top of the carpet is seriously something a lot of people do at Portland International Airport. So, have some fun and snap a picture of your feet on the signature green carpet at the airport!

Recall earlier when I discussed the 'Keep Portland Weird' sign I mentioned there were two others you should check out?

The second Portland sign you should see is located in downtown on Broadway Street-- only a few minutes walk from Pioneer Courthouse Square. To be specific, you'll find this memorable sign outside the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

As for the third sign...

The third Portland sign is also called the White Stag sign-- located in Old Town in the northwest district of Portland.

What I especially cherish about this photo is you can see the U.S Bancorp Tower, or known to Portlanders as "Big Pink", in the background here, which is the tallest building in Portland.

Unlike Seattle, which is only about 2-3 hours north, Portland doesn't have many skyscrapers nor tall buildings, as Portland has the look of a college town, only much larger!

"Big Pink" is the tallest building in Portland and is located quite close to the 'Keep Portland Weird' sign and Voodoo Doughnut.

Good thing I brought up Voodoo Doughnut again-- because one thing that Portlanders like to argue is whether Voodoo Doughnut or Blue Star Donuts (different spellings) has the superior pastry!

During your trip to Portland, pick up a doughnut (or donut, however you choose to spell it) from each establishment and decide for yourself who's better.

My vote?

On taste and personality, I have to give it to Voodoo. Blue Star is really good too though. Both doughtnut establishments outclass Dunkin Donuts and Tim Horton's by a longshot.

Public art & murals in Portland

Portland fosters all varieties of artistic expression-- and you'll encounter plenty of amazing sculptures and street art throughout the streets of downtown!

Murals first? Sounds good to me!

Here are two really cool murals to be found in Portland's Chinatown!

These next two murals are very close to the Keep Portland Weird sign.

In the Goose Hollow neighborhood, you'll spot this theater all painted on the outside.

One last mural before I move on to some lovely sculptures throughout the city: I forget the exact location. It was in downtown close-ish to the riverfront.

Check out this elegant looking structure...

There is this cool elephant statue at the intersection of NW Park and W Burnside-- pretty close to Powell's Books!

Also rather close to Powell's Books is this interesting sculpture by the restaurant Jake's Famous Crawfish...

I really like the two brick gateway structures at this bus stop.

The last image in this section contains a collection of two sculptures, which is by one of the murals I posted earlier and also nearby Voodoo Doughnut! Enjoy!

For the final item in my list of positives for visiting Portland, we'll take a look at Portland's public transportation!

The public transit is amazing in Portland

When I moved to Portland back in 2015, one of the biggest selling points for me was the abundance of public transportation.

For visitors to Portland, the public transportation can help you get around easily, especially if you visit the other quadrants of the city!

My favorite mode of public transportation in Portland is the MAX, which you'll see pictured above. If you fly into Portland International Airport, you can take the MAX Red Line train going to Beaverton to arrive in downtown.

For another use of the MAX, if you're in Pioneer Courthouse Square and want to go to Voodoo Doughnut, you can board the Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, or Orange lines and exit at Old Town Chinatown or SW 6th & Pine and walk a few minutes over to Voodoo.

The MAX also goes to neighboring cities, such as Gresham, Beaverton, and Clackamas.

The Portland Streetcar is another convenient way to explore the four quadrants of Portland. For instance, if you wanted from Pioneer Courthouse Square to Powell's Books, you could walk to the Central Library stop and board either the A or NS Line.

As a third option to navigate Portland, you can opt for the buses. Like the MAX, the buses go beyond the city of Portland as well.

To purchase fare for Trimet (the agency behind Portland's public transportation), simply download their app, enter in your details and a credit/debit card number. You can scan the fare from the app using a reader onboard the trains or buses.

So, have I done a good job in showing you the best of what Portland has to offer? I hope so-- but I do feel some obligation to show the less desirable sides of Portland. There's only two...

There are lots of homeless people

I've been to many, many cities in the U.S and, honestly, the homeless problem in Portland is about the worst I've seen.

Granted, I haven't been to the major cities in California recently, where I hear the homeless situation is just as bad, if not more severe. But, even if cities like San Francisco or Los Angeles have it worse, Portland's is still alarming, and could deter some people from visiting.

In my experience, most homeless people in American cities will be seated on the sidewalk and ask for money. In Portland, the homeless are a little more mobile. Many of them walk around.

Two accounts of the homeless from my last visit in June 2024: I saw one homeless woman enter the Starbucks at Pioneer Courthouse Square, grab a bottled beverage, and walk out. I saw another homeless man in Chinatown shout expletives at nearby strangers and punch his fists into the air.

Avoiding homelessness in any American city is a challenge but as someone who often travels alone as well, I don't feel it's nearly as problematic in cities like New York, Detroit, or Seattle, as it is in Portland.

It rains a lot and is frequently cloudy

During my most recent visit in June 2024, which lasted four days, the forecast showed no rain. And yet... it rained anyway. Multiple times, albeit not for long each time.

From my four years of residing in Portland and my two subsequent visits, here is how the rain usually works: it rarely downpours and, instead, drizzles. This light precipitation will last for maybe 10-20 minutes, and then stop, perhaps to return a few hours later.

Even if it doesn't rain, you are far more likely to experience a cloudy day. Portland is cloudy over 200 days in a year. A dim, gloomy day could damper the spirits of a trip.

To minimize the chances of cloudiness and rain, seek to visit in the summer or early autumn months.

Conclusion

Portland will always be special to me. For travel recommendations, I do my utmost best to remove bias, and this is why I presented pros and cons for visiting Portland.

Nearly all my recommendations for Portland are found in the southwest section of the city. Voodoo Doughnuts, Powell's Books, Pioneer Courthouse Square, and dining at a food cart are essential things to do when visiting Portland.

Keep in mind the homelessness and the weather!

So, after reading my in-depth article, do you think Portland is still worth visiting for you? Feel free to contact me and let me know!


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