Touring Portland - 3 days (Hillsboro, Medford: to rent, crime, how much)

[pete6032]

I am going to visit Portland State. Will be staying downtown near the school. I have basically 3 days or less to tour the school and whatnot. Can anyone recommend things to do and a nice bar to visit near downtown to catch up with an old friend in the afternoon that has outside seating. I'm a college student so college bar would work.

Are the portland tunnel tours (Shanghai-ing) tours any good?

Anyone been to a vineyard in Portland? My father is into wine but we haven't ever visited a vineyard before and I thought he might enjoy that.

Will be visiting the Portland Metro.

Is the Rose Garden/Washington Park/Japanese Garden worthwhile?

Anything else to consider?

[khyron]

- have happy hour drinks and/or appetizers on top of Big Pink at the City Grill
- visit the Lan Su Chinese Garden, perhaps for morning Tai Chi
- play some games at Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade
- get lost, but not too lost, in Powell's City of Books
- explore thrift stores, including Avant Garden
- go for a walk through Tom McCall Waterfront Park
- drink tasty coffee at Stumptown Coffee Roasters
- drink and/or eat on at Deschutes, McMenamins, and other brewpubs
- eat at least once at Voodoo Doughnut
- wander around downtown in the middle of the day eating at carts

more: //www.city-data.com/forum/portland/1022939-things-do-portland-one-day-night.html
more: //www.city-data.com/forum/portland/908917-one-week-portland-researching-potential-move.html

[pete6032]

Anyone recommend a vineyard to visit? I see Ponzi is like 15 miles away from where I'm staying near the university. We wont have a car and I doubt public transit goes to the vineyard. Does anyone know how much it would cost to get to a vineyard from downtown?

[swsmith1]

Hi this is Steve, currently living in CA cause my wife wanted to be closer to relatives. I hate it down here, way too many people, too much pollution and crime and traffic and its too hot for moi.

anyway to answer your questions on things to do.

Vineyards : there aren't any I know off in Portland, but you might try Ponzi Vineyards just sw of Portland. Map it on Google. (Great Pinot Noirs,
they've won some awards). Also lots of Vineyards SW of Portland out around Dundee; Sokol Blosser has good wine and big name concerts in the
summer. The new wine mecca is in Southern Oregon just south of Medford
along the AppleGate River.

Entertainments: I like the Zoo Concerts and yes Washington Park, And Japanese Garden they are all right next too each other. Also check out
NW Portland, the Chinese Gardens. Pearl District. NW 23rd for food. and
Don't forget Powells Bookstore- the largest on Earth!

Bars: I'm a little out of the loop on this but you can certainly Try Kells Irish Pub

Portland really has a lot too offer check it out

[davefr]

Originally Posted by pete6032

Anyone recommend a vineyard to visit? I see Ponzi is like 15 miles away from where I'm staying near the university. We wont have a car and I doubt public transit goes to the vineyard. Does anyone know how much it would cost to get to a vineyard from downtown?

You have several options. If you simply want to taste a variety of Oregon wines then go to one of the downtown wine bars.

If you want to visit local vineyards in person then I'd recommend a chauffeured wine tour package. (there are several of them)

Your last option would be to rent a car and explore on your own. (option #2 would probably be less hassle, possibly even less expensive and you wouldn't have to worry about the designated driver.)

[sharkylittleton]

I've walked the underground tour and enjoyed it. It's touristy but the guy that does it is an amateur historian and is super nice and outgoing. Worth the money IMO.

[pete6032]

Does anyone know how much a taxi would be between downtown and 15 miles out to the suburbs?

Oh, one more question too - does anyone know if MAX train passes can be bought at the Amtrak station? If not I know they can be bought on the platforms but I'm just curious. Thanks!

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by pete6032

Does anyone know how much a taxi would be between downtown and 15 miles out to the suburbs?

Oh, one more question too - does anyone know if MAX train passes can be bought at the Amtrak station? If not I know they can be bought on the platforms but I'm just curious. Thanks!

A taxi to Ponzi would probably run you upwards of $30 or so. It'd be easier to rent a car, you can get cheap daily rates from some national chains in Portland and could go drive down to the area around Newberg to McMinnville, where you've got some of the best wineries in the country. Not too far from Portland--it's a fairly easy day trip.

You can buy MAX tickets at the MAX stop right next to Union Station. Every station has automated ticket machines. They sell either 1-day or 7-day passes, so it'd be cheaper to just buy day passes or individual tickets if you are only here for 3 days.

[daisy326]

here is a link to transportation options getting to the wineries: Oregon Wine Tours and Driving Services Finder

A taxi from PDX to Hillsboro (25 min. away) is about $75.00 so from downtown to the suburbs probably $40 or so. I dont believe MAX passes are available at the Amtrak Station but there are MAX platforms all over downtown so its easy to find tickets.
Sorry - but PCG (Portland City Grill) is overrated and expensive. If you like the chain restaurant feel then go there but with so many other fabulous places to eat (in the Pearl and NW area) I would skip PCG

[pete6032]

Thanks guys,

Just wanted to say my trip was great and I really like Portland. There's some first-class parks there (Japanese garden gets an A my book) and the MAX lines were nice. We did pretty much most of what khyron had suggested! (Powell's, waterfront, Stumptown, Deschutes, food carts).

We ended up finding a bike tour of the wine country, which was nice although it was in the 50's when we were biking and we all had runny noses afterward.

The underground was a bit "touristy" and you don't get to see a whole lot of it on the tour (we got to see about 4-5 rooms/stops along the way). Nevertheless the historians knew their stuff.

Everything was flawless. We got off the plane in Seattle and there was a LRT train sitting at the station. We got on and made it to the Amtrak station with 15 mins to spare and got right onto our Amtrak train and headed to PDX. We only had 1 delay of about 15 minutes on the ride from SEA to PDX. I'm looking forward to going back again some time as we didn't get a chance to see Nobb Hill and we only had about 30 mins in the Japanese garden.