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In my experience, Portland is excellent for bars and breweries. One might even say it's one of the best in the US.
But when it comes to late night establishments that aren't bars or strip clubs, Portland is a bit weak. If you want to go to a coffee shop after 6 pm, your options are very limited. If you want some late night drunk food, you are pretty much limited to bar food or a fast food joint. A few months ago, my significant other had a late night arrival into PDX, and after I picked them up, we were both craving something sweet like ice cream or donuts. Our options were basically Voodoo Donut or McDonalds. We just said forget it and went home.
I can't speak on Austin, bit I'd imagine with its massive college population, it would be stronger for general late night activity
Portland has some great bars for grabbing a cold one after work and whatnot, but personally I don't think there is any comparison for actual "I'm gonna get completely ****faced until 2 AM and make a fool of myself" nightlife. Like if you go to Portland on your bachelor party that's probably going to be a little lame.
Anyway, it's been a decade since I went there so maybe it has changed since then.
You can definitely have some pretty wild and weird nights in Portland - people definitely party in their own way. To me Portland feels like if you took East Nashville and sprawled it out across an entire city. Low key but still kind of wild. There is no Broadway/6th in Portland, thats the difference. But there are plenty of crazy themed bars, places to dance, weird strip clubs (of all types) integrated into otherwise seemingly normal bars, tons of crazy packed dive bars with drunk hipsters and townies. Top notch cocktail bars with dirty thrift store couches next to a craft beer bar with a stripper casually dancing and some weirdo in the corner playing the accordion. Thats Portland. Its a different kind of fun and as a plus booze is served until 2:30. If you want more traditional Frat/Sorority style nightlife you can go to the Pearl District or 23rd, but I think what makes it great is the areas that arent like that - Inner Southeast, St. Johns, sections of SW, Alberta, Division, Belmont, etc.
In my experience, Portland is excellent for bars and breweries. One might even say it's one of the best in the US.
But when it comes to late night establishments that aren't bars or strip clubs, Portland is a bit weak. If you want to go to a coffee shop after 6 pm, your options are very limited. If you want some late night drunk food, you are pretty much limited to bar food or a fast food joint. A few months ago, my significant other had a late night arrival into PDX, and after I picked them up, we were both craving something sweet like ice cream or donuts. Our options were basically Voodoo Donut or McDonalds. We just said forget it and went home.
I can't speak on Austin, bit I'd imagine with its massive college population, it would be stronger for general late night activity
Its a great bar/drinking town - thats what Im saying. Aside from bars, strip clubs and diners youre right there isnt a ton open late. But there are so many bars. And to me great nightlife means great bars, so Portland excels there from my perspective.
Its a great bar/drinking town - thats what Im saying. Aside from bars, strip clubs and diners youre right there isnt a ton open late. But there are so many bars. And to me great nightlife means great bars, so Portland excels there from my perspective.
Yeah, hard to argue against all the great bars. I also like that Portland bars are required by state law to serve food.
You can definitely have some pretty wild and weird nights in Portland - people definitely party in their own way. To me Portland feels like if you took East Nashville and sprawled it out across an entire city. Low key but still kind of wild. There is no Broadway/6th in Portland, thats the difference. But there are plenty of crazy themed bars, places to dance, weird strip clubs (of all types) integrated into otherwise seemingly normal bars, tons of crazy packed dive bars with drunk hipsters and townies. Top notch cocktail bars with dirty thrift store couches next to a craft beer bar with a stripper casually dancing and some weirdo in the corner playing the accordion. Thats Portland. Its a different kind of fun and as a plus booze is served until 2:30. If you want more traditional Frat/Sorority style nightlife you can go to the Pearl District or 23rd, but I think what makes it great is the areas that arent like that - Inner Southeast, St. Johns, sections of SW, Alberta, Division, Belmont, etc.
Have you been to Austin just out of curiosity? I get that Portland has some cool places but 6th st is 2.5 miles of bars with all sorts of different vibes and scenes. Then there is Rainey St which has 20-30 packed bars with outdoor patios and food trucks in basically 3 blocks. You Uber in to these areas and then spend the entire night hopping from bar to bar until you find the one that you are feeling on a given night (or person that you are feeling). It's just a different type of experience than going to neighborhood bars IMO.
Have you been to Austin just out of curiosity? I get that Portland has some cool places but 6th st is 2.5 miles of bars with all sorts of different vibes and scenes. Then there is Rainey St which has 20-30 packed bars with outdoor patios and food trucks in basically 3 blocks. You Uber in to these areas and then spend the entire night hopping from bar to bar until you find the one that you are feeling on a given night (or person that you are feeling). It's just a different type of experience than going to neighborhood bars IMO.
I have and I get that Austin has a different thing going on. It has a few areas very concentrated with bars - 6th East, 6th West, 2nd, Rainey, etc. Some areas like Soco I think are highly overrated but thats a different conversation.
Portland may not have anything that concentrated but it has lots of corridors where you find at least 1-2 bars on every block for miles - for example, Division, Belmont, etc. etc. (And Im talking well outside of Downtown where there are bars everywhere). Along these corridors you can walk for miles, popping into all kinds of different places. Areas like Inner Southeast are more three-dimensional and it feels like every business is a bar. A more low key party atmosphere but still fun (I cant stress the comparison with East Nashville enough. Its like someone took the 5 points area and stretched it out over an entire city).
Portland also gets points for the ridiculous creativity in the types of theme bars that are there. Its just a very creative city so youll find bars with names and themes like Psychic Bar, Bible Club, the Nerd Out, Lovecraft bar. You never know what weird place youll find around the next corner, and that keeps things interesting.
You also forgot Domain which is another fairly large bar scene.
Austin does have bars and breweries outside of the concentrated district but they exist in miniature clusters, many isolated and in spots you won’t think to look for them.
Just wondering how late does Portland stay active? Central Austin Friday and Saturday nights would have you hard pressed to believe that it is not noon at 2am.
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