Hikers on Benson Bridge can feel the spray from Multnomah Falls, which drops 620 feet in the Columbia River Gorge. Oregon’s most famous waterfall is 30 miles from Portland. Photo by Henry Foster

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In Portland’s central Pearl District two summers ago, the hotel desk attendant showed me points of interest on a map of the city, including its internationally renowned rose garden and Powell’s, the world’s largest bookstore. When I asked if there were any areas to avoid after dark, he scribbled over an area of several square blocks behind the hotel.

Fast forward to 2026, and violent crime has fallen sharply as the city turned around its reputation for a large unhoused population and illegal drug use.

Now as safe as D.C., Portland is home to brew pubs, outdoor markets, intriguing neighborhoods and more than a dozen bridges crossing the Willamette River, which divides the city. A bonus: on a clear day you can see snow-capped 11,000-foot Mt. Hood shimmering in the distance.

But this bounty of attractions doesn’t mean you should spend all your time in the city. Just half an hour to the east, waterfalls plunge into the picturesque Columbia River Gorge. Two hours to the west, Oregon’s coastline offers beaches that seem nearly deserted compared to the throngs crowding the sand back on the East Coast. And just over the state line in California, some of the tallest trees on the planet tower in Redwood National Park.

Exploring the city

Portland was founded in 1845, and 60 years later held a world’s fair-like celebration of Lewis and Clark’s westward expedition from Missouri through what became Oregon. In the early 20th century, Portland was dubbed the City of Roses for the rosebushes planted for that event, which still bloom today.

The city’s 410-acre Washington Park offers several of the city’s most popular sightseeing spots, attracting 3.5 million visitors a year.

Start with the International Rose Test Garden, where more than 10,000 rose bushes burst into bloom from late May through October. As its name suggests, the garden, which opened in 1917, serves as a testing ground for new rose varieties. Roses, some of which are named after Shakespeare’s characters in a section of the garden devoted to the Bard, range from the grandiflora, which grows six to eight feet high, to miniatures in petite rows.

Across the street is the 12-acre Portland Japanese Garden, which was created in the 1960s as a symbol of cultural exchange and reconciliation following World War II. Today, it encompasses several distinct garden styles connected by winding paths, stone lanterns, wooden bridges and carefully composed views. In the Strolling Pond Garden, wander past koi-filled ponds, waterfalls and seasonal blooms, then linger in the meditative Sand and Stone Garden.

Take some time to explore Portland’s neighborhoods, including the Pearl District, where industrial warehouses have been converted into galleries and cafés. The Alberta Arts District pulses with murals, galleries and locally owned shops.

On Mississippi Avenue you’ll find live music venues, coffeehouses and inventive restaurants. Across the Willamette River, Hawthorne Boulevard is a haven for vintage stores and quirky independent businesses.

Another highlight is Powell’s City of Books, a full city block devoted to new and used volumes. Visitors can easily spend hours wandering its color-coded rooms, discovering everything from rare first editions to obscure travel memoirs.

Wonderful waterfalls

Just 30 miles east of downtown Portland, the Columbia River Gorge delivers some of the Pacific Northwest’s most dramatic natural scenery, stretching for more than 80 miles along the Columbia River through a canyon between Oregon and Washington. More than 90 waterfalls tumble from the cliffs on the Oregon side alone.

Take the scenic route, U.S. 30, also called the Historic Columbia River Highway, which winds past scenic overlooks and accessible waterfalls. You can glimpse some from the road, while others require just a short hike.

The most famous waterfall is Multnomah Falls, which plunges 620 feet, making it one of the tallest year-round waterfalls in the country. The water cascading behind the Benson Bridge is one of Oregon’s most iconic images.

Sand dunes and marine life

Then head back west, past Portland toward the Pacific Ocean. My daughter and I chose a diagonal southwesterly route to avoid some of the more crowded areas (like Cannon Beach) so we could explore Oregon’s more rugged central and southern coastlines.

We headed toward Depoe Bay, where gray whales migrate north from March through May on their way to the Arctic with newborn calves.

South from there, near Florence, massive dunes rise between the highway and the ocean. The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area contains some of the largest coastal sand dunes in North America. Numerous lightly visited state parks dot the coastline, offering spectacular views and the chance to spot seals, sea lions and otters if you’re lucky.

We stayed at the Overleaf Lodge in the small town of Yachats (pronounced ya-hots), about 130 miles from Portland. The lodge overlooks the rocky coast and the Smelt Sands State Recreation Site, which hugs the coastline.

Three miles south, the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area towers 800 feet above the Pacific and offers the highest viewpoint accessible by car on the Oregon Coast. At Thor’s Well, seawater surges into what appears to be a bottomless hole in the stone before exploding skyward.

Depending on how much time you have, you can explore even more of the coast for 180 miles to the California state line with views of towering rock formations called sea stacks and windswept beaches around nearly every bend.

Redwood forests

Don’t stop at the state line because just 16 miles farther south, the Earth’s largest arboreal giants, coast redwoods, are protected in a conglomerate of parks collectively known as Redwood National and State Parks. These parks protect nearly half of the world’s remaining old-growth coastal redwood forest.

Many of the trees are more than 1,000 years old and over 300 feet tall, having survived storms, fires and centuries of change. Sunlight filters through layers of branches hundreds of feet overhead, illuminating ferns and mosses below.

Scenic drives such as Newton B. Drury Parkway pass directly through groves of immense redwoods, while trails like the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and Fern Canyon allow you to walk in their shadows and, in some cases, right inside their hollowing-out trunks.

The closest California town to the trees near the Oregon border is the coastal Crescent City, where long sandy beaches flank redwood forests, creating a destination that offers the best of both of these dazzling, dramatic worlds.

If you go

Alaska, United and Southwest airlines have nonstop flights to Portland that take just under six hours from area airports. Round-trip tickets start at $350.

Oregon has a reputation for rain, and rightly so. The primary rainy season stretches from November to May, and summer and early fall have long sunny periods.

Summer in Portland has many temperate days with highs in the 70s and 80s, but heatwaves can bring spikes in temperatures to 100 or higher. The coast offers cooler temperatures, mainly in the 60s and 70s.