Hello,
I am travelling to Oregon for my brother's wedding in a few weeks. My fiance and I will spend one night in Portland before heading to the wedding city. We're trying to spend as little money as possible while still having a descent time (no mice or dirtyness! -- We're getting married in a few months, too, so money is tight...) We're not renting a car the first night we're there. Can anyone suggest a hotel that is easy to get to from the airport and also easy to get to some good restaurants/tourist attractions? Is there public transport from the airport and around town? And any recomendations for good but cheap vegetarian-friendly dinners, and post-dinner things to do, would be great too! Thank you!

See http://www.trimet.org to see about public transit in Portland. Yes, the MAX train will take you right downtown from the airport for $1.60 per person - easy and safe.

I would consider using Priceline.com and bidding for a 4-star hotel. Use www.biddingfortravel.com as a guide. You are very likely to get a nice hotel downtown for only about $60-$70 including taxes - no need to worry about parking without a car. You could save some bucks and get a 3-star but you risk not being right downtown - you could wind up just east of the river, still OK but not nearly as much fun.

If you really want cheap, stay in one of the youth hostels. The one in the Hawthorne district (SE Portland) is in kind of a counter-culture neightborhood with several vegetarian restaurant options. There's another hostel in NW Portland on NW Glisan Street, closer to downtown. I think you can reserve a private room but share a bathroom at each. Search Google for "Portland hostels" and "hawthorne" or "glisan" to find them.

Portland has a nice downtown, and there is stuff to do at night, even though it's not Las Vegas or New York or anything. You could walk down by the waterfront park, even take an evening cruise on the Portland Spirit up the Willamette River, or just explore the city. There may be some sort of event going on if it's a weekend - there are festivals at the waterfront many summer weekends. Walking around NW 23rd Ave or SE Hawthorne (depending on where you are staying) and stopping in a pub and just people watching could be a lot of fun. Do check out the International Rose Test Garden (aka Rose Garden, not to be confused with the arena where the Portland Trailblazers play) in Washington Park (there's a shuttle running in the daytime, see TriMet.org). Beautiful roses in the summer - not to be missed. If it's raining and you love books, do not miss Powell's Books at NW10th and W. Burnside, a whole block of books! Powell's is a tourist attraction to book lovers who visit Portland.

Andrew

Thank you Andrew! That's a huge help. I would've never thought of Priceline, and your list of things to do is right up our alley.

If anyone else has restaurant recommendations, they'd be much appreciated!!

Agree with Andrew 100% - you really can't go wrong with a 4* downtown Priceline bid. It will be a great hotel in a great location.

There are any number of places in the Pearl District that I think you would enjoy, ranging from Piazza Italia, a homey (speaking italian is a plus) place where the dinner bill would be in the $30 - $50 range, to Bluehour, where it's more in the $130 - $150 range.

I'll be in Portland for an afternoon soon and we have reservations at Paley's Place, but I'm considering The Bluehour after the reviews I've received on Chowhound!

Can't wait to shop the Pearl and try a new dinner place. Here's a cool website for the Pearl District: www.shopthepearl.com ***kim***

I would recommend checking out Citysearch for restaurant recommendations. There are sooo many great restaurants to choose from! What is your favorite ethnic food? Thai Phoon is fantastic and has plent of Veggie options and there is one on broadway and one on 23rd. Public transportation is a breeze downtown. There is a Fare Free zone downtown and across the bridge to the Rose Quarter so you can just hop on MAX as you please.

Despite the clever play on words, the correct name of the restaurant is "Typhoon!" (not "Thai Phoon") and that's how you'll find it with a quick Google search.

Andrew

My husband and I live 2 hours from Portland and stay there often using Priceline for hotels. We usually bid no more than $30-40 for a 2 star or 3 star. We've gotten the Marriott Courtyard and the Doubletree for these rates. Good luck!

Oops! Thanks Andrew.

Just returned from PDX "on the cheap" yesterday.
Got a 3 star airport hotel for 35.00 a night... La Quinta Airport. It was very nice with a free b'fast (4am-10am!) and a/p shuttle.
Our event was in downtown and the hotel took us to/from the Max station at the a/p. Cheaper than a rental car and faster than driving in Portland traffic.
We went to Saturday market, the Rose festival, Rose Quarter Convention ctr, Beaverton, and everywhere we wanted to go via Max with no problem.
Best of all I got a decent room for 35.00 a night and a quick ride to the a/p upon my return which was at an obscene 4am in the morning... something to consider because we were not sure if Max ran at 4am and we would not have wanted to lug all our crap on it anyway. Staying at the a/p allowed us to get to dntn fast but pay less for more AND have quick access to the a/p via hotel shuttle!

For $35/night, I would probably do a 3-star Priceline bid downtown first. You are likely to get a hotel either right downtown or close-in NE near the MAX line. Then you would be able to walk to stuff in addition to using the MAX, without the pain of having to MAX/shuttle all the way back to the airport. And, I have taken lots of luggage on the MAX. Even if the train has had a lot of people on it, I've never had a problem doing that.

Andrew

The decision factor with us was that darn 6am flight. We had to leave for the a/p at 4am and did not want to be at the mercy of Max schedules... for us the a/p worked much better.
Your schedule may be different but it might be a consideration.

We had dinner at Paley's Place Fri. night and really enjoyed the experience. If you want to keep the bill down, you could go for an appetizer (we loved the steamed mussels in garlic wine and the pomme frites) and a glass of wine. Very nice ambiance and excellent service and treatment here. Enjoy Portland!

A carriage ride (it leaves in front of the Riverplace Hotel) would be a very romantic, fun thing to do after dinner. We did this last summer and it was lots of fun. ***kim***

Last summer I pricelined a hotel in Portland and got the Hilton for $40 or $50.