There’s Something About Portland…

Today’s post is a guest post from one of my favorite tweeters, Jessica Spiegel, better known to many as @italylogue. I’ve been avidly planning a Northwest escape surrounding 2011′s TBEX conference and Jess was amazing enough to lavish me with deets about her city, Portland. Keep on reading below for all of her hints and tips, food cart info (yum) and chic hotel recommendations.

There’s something afoot in Portland lately. It was happening even before the buzz surrounding IFC’s new mini-series, Portlandia hit the wires. It’s like something’s about to happen here.

No idea what that “something” is, mind you, but still.

While Portland isn’t a place most people think of when planning vacations in the U.S., it does attract a fair number of visitors each year who have either heard about some appealing aspect of daily life in Portland (okay, let’s be fair, it’s often the food) or they’re potential transplants checking out the city before they move. Whichever category you fall into, Portland can be a great place to spend a few days – or a few years.

Here are a few things to know to get you started with your Portland trip planning.

Getting to Portland
Although it’s dwarfed by Seattle’s and San Francisco’s airports in terms of passengers, Portland does have a sizeable airport of its very own. Portland International Airport (PDX) is great, with free WiFi (and lots of outlets!), nice shops and restaurants, and a handy connection to downtown Portland via MAX, our light rail train.

It’s not uncommon to have to connect somewhere in the middle of the country if you’re flying from the east coast, but there are direct flights to Portland from New York, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. on Alaska Air, Continental, US Airways, United, Delta, and jetBlue.

Incidentally, the airport code – PDX – is often used informally as short-hand for the city name, so don’t be surprised if you hear locals say they “live in PDX.” They don’t, in fact, live at the airport.

If you prefer ground transport, Portland is served by both Amtrak and Greyhound – and if you’re driving, we’re right on I-5. You can’t miss us. (Seriously, the highway goes right through downtown.)

Sleeping in Portland
Portland may not be a tourist magnet like San Francisco, but there are plenty of options when it comes to places to stay. It’s fun to stay right downtown to take advantage of all the city has to offer, but if you’ve got a car or are on a MAX or bus line it’s pretty easy to get around from wherever you’re staying.

There are some fun boutique hotels in Portland – including the swanky The Nines hotel with its rooftop bar, the hipster-chic Ace Hotel, and the old-school motel-turned-funky-hotel (with a great bar and music venue attached) Jupiter Hotel – and hotels don’t tend to be terribly expensive here, either (at least as compared with bigger tourist draws).

If you need to sleep cheap, there are only two bona fide hostels in Portland (one on each side of the river), but both have great reputations. Otherwise, there are lots of hotel options around the Oregon Convention Center on the east side of the river that are less charming, more utilitarian, and sometimes cheaper.

Weather in Portland
Portland can be fun to visit any time, but the truth is that winters here can be downright dreary. It’s quite damp and gray for most of the winter, though it’s not like it’s a constant downpour for months – it’s usually a drizzle to a shower. (Yes, we’ve got a bajillion words for rain out here. Oh, and we love to remind everyone that it’s wetter in Seattle.)

Spring and fall in Portland can be fantastic, as long as you’re prepared for a random shower now and then, but summer is when Portland really comes into her own. It doesn’t tend to get very hot here – or at least it doesn’t stay hot for very long. Most older homes don’t have air conditioning, and there’s usually only one week each summer when those of us who are AC-free really yearn for it. For a region that gets so much moisture all winter, Portland’s summers are gloriously non-humid, too.

Eating in Portland
The food scene in this city is one area where we really shine and for which we’ve gained some notoriety – justifiably, if you ask me. There are excellent restaurants at all price points and covering an enormous range of cuisines all over the city, and more recently we’ve become well known for the proliferation of top-notch food carts.

Diners of every persuasion can find something to get excited about in Portland. We’re insanely tolerant (some would say overly so) of dietary restrictions – this is a city where not only vegetarian restaurants but also vegan places can thrive – and there are also places that make their own excellent charcuterie. We love our local food producers (I’m never surprised to see Portland-area farms prominently displayed on menus) and the Portland Farmers Market is always packed to the gills with shoppers.

Portlanders are lucky to have more than just food to get excited about on local menus, too, since we’re a short drive from one of the top Pinot Noir-producing regions in the U.S. and the city itself is home to more micro-breweries per capita than any other city in the world. Portland also has a love affair with the happy hour – which, around here, means low-priced drinks along with a menu of seriously discounted (and yet still full-sized) dishes. You can eat quite well for very little money at happy hours in Portland and have absolutely no need to eat anything more for dinner.

Oh, and Seattle may have given birth to Starbucks, but Portland has its own share of micro-roasters ready to provide you with your morning coffee.

It’s impossible to list all the great places to eat in Portland in this post, but to get you started I’d recommend this list of a few of my personal favorites, this site dedicated to all the food carts in Portland, and the food and drink section of the Travel Portland site.

Playing in Portland
One of the best things about Portland is its proximity to the natural playground that is the Pacific Northwest. Mt. Hood, which overlooks the city, provides year-round skiing. The Columbia Gorge just to the northeast of the city is home to world class wind surfing and gorgeous hikes. The rugged Oregon coast is an hour’s drive from downtown. And just at one edge of downtown Portland is the 5,000+ acre Forest Park, full of running/hiking/biking trails.

Portland isn’t necessarily known as a shopping mecca (although, hey – no sales tax, yay!), but book lovers usually know about our enormous “city of books,” Powell’s. It’s worth a fair bit of time (and an empty suitcase to tote home your treasures). There are also a couple museums worth checking out (Portland Art Museum, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), and a few lovely gardens (International Rose Test Garden, Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden).

The folks at Travel Portland have a comprehensive guide to all the things to see and do in and around Portland, and it’s kept up to date with current events – so do have a browse through that when you’re planning out your itinerary.

Oh, but there’s more…
I haven’t even mentioned how our urban growth boundary keeps Portland from getting too sprawl-y, or how Portland is home to quite a bit of good live jazz, or how Portland is so freakishly easy to navigate because it’s a big grid… I could go on and on about this city, I really could – I love it here.

Which is why I invite you to come see for yourself what’s going on in Portland. If y’all take me up on the offer, then something will definitely be happening here – even if there wasn’t something happening already.

Be sure to check out Travel Portland for more details on all aspects of visiting the city.

About the Author: Jessica Spiegel is a Portland-based (duh) travel writer for BootsnAll, the indie travel guide, where she focuses on all things Italy. She writes WhyGo Italy, BootsnAll’s Italy travel guide, and happily covers all kinds of travel topics from Italian train travel to Italian gelato. She’s on Twitter almost constantly as @italylogue.

photo via flickr.