Portland, OR- considering 1st time trip
 

Thinking about a mid-April trip. We'd want to stay "in" the City. How many days do you recommend? What is there to "do?" Weather? I don't get a lot of vacation time off from my job, so we're not talking more than 5 or so days....Thanks, all. I always get good advice from the people on this site.

Just moved out here, so I'm not much help, but there are several PDX area posters that I'm sure could help you if they see this!

I'm curious what made you pick Portland? It's a great city to live in but I don't think I'd fly all the way from New York to vacation there for 5 days.

Weather in April is likely to be raining, quite honestly.

(from Seattle)

Well, as someone who flys all the way from Hawaii to Portland, I'd say you've picked a great place for a short vacation!

The weather in mid-April might just be beautiful and the trees and flowers should be lovely then.

I like to do a lot of dining and shopping in Portland- they have so many great restaurants and prices tend to be very low incomparison to LA, SF or NYC. There is no sales tax, so shopping is also fun.

I like wandering NW 23rd Street, or Hawthorne between 30th and 39th streets, Pittock mansion, Chinese or Japanese gardens, the Saturday market, bike riding along the Willamette, browsing the antique and art shops in the Pearl district, shopping at Powell's Bookstore.

You can also drive to the coast in about an hour or go wine tasting.

Stay at the 5th Avenue Suites and you'll be right in the heart of the downtown. You can walk all over or use the great public transit.

Hi NativeNYer..my husband and I flew here last Sept from the East Coast for a 10 day vacation. We fell in love with the city and moved here in Aug.
We stayed at the 5th Avenue Suites. A great central location, a Kimpton Hotel with wine tasting every evening, a nice fireplace if it is damp and chilly and excellent service..not to mention beautiful suites for the price if a typical hotel room.
You can get around by streetcar, making it a very people friendly city.
lcuy, named all the good things :D
The Japanese Gardens will most likely be amazingly pretty, they are in the summer and in the rain too .
The Pittock Mansion is nice too.
You can get to the NW23rd area easily by streetcar, just start at one end of the street and walk, many great boutiques, funky shops ( 3 Monkeys is a hoot) dessert (Papa Haydn) chocolates ( Moonstruck) if you get a hankering for pizza, ( Escape from NY) and then there are nice places like Balvo and a dear little Thai place that we love (Miso Happy)..and a Starbucks on every corner :D
You can see Art House films on NW 21st at Cinema 21- You can go to see the Taiko Drummers or a Ballet or concert at the Keller Auditorium.
The Portland Museum of Art is very nice.
Walk along the River..walk into Chinatown and go to the Saturday Market which is held every weekend.
I am not sure when it opens but the weekly Farmers Market on Sat will be in the Park Blocks.
best bet...do a search on Portland and you can get tons of names of restaurants etc.
Hope this is not information overload :)
Scarlett in the Pearl ~

That has a nice ring to it.."Scarlett in the Pearl". Keep the moniker! ;)

I would strongly recommend adding another day or two if possible because -- in addition to all there is to do in the city -- there are three must-do day trips: Mt. St. Helens, the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood Loop, and the coast (Astoria-Tillamook, or Tillamook-south). Within the city, there is plenty to do: Washington Park, with an excellent zoo, Japanese tea garden and rose garden; the Pittock mansion (great view of Mts. St. Helens, Hood and Adams); Northwest 21st and 23rd streets. If you're a history buff, then you'll like the End of the Oregon Trail museum in Oregon City and the Lewis & Clark camp near Astoria. Restaurant recommendations: Jake's Crawfish, Wildwood, Ringside's Steaks, Hubers.

You can't predict the weather of course, but it could well be raining in April. So some of the outdoorsy stuff - the Mountains and some of the Columbia River Gorge - might lose its luster. I recommend at least a day trip to the Oregon Coast, however, regardless of the weather. It's really beautiful even in the rain. It's not even two hours a way, an easy drive, and quite a contrast to the east coast. A drive east to the Columbia River Gorge is much more beautiful in clear weather but you can still see the amazing falls along the scenic highway.

In the city, if you like books at all, don't miss Powell's Books, a terrific (and huge) used and new bookstore that takes up an entire city block. But, compared to NYC, Portland will probably seem tiny and smalltown-ish.

Andrew