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I've been to Portland and absolutely love it. How does it compare to Vancouver? I've never been there but I've been to Toronto and I love Canada. I'm thinking of immigrating but if I find myself happy in Portland I'll stay.
Very similar vibe to Portland OR, but Vancouver overall feels like a bigger and much more international city than Portland, due to its position as Canada's western gate way and a top-ranked international airport that flies practically to every major city around the world.
Other than that, Vancouver is also surrounded by many mountains, and is very rainy/cloudy (except for summer months). It has a very modern and robust public transit infrastructure, just like Portland (but instead of trolleys it has an elevated/undergrad train system).
In comparison to Vancouver, Portland feels bohemian, a bit gritty, non-conformist, innovative, somewhat sleepy, historic, and provincial. In comparison to Portland, Vancouver feels vibrant, cosmopolitan, polished, international, in touch with the natural world, new age, new economy, easier to live without a car, and well planned.
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Originally Posted by bostonkid123
It has a very modern and robust public transit infrastructure, just like Portland (but instead of trolleys it has an elevated/undergrad train system).
I would say that they aren't really comparable, Vancouver's transit system is much more convenient for getting around the region and has much higher ridership. Portland's isn't bad or anything, however.
in comparison to vancouver, portland feels bohemian, a bit gritty, non-conformist, innovative, somewhat sleepy, historic, and provincial. In comparison to portland, vancouver feels very vibrant, cosmopolitan, polished, international, in touch with the natural world, new age, new economy, easier to live without a car, and well planned.
I've been to Portland and absolutely love it. How does it compare to Vancouver? I've never been there but I've been to Toronto and I love Canada. I'm thinking of immigrating but if I find myself happy in Portland I'll stay.
I find them totally different. I really tried to like Portland when I went a few years ago, after not going for several years. I really, really tried.
I judge a city by it's core. Portland has done some nice things downtown, but it lacked energy, especially in the evenings.
I have friends that love Portland, for the beer, and always enjoy going. It's just that it never clicked for me.
I would say that they aren't really comparable, Vancouver's transit system is much more convenient for getting around the region and has much higher ridership. Portland's isn't bad or anything, however.
Didn't say the transit systems are comparable. I just said that both cities have extremely well-laid out transit for their respective size - especially Portland, which is quite an rarity for an American city. I took the Portland streetcar system several times, and it's something to envy for - coming from someone who lives in day in and out with Toronto streetcars. Toronto's TTC streetcars almost feel antiquated in comparison.
-Vancouver feels more international--has more foreigner ex-pats, immigrants, tourists, and hosted the Olympics. Portland is more provincial, but it's changing pretty quickly as the city becomes more of a recognized place and destination. Vancouver though has much more of an international gateway feel to it(and much more international flights).
-Portland has nicer older neighborhoods overall outside the core, there's a lot of nice street-car suburb places from the early 20th century that have a village-small town vibe and nice parks. Vancouver has some too, but there's more modern development all over town, which leads to a different feel. There's a lot of places like Kitsilano or Commercial Drive in Portland these days. There's also some areas further out in Portland that lack paved streets and look sort of like a rural ghetto in the city, while Vancouver seems more consistently developed all over.
-People can be friendly in both cities though there's a level of class-conflict about who blames the changes in each city on. In Portland longtime residents dislike Californians, in Vancouver some oldtimers blame the Chinese for ruining everything. To the extent that both of these are sort of local cliches. You'll meet a lot of transplants from other places in both cities though, so no one cares if you're not from there.
-Vancouver has closer access to the mountains and has better skiing nearby with Whistler-Blackcomb trumping Mount Hood. The Oregon Coast is nice, though trips through the Sound and to Vancouver Island are nice too.
-Portland is much, much more affordable in terms of cost of living. Salaries don't pay much more in Vancouver than Portland generally, but the cost of a house is at minimum 2-3 times more. Renting is closer in cost, but in Vancouver you're looking at an apartment or condo for what you can get a multi-bedroom house with a backyard for in Portland. And people complain that houses have gotten too expensive in Portland, though if you live like 20 minutes from downtown rather than 10 minutes you can knock $100,000-$150,000 off the price right there.
-Downtown Vancouver is more of a tourist showcase than Portland, but downtown Portland has nice areas in between the older part of downtown, The Pearl and adjacent NW and Goose Hollow. But it's not as spectacular as the location of downtown Vancouver and nearby Stanley Park, which is hard to beat. As far as things to do though, both cities are good if you like bars, but nightclubs will feel bland if you're from a bigger city, Granville Street or Gastown is okay if you're in your 20s, but by your 30s it feels corny. Portland has more small music venues, but Vancouver gets bigger events a little more regularly and has bigger museums--both are decent as far as cultural events go though.
-Public transit is good in each, but you'll have to learn the bus lines if you want to manage without a car, neither the MAX nor the Skytrain is comprehensive enough to be the sole option to get around. Both are convenient if you live near a station, but there's large areas of each city that aren't anywhere near a station.
Overall there's more similarities between certain areas of these cities but overall the regions feel different. Like Yaletown feels like the Pearl District, however there's no real equivalent of Richmond BC in the Portland Metro, nor does anywhere in Portland feel like the waterfront of Vancouver.
The biggest difference between Vancouver and a comparable US city of similar size is that the largest Canadian cities are kind of the big fish in a small pond. They don't have much competition so their importance is exaggerated compared to the US where there's a lot of big cities. So Vancouver packs above it's weight as far as feeling international, because it's the only major city on the Pacific Coast of Canada--and one of the only cities in Canada with fairly mild year-round weather. Portland on the other hand is the suddenly popular middle child of US West Coast cities. Both cities get criticized by people from places further east though for feeling sort of slow and provincial though.
Last edited by CanuckInPortland; 04-07-2015 at 12:28 PM..
Very similar vibe to Portland OR, but Vancouver overall feels like a bigger and much more international city than Portland, due to its position as Canada's western gate way and a top-ranked international airport that flies practically to every major city around the world.
Other than that, Vancouver is also surrounded by many mountains, and is very rainy/cloudy (except for summer months). It has a very modern and robust public transit infrastructure, just like Portland (but instead of trolleys it has an elevated/undergrad train system).
Portland's transit system is not modern, it's stuck in the 1980s. Vancouver's is vastly better. Since I moved here 4 years ago Trimet has gone way backwards. The MAX is just a showpiece too, it crawls at 20 miles per hour and half of the people who use it seem to be gang bangers or tweakers. The Skytrain on the other hand is used by all sorts of people and is actually fast.
If you're outside of the "hip" areas like Downtown, the Pearl and Hawthorne and it's past 10 in Portland, it's likely you will be forced to call a taxi.
And people complain that houses have gotten too expensive in Portland, though if you live like 20 minutes from downtown rather than 10 minutes you can knock $100,000-$150,000 off the price right there.
Perhaps, but that means you're living in the hood! Or Gresham.
I find them totally different. I really tried to like Portland when I went a few years ago, after not going for several years. I really, really tried.
I judge a city by it's core. Portland has done some nice things downtown, but it lacked energy, especially in the evenings.
I have friends that love Portland, for the beer, and always enjoy going. It's just that it never clicked for me.
That's why I prefer Vancouver over Portland and Seattle. Portland and Seattle are dynamically more similar to somewhere like Jacksonville or Indianapolis than they are like Vancouver. People go to bed early and anywhere more than 2 or 3 miles from the core in Portland or Seattle is essentially semi-rural in character, while Vancouver's suburbs actually have their own skylines and things to do. I just find American cities to be boring compared to Canadian cities.
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