The 5 best day trips from Portland, Oregon

09.11.2024 - 18:57 / lonelyplanet.com

Nov 7, 2024 • 6 min read

As entertaining as Portland can be, its surroundings might be even better. The city is within an hour or two of both the ocean and the mountains, with all the outdoor activities and scenic beauty that entails. People here love spending time outside, although it means different things to different people – stand-up paddleboarding on an alpine lake counts, but so does wine-tasting on a sunny patio.

Whether you crave mountains, valleys, beaches, berries or grapes, there’s a Portland day trip you won’t want to miss. Most of these trips are much easier to do by car but can also be reached by public transport if you have some extra time. 

Travel time: 45 minutes

The Gorge is a little slice of hiker heaven right in Portland’s back yard. Steep, forested walls carved by the Columbia River (and lots of wind) are laced with hiking trails of all kinds, from rugged and grueling to barely-leave-the-parking-lot. The key feature of this terrain is waterfalls, and lots of them. Multnomah Falls is the crown jewel, a double-tiered beauty with a bridge across halfway up. But there are less-famous (and less crowded) falls all along the Gorge. For a sense of scale and epic views, start by visiting Crown Point Vista House or the Portland Women’s Forum Viewpoint, both of which are just off the Historic Columbia River Highway (parallel to I-84). From there, choose a handful of falls to explore; you can reach many from the road, but this is also a great area for day hikes. 

Visiting Multnomah Falls requires some planning, as it is Oregon’s most-visited site and often crowded. Visit on a weekday if possible, and plan to arrive early in the morning or after 6pm. From 9am to 6pm Memorial Day through Labor Day (basically late May to September), visitors must have a timed-use permit reserved in advance ($2). There’s also a hefty fee for parking if the main lot is full. 

How to get to the Gorge from Portland: Take I-84 east toward Corbett, where you exit for the Historic Columbia River Highway, a winding, narrow road that lets you stop at any number of waterfall trailheads as well as Crown Point Vista House. Traffic can get clogged up on weekends and around Multnomah Falls, and parts of the road may be closed for construction. Many of the falls are also accessible from I-84, a more direct but less scenic route. The main parking lot for Multnomah Falls is at Exit 31 off I-84; gates will close if the lot is full.

Alternatively, the Columbia Gorge Express runs daily from Gateway Transit Center in Portland to Multnomah Falls and the fun town of Hood River. And there are several companies offering tours of the Gorge.

Travel time: 1 hour

Though it might not yet be as well-recognized as Napa, the Willamette Valley