Summer Trip (Portland, Beaverton, Troutdale: hotels, house, neighborhood)

[scocar]

My SO and I are going to be visiting the PNW for the first time this summer. We want to do a pretty even mix of outdoor and urban stuff. Plan is to fly into PDX and stay in Portland a few days. We will probably visit the Columbia River Gorge area one day, and then after 2-3 days in Portland drive to Tillamook ( I want to go to De Gard Brewing) to see the Oregon coast. Probably stay in Tillamook one night then drive up the coast see Astoria and then drive to Seattle. Would like to get an Air BnB that is in a neighborhood in Portland that I can maybe walk to some cool local eating establishments and/or craft breweries.

Looking for suggestions for some local eats, craft breweries, and areas to stay in/avoid. We are city dwellers in St. Louis, so a little grit doesn't bother us at all. But would prefer an area where there is safe foot traffic. For eating we are more interested in local stuff that might show up on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives, not 5-star restaurants.

[StealthRabbit]

For a one night stay on the coast, consider a town on the beach. Like Twin Rocks, Manzanita, or Cannon Beach. Tillamook does not have coastal frontage.

Schedule route in such a way to see Hug Point at low tide (very pretty at sunset), and still make a late lunchtime at https://bowpicker.com/ (Astoria fish and chips.... Limited hours)

Consider a stay or long enough visit in Columbia Gorge to catch the many brew pubs in Hood River, plus just a few minutes across the bridge to White Salmon, Bingen, Stevenson. Skamania Lodge (Stevenson) has a very nice setting, lobby, library, and brunch. Great for sunrise or sunset. There is a lot of hiking and pics (and quiet) in Columbia Gorge, might be worth staying there or Troutdale, (Edgefields) and commuting to Portland. At least for a day or two.

[nadnerb]

I'm a big fan of Inner Southeast. If you use 7th Ave and 60th Ave as your west and east boundaries, respectively, and Division St. and Glisan St. as your south and north boundaries, respectively, then pretty much anywhere in this rectangle is a great place to stay. Division St., Hawthorne Blvd., Belmont St., and Burnside St. are the major arteries for commercial activity but there are charming businesses and little corner stores scattered everywhere. It's very walkable overall and does a great job of capturing the "vibe" of Portland. This area also has the highest density of breweries in the Portland area and there's multiple food cart pods.

Northwest District is another nice and highly walkable area. Lots of great restaurants and easy access to the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Pittock Mansion, and Forest Park.

As far as areas to avoid, as much as it pains to me to say it, I would avoid most of downtown and nearly all of Old Town / Chinatown. It's in a pretty bad state right now with the homeless camps and the trash. The only time I would recommend going down there is if you go to the Saturday Market or the PSU farmers market on Saturday morning (both of which are really cool). There's some other spots around the city that look really bad right now (Delta Park, Gateway Transit Center, Springwater Corridor) but you're unlikely to be in these spots.

[EasyBeezy]

Originally Posted by nadnerb

I'm a big fan of Inner Southeast. If you use 7th Ave and 60th Ave as your west and east boundaries, respectively, and Division St. and Glisan St. as your south and north boundaries, respectively, then pretty much anywhere in this rectangle is a great place to stay. Division St., Hawthorne Blvd., Belmont St., and Burnside St. are the major arteries for commercial activity but there are charming businesses and little corner stores scattered everywhere. It's very walkable overall and does a great job of capturing the "vibe" of Portland. This area also has the highest density of breweries in the Portland area and there's multiple food cart pods.

Northwest District is another nice and highly walkable area. Lots of great restaurants and easy access to the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Pittock Mansion, and Forest Park.

As far as areas to avoid, as much as it pains to me to say it, I would avoid most of downtown and nearly all of Old Town / Chinatown. It's in a pretty bad state right now with the homeless camps and the trash. The only time I would recommend going down there is if you go to the Saturday Market or the PSU farmers market on Saturday morning (both of which are really cool). There's some other spots around the city that look really bad right now (Delta Park, Gateway Transit Center, Springwater Corridor) but you're unlikely to be in these spots.

This is great advice, although the Springwater Corridor isn't too bad until you get past 82nd.

[CARas2020]

If you got Cannon Beach be sure to go to Bruce's Candy Kitchen. They have fantastic salt water taffy in all kinds of flavors. Along the coast go to Pacific City and have lunch at The Pelican. Food there is outstanding.

I agree with others stay away from the downtown area. Lots of buildings are still all boarded up. But it's been a few months since I was downtown.

Highly highly recommend the Gorge. Lots of hikes for all levels some have great waterfalls along them. Yes to Hood River. Great beers there.

[WestRiverTraveler]

Originally Posted by nadnerb

I'm a big fan of Inner Southeast. If you use 7th Ave and 60th Ave as your west and east boundaries, respectively, and Division St. and Glisan St. as your south and north boundaries, respectively, then pretty much anywhere in this rectangle is a great place to stay. Division St., Hawthorne Blvd., Belmont St., and Burnside St. are the major arteries for commercial activity but there are charming businesses and little corner stores scattered everywhere. It's very walkable overall and does a great job of capturing the "vibe" of Portland. This area also has the highest density of breweries in the Portland area and there's multiple food cart pods.

Northwest District is another nice and highly walkable area. Lots of great restaurants and easy access to the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Pittock Mansion, and Forest Park.

As far as areas to avoid, as much as it pains to me to say it, I would avoid most of downtown and nearly all of Old Town / Chinatown. It's in a pretty bad state right now with the homeless camps and the trash. The only time I would recommend going down there is if you go to the Saturday Market or the PSU farmers market on Saturday morning (both of which are really cool). There's some other spots around the city that look really bad right now (Delta Park, Gateway Transit Center, Springwater Corridor) but you're unlikely to be in these spots.

Four years ago we stayed on Belmont near an amazing little breakfast place called the Cricket Cafe. This is a great neighborhood. We are coming again in June and staying a bit southeast of there this time.

[Leisesturm]

Tillamook is a dairy town and if the wind is wrong it can make you wonder why you thought it was such a good idea. Although we live in Portland, that's all we do here. Live. It really isn't a place to enjoy like Seattle is. Our advice is to split your time between both cities and do the galleries, breweries, and other urban stuff in Seattle, and the coasty, hikey, outdoorsy, things in the Portland environs.

We can recommend the Spindrift Inn in Manzanita, Wheeler By the Bay Inn in ... Wheeler (Nehalem Bay), just to the south. When we go to the coast we stay in either place and venture up to Cannon Beach for a day of tide pooling. Bowpicker in Astoria is renowned, but I've heard the line is horrendous. Astoria and Seaside ... really think about why you would want to go there. Your time is limited. The south coast gets even more interesting though we never get down there. Yachats, Lincoln City, NewPort ... they are less accessible from a base in Portland.

The "Alphabet District" is a nicer part of Downtown Portland, and maybe interesting too, if you had more time to spend here. Beaverton to the West has a surprisingly nice Farmer's Market once it gets going. We know a couple with a few Air BnB properties, beyond them, (and I could certainly furnish contact details) I think the chain hotels have more accountability.

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

Tillamook is a dairy town and if the wind is wrong it can make you wonder why you thought it was such a good idea. Although we live in Portland, that's all we do here. Live. It really isn't a place to enjoy like Seattle is. Our advice is to split your time between both cities and do the galleries, breweries, and other urban stuff in Seattle, and the coasty, hikey, outdoorsy, things in the Portland environs.

We can recommend the Spindrift Inn in Manzanita, Wheeler By the Bay Inn in ... Wheeler (Nehalem Bay), just to the south. When we go to the coast we stay in either place and venture up to Cannon Beach for a day of tide pooling. Bowpicker in Astoria is renowned, but I've heard the line is horrendous. Astoria and Seaside ... really think about why you would want to go there. Your time is limited. The south coast gets even more interesting though we never get down there. Yachats, Lincoln City, NewPort ... they are less accessible from a base in Portland.

The "Alphabet District" is a nicer part of Downtown Portland, and maybe interesting too, if you had more time to spend here. Beaverton to the West has a surprisingly nice Farmer's Market once it gets going. We know a couple with a few Air BnB properties, beyond them, (and I could certainly furnish contact details) I think the chain hotels have more accountability.

Oh come on. I get that Seattle is bigger and has more for tourists, but there's still plenty to do in Portland, especially in the summer time.

- Washington Park (Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Hoyt Arboretum, etc.)
- Lan Su Chinese Garden
- Powell's Books
- Check out one of the local markets
- Aerial tram
- Picnic in Mt. Tabor
- Soaking at the Everett House or the Kennedy School
- Catch a movie at one of our unique independent theaters

[WestRiverTraveler]

Originally Posted by nadnerb

Oh come on. I get that Seattle is bigger and has more for tourists, but there's still plenty to do in Portland, especially in the summer time.

- Washington Park (Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Hoyt Arboretum, etc.)
- Lan Su Chinese Garden
- Powell's Books
- Check out one of the local markets
- Aerial tram
- Picnic in Mt. Tabor
- Soaking at the Everett House or the Kennedy School
- Catch a movie at one of our unique independent theaters

I've never had a draw to Seattle, but this summer will be my second trip to Portland. A great thing about Portland is that you can use it as a home base and get to so many things within 60-90 minutes (or even less.) You can get great coffee in the morning, hike in the Gorge for the afternoon, and be back in time to go out at night. Last time we stayed two nights out near Mt Hood. Maybe Seattle has similar, but Portland has plenty to offer.

[ejisme]

By all means OP, visit Tillamook. It's a nice dairy town with some cool things to do. The Tillamook Air Museum, the cheese factory, jerky outlet store, and if you time it right the county fair is nice (plus the brew pub you want to visit). The drive down to Tillamook is pretty cool too. As you go through the coast range you could nearly believe that Big Foot could hide in those woods/forest. But, I would suggest staying somewhere else for the night. Rockaway Beach is close to the north of Tillamook, and has good beach access, some nice restaurants, and a bit of beachy shopping. Then you can have an easy drive north to Astoria with plenty of time to make stops along the way. Regardless of where you stay, you should have a good visit.