PORTLAND · OREGON & MAINE
Two Portlands. Two coasts. One travel guide.
Mt Hood and Multnomah Falls in Oregon. Casco Bay lighthouses and lobster in Maine. The food carts, the wine country, the bridges, the working waterfront — the tours both cities are known for, in one place.
Same name, different country
Two Portlands. Pick yours.
The Pacific Northwest one and the New England one. Oregon for the Cascades, the food carts and the wine. Maine for the Atlantic harbour, the lighthouses and the lobster. Start with the coast you came for.
Pacific Northwest
Portland, Oregon
Mt Hood, Multnomah Falls and the Columbia Gorge to the east. Willamette Valley vineyards and the Oregon Coast to the west. Food carts, breweries and Forest Park downtown.
- 1 Multnomah Falls and Columbia River Gorge Half-Day Hiking Tour
- 2 Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls Tour from Portland, OR
- 3 Multnomah Falls and Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls Tour Morning
New England coast
Portland, Maine
Casco Bay lighthouses, Old Port cobblestones, lobster boats out of the harbour. Bar Harbor and Kennebunkport day trips up and down the coast. Maine’s working seafront, the way travellers actually see it.
- 1 The Real Portland Tour: City and 3 Lighthouses Historical Tour with a Real Local
- 2 Discover Portland City and Lighthouse Tour
- 3 Portland Explorer | Maine History, Culture, & 3 Lighthouses Tour
What each Portland is known for
Three things travellers come to Portland for.
A waterfall canyon, a lighthouse coast, a wine valley. None of them overlap, all three are an hour from downtown, and each is the reason a flight gets booked. Read the picks, then build the rest of the week around whichever one you came for.
Pacific Northwest
The Columbia Gorge Waterfalls
Five waterfalls in a single canyon, Multnomah dropping 620 feet in two tiers off a basalt cliff, Latourell coming through a moss-walled grotto, Vista House on a cliff at the top. An hour east of downtown Portland and the most-photographed corner of the Pacific Northwest.
- 1 Mt Hood Day Trip from Portland to Multnomah Falls and Hood River
- 2 Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls & Mt Hood Tour from Portland, OR
- 3 Afternoon Half-Day Multnomah Falls and Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls Tour from Portland
New England coast
The Lighthouses of Cape Elizabeth
Portland Head Light is the most-photographed lighthouse in America, and four more guard the entrance to Casco Bay within a half-day drive. Whitewashed towers, Atlantic surf, the working harbour Longfellow grew up around. Walk the rocks at low tide or watch from a Casco Bay boat.
- 1 Portland Bicycle Tour with 5 Lighthouses and XL Lobster Roll
- 2 Sunset Lighthouse Cruise Tour from Casco Bay
- 3 Lighthouse Bicycle Tour from South Portland with 4 Lighthouses
Wine country
Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
Forty-five minutes south of Portland, Oregon and you're in the country that makes the New World's best Pinot Noir. Volcanic soils, marine-cooled fog, family vineyards back to the 1960s. Most tours pair three or four estates with a long lunch among the vines.
- 1 Willamette Valley Wine Tour with Lunch
- 2 Willamette Valley Wine Tour from Portland
- 3 Columbia Gorge Waterfalls & Wineries from Portland: All-Inclusive Afternoon Tour
The one everyone reviews
If you only book one Portland tour.
More travellers have rated this one than any other in the corpus. Across both Portlands, it’s the day that keeps coming up.
The classics
Portland's Most Popular Tours
Waterfalls, lighthouses, lobster boats, food carts, Mt Hood. The day trips both cities are built around.
By place
Pick a Portland landmark.
The Columbia Gorge for the waterfalls. Cape Elizabeth for the lighthouses. Mt Hood for the volcano hike. Casco Bay for the sail. Willamette Valley for the Pinot. The Oregon Coast for the cliffs at Cannon Beach.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Walking tour through the Old Port. Bike tour through Cape Elizabeth. Sailboat across Casco Bay. Food-cart crawl through Pioneer Square. Brewery tour through the Pearl. Scenic flight over the Gorge. There’s a tour for the rhythm you want.
East of the city
Mt Hood, Mt St Helens, Cannon Beach.
Portland, Oregon is twenty minutes from old-growth forest in every direction. A glacier-capped volcano east, a blast-zone crater north, basalt cliffs on the Pacific west. If we’d only got three days outside the city, this is how we’d spend them.
Out of the harbour
Casco Bay, lighthouses, lobster.
A morning on a Casco Bay schooner, an afternoon hauling traps with a working lobsterman, the lighthouse loop at golden hour. The three things a Portland, Maine itinerary should have, picked from the boats and tours travellers actually book.
What both cities pour
Food carts, breweries, Pinot Noir.
Portland, Oregon invented the food-cart pod and brews more beer per capita than anywhere in the US. Portland, Maine is the East Coast outpost of the same craft scene. Three picks across both cities’ food and drink calendars.
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