Our Oregon Roadtrip Starts in Downtown Portland
Oregon has been on our wishlist for quite some time so you can imagine how thrilled we were when we were invited to do a travel story. Oregon has it all: From uberhip Portland to nature that simply takes your breath away. In fact, it is so diverse you can see arid desert, snowy mountains, orchards, wineries and red rocks all in one day.
We started and ended our adventure in Portland. The city of coffee houses and breweries. You’ll find one of those on every street corner, together with an array of vintage shops, local arts and crafts, vinyl stores and homemade beauty brands.
Some of Our Favourites
Downtown Portland is cool, with fine food halls, cozy restaurants and shops. Here’s our some of our favourites for this area:
- Hotel 1: We stayed in two hotels. The first two nights in The Nines, a chic design hotel with amazing rooms and equal views. There are a few in-house restaurants – one being a rooftop sushi place. I love in-house restaurants, especially after a long flight and mega jetlag. You can eat and roll straight to bed after. The Nines is known for its art all around the hotel. It really felt like staying in a modern museum. You will love it.
- Hotel 2: The other nights we stayed in the Hampton Inn & Suites, perfectly located right in the middle of the Pearl district. Think: yoga studios, all our favourite shopping and lots of restaurants around the corner. The hotel offers spacious rooms and a swimming pool. Major plus when traveling with a kid.
- Pine Street Market: If you plan to have dinner with a group, this food market is perfect. You can order delicious pizzas, Japanese ramen or a burger and every drink you can think of. Great for dinner, but there are enough options for lunch and breakfast too. I think we visited this place a few times.
- The Portland Outdoor Store: I think this was my favourite hangout in downtown Portland. This shop has been around for 99 years (100 years in 2019). The building is beautiful and their collection amazing. From tartan shirts to boots and hats. You’ll just want to take it all home. A must visit when staying in Portland.
- Voodoo Doughnut: these doughnuts are iconic. People stand in line for hours for an Old Dirty Bastard (chocolate frosting, peanut butter and oreo cookies) or a Voodoo Bubble with chewing gum powder. DEven the classics are worth the wait. Make sure to buy a box and enjoy them under the pink blossom trees on the river bank.
- Powells: if you love books, this is heaven. I wish I could spend a full day in this fantastic bookstore. They have everything. Even if you’re not a huge reader, you will find yourself buying a book. Or… if not, they sell great coffee in the corner café. Bring an extra suitcase.
- Mother’s Bistro: Brunch is a big thing in Portland and especially at Mother’s it’s a hit. Their menu offers everything you’d want for breakfast. They have egg’s any style (try Mike’s special scramble with provolone cheese and the best Belgian waffle with honey and pecan nuts. (They call it brunch but it’s actually breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner together with those servings!)
- 2nd Avenue Records: Vinyl lovers, this is your place. Apart from LP’s they also sell cd’s and old fashioned cassettes. (for those born after 2000: a cassette is the old cd that you could listen to on your Walkman. You could reverse it and you could tape over the music that was already on it. For those born after 2010: a cd is a flat disc containing music or any other file. Oh well, look it up on Wikipedia…)
- Deschutes brewery: If you’re staying in The Pearl district and you want to try a local beer (they brew over 25 different kinds some with beautiful labels), this is your place. Apart from the beer, they serve burgers, salads and fries. Cheers!
After spending a few days in this amazing city we picked up our car and drove towards the coast. A beautiful ride. More about that later….
P.S. Luckily this was a round trip, so we knew we were coming back to town. So much more to explore and tell you about.