Portland, OR suggestions?

[definitelyO]

I have a work trip to Portland,OR in mid-October and thinking of having DH come out and extend over the weekend. 

What are the highlights of Portland we can do in 2 days?   we love wine, beer, any food, hiking, outdoors, so we're open to anything. 

what neighborhood should we stay in - hotel recs? 

[mastistyle]

I went in August-we stayed at The Heathman (amex had a promo rate plus free parking and breakfast). Stopped at the rose garden (near the japanese gardens). We went to one of the largest farmers markets I have seen (Saturdays). Of course ate donuts Vodoo Donuts and Blue Star Donuts, had ice cream and Salt and Straw. We had meals at Luc Lac (vietnamese), Woodsman Tavern, Park Kitchen, Oven and Shaker, Blue Plate, and Noble ROt.

We also went wine tasting and stopped in Newburg to eat at Recipe. And The rose gardens are gorgeous. As you can tell we did alot of eating and drinking!

[mrsstreet]

We just spent a long weekend in Portland in August. We loved the city!

I would stay downtown or in the Pearl district. There are numerous hotels in those areas and they have lots of restaurants and shopping and bars close by. We stayed at the Hotel Lucia, which was good but a little noisy. Great service though and clean rooms. Just thin walls.

Restaurants:
Voodoo Donuts-a well known Portland donut shop
Waffle Window- delicious waffles
Andina- in the Pearl district....wonderful Peruvian food
A Cena- really good Italian but far from downtown
Deschutes brewery- good beer and pretty good food
Rogue brewery- good brewery
Lampoc Tavern- another good brewery

*Honestly, Portland has a great food scene so any restaurant should be great. They also have food carts all over the city.

Things to do:
Hike in Forest Park- one of my favorite thing ps we did. We hiked the Wildwood Trail but we went in at the entrance by the NW 23rd area instead of the zoo. Less crowded and felt more like you were away from the city. After this hue, we walked through the NW 23rd area neighborhood. Lots of shops and breweries and restaurants.

Pearl District- fun neighborhood with lots of restaurants, shopping, breweries. This s where Powell's books is located.

Hawthorne district- up and coming area of Portland with lots of cool shops and restaurants. We walked this neighborhood one morning after breakfast at the Waffle Window.

Colombia River Gorge- about half an hour outside Portland. You rent a car and drive the Old Colombia Historic Highway and stop off a lookouts and waterfalls. You can hike up to the falls in places. Very scenic and pretty. One if my favorite things we did.

Coast- it's about 1 1/2 hours from Portland to Cannon Beach. We drove out and spent the day walking the coast and hiking in Ecola State Park. Gorgeous views! Cannon Beach is a cute little town with lots of art galleries and cute shops, though many are tourist shops. Haystack Rock is right there at Cannon Beach

Have a great time!

[starlily]

If you love books, you must go to Powell's.

[jaime183]

hiking- multnomah falls or forest park
beer- so many great places- I like Hopworks or Rogue but there are so many
wine- Dundee is my favorite for wine tasting - here's a good map willamettewines.com/about-the-valley/regional-map/
Portland has distinct neighborhoods that offer different vibes of the city... NW/Pearl has a lot of great restaurants and boutique shops, downtown has the mall and some restaurants (and the river), SE has a lot of cool shops and restaurants- more of a hipster vibe.

Powells Books and Voodoo donuts are tourist faves...
also Salt and Straw (NW or NE) and Ruby Jewel icecream (Mississippi St or downtown)

On Saturday morning there will be Saturday Market (crafts) but I prefer the Portland State Farmer's Market (downtown). It is a great place to walk around and they do have some stalls for cooked food for lunch. It will probably be raining though

I've heard good things about the walking tours downtown but haven't done them

[msturtle143]

Hike up Rocky Butte
Food trucks galore
Japanese Garden.

We took our little one to the Zoo though it was really just the same as our zoo here in Seattle. Nothing more special in our opinion.

[definitelyO]

thanks for all the ideas!!! I'm booking the flights this weekend and will look at hotels next week - thankfully work will pay for the hotel and my flight and rental car - so shouldn't be an expensive trip!