We will be flying to Portland on Friday, Aug 27, arriving late. We are planning to stay near the airport Friday night. I have been reading about the Saturday market & Farmer's market and think we would like to visit those places on Saturday. We will have the entire day to spend in Portland. We also want to visit the Rose garden, and the Chinese and/or Japanese gardens if time permits. I will need to check on how late they are open.

We would like to take public transportation into Portland and back to a hotel in the area of the airport. We will be leaving on Sunday morning for the next leg of our trip, the Columbia River Gorge and on south. We have never been to Portland and are hoping we can spend the day in Portland without having to worry about driving and parking.

Thanks so much for any advice anyone can offer.

Yes, it is very easy to see all these sights without a car. Between MAX and the streetcar, you will be set.

MMS is right. We stayed in Portland in October without a car. It was very easy to get around.

Thanks mms and Itr for your replies. Itr, did you get a map of public tansportation before arriving, or was it easy to figure out once you got there?

I believe you can print out a map on www.trimet.org. If not, then most of the shops and hotels in downtown have maps with all the routes on them as well as some of the most common shops/restaurants/hotels.

There is a good map on the internet, you can print it, and a color map on each MAX station. Spend some time looking at it, planning how to get to places.

The transportation within the city center is free. I remember paying only going to/from the airport, and on the streetcar when we went to the funicular.

Chinese gardens are great, and I recommend not to miss them! Try to get on one of the docent tours if you want to learn, not just to see.

Bring a netbook or an iphone, then you don't need a map or paper schedules. You can use Google Transit (integrated with Google Maps) to find your way by bus or train anywhere in town. Just type in a place (like your hotel name - you often don't even need the address) and Google show you the bus/train routings to your destination. Don't be afraid of Portland's buses. Yes, the trains are less scary for some, but our bus system is decent, too.

I recently spent a few days in San Diego without a car - just bought a three day transit pass and took buses and trains everywhere. My netbook fit in my camera bag and I have it on the internet via my cell phone, so I was literally online everywhere and easily able to find bus or train directions anywhere, with Google. Works great with Portland's transit system, too.

Dayenu: The transportation within the city center is free. I remember paying only going to/from the airport, and on the streetcar when we went to the funicular.

(Funicular? Do you mean the Portland Aerial Tram?)

Yes, Portland MAX trains and streetcars are free within the "free rail zone" which includes all of our tiny downtown and part of the Pearl District and also a sliver on the east side of Portland between Lloyd Center, Convention Center, and the Rose Quarter. Streetcar up to NW Portland or MAX to the zoo is not free, though, for example. It's quite clear where the free zone is once you are using it (though they are still updating the name from the former "fareless square" which used to include buses too.)

We took it into Portland from west of the city and back. We bought a pass for the whole day. It isn't hard to figure out once you start using it. It is also very easy to walk in Portland -- relatively flat. I'd advise you to stop at the visitor center in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Yes, Andrew, aerial tram - just couldn't remember what it called

Thanks for the help. I have looked at the trimet website and it looks very helpful. Will download and print the map. Unfortunately we don't have a netbook or iphone.

The hotel where we are staying near the airport says there is a transit center next door. Perhaps it would be best to go directly to the visitor's center and plan our day from there? We were thinking about going to the farmer's market early and hopefully buy things to take with us on our trip south, but that's probably not a good idea. We don't want to carry things around all day. It appears there are lots of markets to visit in the area south of Hood River.

Thanks again for your suggestions. This is our first vacation to Oregon/southern Washington and we are trying to plan the best use of our time.

Rereading your post a bit - I don't recommend trying to use public transit to see all the things you want to see in a single day. (Actually, I don't even recommend staying near the airport.) I take it you're planning to stay at the Quality Inn on NE Sandy by the airport? Then you'd be walking to the Parkrose Transit Center from the hotel - a super easy walk to the Red MAX train to downtown Portland. But once you get down there, you'll be waiting a lot for trains and buses. You're going to waste an hour or two of your precious time waiting. There is no MAX train directly to the Japanese/Rose Gardens (and the Rose Garden is a must in August), so you'll either have to walk up the steep hill (a nice walk though) from the MAX stop at Kings Hill or take a bus up there (or down from the Zoo MAX stop). And on weekends, MAX and bus service tends to be reduced from during the week.

Driving in Portland is easy, especially on a Saturday with no rush hour to deal with. Just drive into Portland and park, even in a parking lot (then you can walk to the Farmer's Market or take trains, such as back and forth between the Saturday Market and the Farmer's Market if you want to see both).

Then drive up to the Washington Park Rose Garden/Japaense Garden area. On a nice day in August you may have to hunt for a parking spot, but you'll still waste less time than waiting for buses/trains on a weekend. And you'll be able to see more during your day.

A better idea is to stay closer to downtown Portland or even in downtown. Then you could take public transit part of the time and drive the rest - and you wouldn't have to waste as much time on trains and buses (or waiting for them).

I recommend Priceline.com and their Name Your Own Price service for booking hotels. In Portland I'd shoot for the downtown zone or the Convention Center zone and stick to 3-star or higher. You'll probably get a 3-star hotel for less than you are paying for the Quality Inn. The downsides of Priceline are: your plans must be firm because they don't allow changes/cancellations once you book, and they don't tell you the hotel name til AFTER they accept your price. That sounds scary, but using a site like BetterBidding.com you find there are only a few likely hotels you'd get and they are all decent enough for the price you'd pay (In the $50 to $60 per night is my guess - plus parking.) I've been using Priceline for years and swear by it. If you are interested in considering Priceline, I'd wait til closer to August to book a hotel (in case your plans change), but I'd be willing to help you figure it out.

If you must stay at the Quality Inn out by the airport, then I'd at least recommend driving a short distance from your hotel and parking (free) at the Gateway Transit Center, because then you can take any MAX train (Red, Blue, or Green) into downtown Portland whereas from Parkrose you are limited to only the Red MAX train (one train every 15 minutes). The Green MAX line would take you directly to Portland State a few blocks from the Farmer's Market.

Andrew,

You are so kind to offer your help. I chose the Quality Inn near the airport because we arrive late on Friday night. I thought we could leave the car there on Saturday and take the train into the city. We are leaving on Sunday for the gorge area,Mt Hood & on to the coast.

Your point about driving into the city is a good choice if we want to buy anything at the farmer's market or Saturday market. We wouldn't want to buy things and have to carry them around. Is parking expensive in the city?

I would love to stay in the city, but don't want to drive into the city late on Friday night. I'm hesitant about Priceline because I know they only guarantee one bed. My adult daughter and I travel together and definitely prefer 2 beds. Plus, the cost savings can quickly disappear with parking fees at the hotel.

We thought about starting our trip on Saturday morning from the airport hotel and then returning to Portland at the end of the week. We are flying home the following Saturday. We are now considering Saturday in Portland to visit the markets. Plus the traffic would be easier to deal with on Saturday.

Nothing is firm yet in our plans, just looking at different options. I guess the major decision is whether or not to visit the Portland markets since we only have one Saturday in Portland.

Your thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated!

mlm--I am not Andrew, but can address a few of your concerns. Parking during the daytime is not expensive here. We have quite a few SmartPark garages and they are very reasonable. We use them often. If you stay overnight in downtown, that is where parking gets expensive. Usually around $30 a night for hotel parking. That said, many of the top hotels have packages that include breakfast and parking and they are a good deal. You can reserve through travelportland website, but most hotels have the same package on their own site or will match it. If this were my trip, I would stay in downtown.

I just happened to check Hotwire for your two nights. I see they have a 4-star listed in South Waterfront for $109/night, which is almost certainly the Avalon Hotel and Spa - it is listed as a "botique" hotel with a spa and they offer an option to choose two king beds. Parking is $19/night (so figure $128/night), though - but I'll bet that's not much more expensive than what you are paying at the Quality Inn? And probably a far nicer hotel - looks pretty plush. I have some friends staying there next week.

You could walk from the Avalon to the Portland Streetcar and get directly up to the farmer's market at PSU (a much quicker ride than the long MAX ride into downtown, etc.) or just drive up there - a short drive. I would not worry at all about driving there on a Friday night. You don't have to drive into downtown at all, more like around it: I-84 to I-5 south.

Or, you could just bid for two rooms at 3-star level in the Convention Center/Rose Quarter district on Priceline, perhaps for as low as $55/night, which amounts to about the same price (plus parking). I'd probably opt for the Avalon myself.

If you want to cut out the Rose Graden and Japanese Garden, you could otherwise do fine in Portland by taking the MAX train in from the airport. The PSU Farmer's Market, the Classical Chinese Garden, and Saturday Market downtown are all easy to get to by foot or train. Even the Rose Garden/Japanese Garden is not hard IF you are willing to hike up a hill (I've done it). But by bus/train it can be a pain.

mms & Andrew:

Again, thank you so much for the thoughts and suggestions. I really do think we would love to stay in downtown Portland. I realize sometimes price isn't everything, especially when it comes to wasting our precious limited time. I am going to check the travelportland website and see what is available. I know many hotels in our area have a lot of specials now so hopefully we can find that in Portland, although our visit is several months away. We are considering Andrew's Hotwire suggestion, and maybe even Priceline.

We are flying into Portland late on Friday, arriving around midnight our time. I think we will stay near the airport that night. I am now trying to decide if we want to begin our vacation in Portland on Saturday, or finish there on Thursday and Friday. We originally were going to finish our vacation there, but after reading about the Farmer's Market and Saturday market, we thought that sounded fun. What do you think? Do you enjoy going to these places?

We definitely want to visit the rose garden and probably the Japanese garden nearby. Walking isn't a problem. We have often not rented a car when visiting cities like NY & DC. Some people seem to like the Chinese garden better than the Japanese garden. Do either of you have a preference? I think 2 gardens will be sufficient for us. I also want to go to Powell books, but I think they are open into the evening. Is Powell near the downtown? How safe is Portland for walking after dark if we stay in the downtown area?

Thanks again for all of your help. We greatly appreciate hearing from "experts".

mlm--Gosh, even with arriving so late I would still opt for staying in downtown. It isn't far from the airport, and at that hour there isn't any traffic. Once you get your car, it would be 15 minutes or so is all. That way you can wake up right in downtown and be within walking distance of numerous coffee shops and such. I love the Farmers Market. The Saturday Market is good too, and is open on both Saturdays and Sundays so you should be able to make time for both. I love the Japanese Gardens. The Chinese Garden is nice, but I much prefer the Japanese. Just a personal preference. Powell's is easy tp find, and yes, right in the heart of everything. Don't worry about walking around at night either. The Pearl, downtown and NW area are very safe and I have never had an issue with walking around.

Portland's downtown is extremely safe if you walk near the other people who areout; violent crime is not unheard of bu fairly unusual here, especially if you are not involved in shady activities. Powell's is open til 11pm every night, and it's at the edge of Portland's bustling/trendy Pearl District, which is basically adjacent to downtown (technically, our "downtown" is super small - just the part of the city with big buildings, west of the Willamette River from Burnside south to about Portland State University; some places say they are "downtown" but are really not; some people call the Pearl District part of "downtown" as well).

If you really are arriving that late on a Friday night (midnight PORTLAND time?) then I'd agree, staying at the airport might not be such a bad idea. But if you will really arrive earlier than that local time, the benefit of staying near downtown is really the next day - not having to check out right away and move to another hotel downtown or having to follow your original plan and take MAX downtown from the airport. I again say: if you have a car, you might as well drive downtown, Portland isn't that hard to navigate by car especially on a Saturday, you can probably park easily on the street otherwise park in a lot for most of the day, then drive up to the Rose/Japanese Gardens. Or stay in/near downtown and use public transit part of the day, drive the rest.

I too have done DC by taking the Metro in from my hotel. In fact, I drove in one day (Sunday) and took the Metro in (Monday). I don't think I would have dared drive in on a Monday. The Metro worked out fine for me, I guess, but it was a long day. All the walking was flat though. As I mentioned, you can walk up to the Rose Garden/Japanese Garden from the MAX (or wait and take a shuttle bus) but you have to walk up that steep hill, which I've without trouble. But I probably didn't have the tripod and camera bag I had with me in DC...

I haven't been to the Japanese Garden in Portland in years, but I remember it was nice and it has a great reputation. But if you are going to the Rose Garden anyway (and I think that's a "must see" myself in August), you can easily do both, they are very close to each other. The Classical Chinese Garden - down near Powell's and the Pearl District - is a lot smaller than the Japanese Garden. The Chinese Garden is only a Portland city block, but it's quite nice.

Lots of tourists go to Saturday Market. After you've been once or twice, it's fun to go once in a while but unless you are looking for something specific it's not a place I think to visit very often. I'm not personally a big "produce eater" so I don't hit the Farmer's Market that often, but I hear it's spectacular. Visiting Portland as a tourist sounds better on the weekend than during the week in my mind - less traffic, no rush hour hassles, and of course the markets are fun.

I think we are now convinced that staying downtown is the best option. Our flight arrives at 9:30 Portland time (12:30 our time). It's going to be a long day, but as you say, it should be easy to drive into the city at that time of night.

I have checked the travelportland website and found many hotels that include parking and breakfast. Thanks for telling me about this website. Free parking is a great savings and the main reason I wasn't considering staying downtown. I have paid $30 or more to park in some cities.

The best prices on hotels are ones that say they are downtown in the area of the Lloyd Center. One specifically states it is 4 blocks from the Rose Garden. These hotels are LaQuinta, Courtyard and Doubletree. Any of them would be fine for us as long as they are convenient. I'm a little hesitant to use Hotwire or Priceline. Last year I had this trip planned and had to cancel due to illness in my family. I think I would prefer to pay a little more and be able to cancel. Any input on any of these hotels?

Thanks again. You both have been great!!!

Personally, I much prefer to stay on the other side of the river. Even though we live here, we like to stay at hotels in downtown when we are attending special events. The rates are higher, but it is worth it since you can walk everywhere. You would also be closer to you hotel so if you purchase anything, it would be very quick and easy to take it back to your room and drop it off.