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Hello everyone! My wife and I are trying to decide where to spend our next vacation? We want to visit places we have never been. The three choices are:
1. Seattle
2. Portland
3. Vancouver, Canada
A little about us; we are pretty active and love both urban activities and being in nature. We love having access to the coast and mountains, museums, parks, zoos, aquariums, unique eateries (local hometown places), the arts, etc.
Currently, we are leaning towards Seattle, but Vancouver is a close second. Would love to hear personal experiences from anyone who has visited one or all of these cities. Thanks in advance.
I have been to all three (and lived in Portland and Seattle). I vote Vancouver. Stanley Park. Coastline with drives and hikes. University of British Columbia campus with museums. Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park. Good seafood. Friendly folks. Seattle would be my second choice.
I have been to all three (and lived in Portland and Seattle). I vote Vancouver. Stanley Park. Coastline with drives and hikes. University of British Columbia campus with museums. Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park. Good seafood. Friendly folks. Seattle would be my second choice.
Thanks for your feedback! Vancouver is awfully impressive and may eventually win out! Can you tell me a bit about the coastline drives?
Visited all three multiple times, though Portland was 20 years ago. I don't think you can go wrong with either Seattle or Vancouver. Both have plentiful outdoor and urban activities. A lot of it is personal preference. Tripadvisor is a good place to look for activities. My personal choice would be Vancouver. Vancouver seems like the most naturally beautiful of the cities and it's also the most Asian, if that makes any difference to you.
Vancouver, BC has a very diverse array of genuine ethnic restaurants. Also, even though Canadian prices are higher than many US cities, your dollar goes further because of the exchange rate. Take a ferry ride and drive be up Indian Arm. If you mountain bike, Squamish, North Van or Whistler are tops.
Another vote for Vancouver here. It's in my view the most beautiful of the three cities, with Portland coming in dead last on that front. However, as with all three cities Portland has very easy access to some great natural beauty in the Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood/Hood River area. You can't go wrong with any of the three, but my vote would be for Vancouver.
I visited both Seattle and Portland with my family last fall as part of a eight-day trip that included three nights in Seattle, two in Portland, one along the Oregon coast at Cannon Beach, another night in Hood River along the Columbia River Gorge, and another near Sea-Tac just before heading back home. We decided to skip Vancouver since my family doesn't have any passports and found that Seattle provides nearly the same big city attraction that Vancouver has, and Portland has its unique places that neither have, like Washington Park and the Rose Garden along with perhaps the best Chinese food I've ever had. Of course a big question is if you're willing to rent a car, which was very useful for our journey, even though if you're fine with just the cities, rail could be a good option as well.
Seattle is a cool city as well, and if you've never experienced Seattle Center (site of the 1962 World's Fair), Pike's Place Market, or a Mariners Game, you won't be disappointed. It's so much more than Starbucks as there's lots of great performing arts, shopping, hidden parks, dining, and festivals all around town.
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