Portland-Seattle
 

My husband and I are planning an August trip for a week for our 5th anniversary to see Portland and Seattle and surrounding areas. We have never been out to that area and are having trouble getting started with an itinerary. The only thing that is planed is we are flying into Portland and flying out of Seattle and will rent a car for the week. We would like to tour some of the wine region, the city of Portland and then drive up towards Seattle and make a few stops along the way. We then want to spend a few days in and around Seattle. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, including hotel and restaurant recommendations. Thanks!

PDX and SEATAC are only 4.5 hours apart via the interstates. There is no need to pay a drop off fee. If you wanted to rent two cars - one in Portland downtown and one in Seattle you can take an Amtrak Cascades train between the two cities. You don't need a car while you are within either city.
What do you want to see outside the cities? Among the choices are Mt. Rainier NP, Olympic NP, the Washington coast, the Oregon coast and the Columbia Gorge.

We live in both of these areas and make the drive every week, and have for years. From PDX to SEA it is only 2.5 hours in normal traffic.

The train is a nice way to go if you want to avoid any possible drop off fees for a rental car. That said, I would not miss Mt St Helens, which is on the way to Seattle. You can easily do it as a day trip out of either city though, easier out of Portland as the exit off I-5 is only an hour north of Portland. So it just depends on your itinerary.

Oregon is known world wide for our Pinot Noir wines, and the area that you want for this is SW of Portland by about an hour. It is the Willamette Valley, and we have over 200 wineries in this region alone. Lots of excellent ones to choose from, and many that are very small and so do not distribute at all or very little, so plan accordingly and have some either shipped back home on the plane with you, or have the winery or UPS ship for you:)

There is just so much to do and see in both the Portland and Seattle area's, so without knowing your other interests it is hard to make suggestions.

As for hotels, what is your budget and what style do you prefer? In Seattle, that is cruise season so hotel rates are crazy high. Last summer we flew my mom out to visit us there and the hotel was over $300/night for the Sheraton, to give you an idea. So get that lined up and booked asap.

Recommended loop trip from Portland - http://goo.gl/maps/Vnx0s

This includes the Columbia Gorge historic highway, the gorgeous Hood River Valley, Mount Hood, the eastern Gorge (vineyards) and Maryhill Museum, the marvelous "old west" scenery up US 97 and through the Yakama reservation, (many) more vineyards in the Yakima Valley, then some desert, gorgeous ranching country, and across the Cascades into Seattle.

On the way back to Portland, detour up to Johnston Ridge at Mount St. Helens.

It's a trip that highlights the amazing diversity of our region.

<only 4.5 hours>

No it's not that far. I drive Seattle to Portland on I-5 in exactly 3.0 hours typically.

Suze is spot on, and she is talking about from downtown, not the airport, which is south of Seattle.

Yes, my 3.0 hours on the nose is leaving from downtown Seattle & is the time as you're driving thru downtown Portland (I'm continuing on south when I do this).

SeaTac is about 20-25 mins. south of downtown if that's where you are going to or leaving from.

What kind of food do you like, and how much are you hoping to spend on restaurants? Our favorites include Anthony's Fish Bar (inexpensive order-at-the-bar little brother of a more upscale place, but their salmon and chips are delicious and the cute is great on a nice day), Daniel's Broiler (upscale steak on Lake Union), Dahlia Lounge (one of many nice but not fussy restaurants by local chef Tom Douglas), and Il Bistro (Italian place in a romantic cave-like atmosphere almost underneath Pike Place Market).