Location: Northwest District
Top Things to do in Northwest District
What to do and see in Northwest District, Oregon (OR): The Best Things to do
You’ll wonder why you don’t live in Portland after you’ve visited this laid-back and friendly city. With a reputation for manicured parks, eclectic nightlife, fine micro-breweries and distilleries, and nature that cuts right into the city, Portland’s a Pacific Northwest must-visit. Don’t miss the famous Japanese Garden, one of the largest and most beautiful of its kind outside of Japan.
Restaurants in Portland
1. Wildwood Trail
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 19 reviews
A 10-mile running trail.
Reviewed By Curiouskelley - Oregon City, United States
What a great hike & it is right in our back yard. Pretty busy trail with lots of people running, walking & hiking. Anyone that is up for a challenge, I recommend getting up early & doing the whole thing.
2. Pearl Gallery & Framing
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1 reviews
Fine Art and Picture Framing - Originals, Giclees, etchings, woodblock and screen prints, and handmade jewelry. Quality custom framing, extensive selection, creative design and excellent service! Join us Every First Thursday from 5pm - 9pm for our Artist Reception.
3. BodyVox
4. Freeland spirits
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 4 reviews
Reviewed By PacArgo - Salem, United States
We just visited the Freeland Spirits establishment this past weekend and had a delightful time. We arranged to take a guided tour of the on site distillery operations, followed by a sampling of their current distilled spirits. We were impressed by the spirits, the tour, the service, and the vision of a new distillery. A woman owned business, they specialize in excellent gin and bourbon production, with both tasting, light meals, and product sales available. The tour lasted about 45 minutes, and was exceptional in how it was led, the information provided, knowledge of the staff (Kacee), and overall organization. After the tour, we were able to sample a selection of their spirits, which resulted in our purchasing some bottles to take home. All in all, Freeland Spirits offers an excellent tour, outstanding service, and fine spirits. An excellent start to a relatively new distiller making a name in the Pacific Northwest. We will be back!
5. Northwest (Nob Hill)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 161 reviews
A grocer from San Francisco opened a store on NW 23rd over a hundred years ago and named it after the uppercrust S.F. neighborhood.
Reviewed By Ginx60
Plenty of nice little boutiques. The southern end of 23rd avenue has big name shops but the northern and has the boutiques. From clothes to shoes to books to paraphernalia. Interspersed with the boutiques are plenty of dining and drinking options. A nice way to spend a few hours with people you care about.
6. Washington Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,532 reviews
This popular park offers miles of trails, an extensive rose garden, a large Japanese garden and a zoo. For information on free shuttles, attraction admission hours and pricing within the park, and maps, visit our website.
Reviewed By PaulPapich - San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
My wife and I live immediately adjacent to Washington Park in Southwest Portland. In fact, being close to the Park was one of the major reasons we selected the property we bought. We visit it every week without fail. To start with, Washington Park is immense and gorgeous! It is home to the International Rose Test Garden, Japanese Garden, Holocaust Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, the city's zoo, arboretum and forestry museum, archery range, tennis courts, walking trails, and much, much more. It would be a world-class destination if it only had the Rose and Japanese Gardens, which are extraordinarily beautiful. But perhaps the greatest draw for me personally are the trees - my ancient, stately friends, covering the hilly terrain, providing shade to walkers like me, and peace to anyone seeking a haven in today's chaotic world.
7. International Rose Test Garden
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 5,561 reviews
The oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States boasts more than 8,000 roses.
Reviewed By PaulPapich - San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
If you are ever in Portland during its glorious summer months, you absolutely owe it to yourself to visit the International Rose Test Garden. It is one of Portland's true gems. Imagine tens of thousands of perfect roses in full bloom, dozens of rose varieties, colors of every hue! Now imagine lovely walks among the rows and rows of roses, the perfume in the air, the tranquil atmosphere, the stately conifers that enclose the Test Garden on three sides, the view of downtown on the fourth, and the happy people taking photographs and stooping to smell the flowers. There you have the Rose Garden!
8. Pittock Mansion
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2,529 reviews
Built in 1914, Pittock Mansion was a modern home with unique architecture and the latest technology. Experience the story of Portland through the lives of one of its most influential families and get to know the pioneer spirit behind its transformation from “stumptown” to modern, industrial city.
Reviewed By backpacker31 - Boynton Beach, United States
This is a must-see when in Portland. It’s location close to downtown Portland (but feels a world away) makes it a perfect excursion. I took the self-guided tour of the mansion’s interior which was well worth the $12 cost of admission. The (at that time) state-of-the-art household features such as recessed lighting, massaging/spa shower, individually controlled lighting, thermostat, refrigeration room and local/long distance telephone system are incredible. Although most of the household furnishings are not original to the house (or the Pittock family), I found it quite fascinating to learn how they acquired these from other local families in similar sociology-economic circles who lived at the time as the Pittocks. The history of the home’s construction, it’s decline and subsequent abandonment and its massive restoration is amazing. The grounds are lovely and the front lawn has some of the best views overlooking Portland and beyond (on a clear day you can see Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and more).
9. Portland Japanese Garden
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 6,182 reviews
Considered the most authentic Japanese Garden outside of Japan, the Portland Japanese Garden is a haven of tranquil beauty in all four seasons. In Spring of 2017, the Garden opened its new Cultural Village, complete with new garden spaces, classrooms, exhibition and gallery space, and the Umami Cafe.
Reviewed By mrg0137
On a recent trip to Portland, my wife and I stopped in Washington Park with the intention of seeing the Japanese Garden and nearby International Rose Test Garden. Since it was clearly out of season for roses in mid-November, there wasn’t much to see when we stopped at the Rose Garden first. We almost then skipped the Japanese Garden, since it was chilly and raining, and I hadn’t realized that unlike the Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden is an attraction with its own admission fee, not just part of the park that you can meander through freely. I’m really glad we ultimately decided to pay the $18 per person and visit the Japanese Garden, since it was absolutely serene and beautiful, even while walking through in the pouring rain on a chilly day. The line for tickets didn’t look particularly long that afternoon, but it was a bit slow-moving, since there was only one person working the admission window and others had a lot of questions and were buying memberships. I would definitely buy tickets online in the future to skip the line. We entered the gardens close to 3:00 pm, and were told that the last admission of the day would be at 3:30, although it sounded like there was no real time pressure, with the gardens staying open for a while after 3:30 so the final guests of the day could still make their way through. The gardens are built into a hill, so there was a bit of a leisurely uphill climb to get from the entrance at the bottom of the hill to the start of the gardens at the top. There is a shuttle service offered for those who want to avoid the walk and start at the Cultural Village at the top of the hill. From the Cultural Village, which includes restrooms, a gift shop, and a terrace with beautiful bonsai trees, you can start to meander through the gardens themselves, which are absolutely beautiful, with stunning landscaping and water features. Everything in the gardens is currently marked out with one-way paths to help promote social distancing, and the only thing that appeared to be closed was the Japanese Tea House. The gallery building that currently has a photography exhibit with photos from internment camps was open with limited capacity and was interesting to visit. Outside of that, we really enjoyed taking a leisurely walk through the various garden paths and discovering the various sculptures and plantings. It was especially gorgeous to be able to see the variety of changing colors on the trees in the fall. We also really liked that the size of the gardens was manageable so that it didn’t take forever to see everything, but there was still enough to do that the $18 admission was just about worth it (it could maybe be a couple dollars cheaper, but it’s so lovely that I didn’t mind supporting them through our ticket purchase). We spent about an hour at the garden in total, and probably would have spent more time if it wasn’t raining the entire time. I imagine that on a nicer day, you could easily spend a couple hours meandering through the gardens and taking time to relax at various spots along the way. Despite seeming a little pricey at first, the Portland Japanese Garden is absolutely beautiful and worth a visit. It’s a serene paradise in the middle of Portland, and it’s an interesting chance to see what I’ve read is one of the most accurate Japanese gardens in the United States.
10. Hoyt Arboretum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 355 reviews
A popular destination for nature lovers, this arboretum contains many different species of trees.
Reviewed By aprkniess - Beaverton, United States
The Hoyt Arboretum park is absolutely gorgeous in the fall. We hiked about 4 miles today following the Wildwood Trail and several smaller trails from the rose garden to the Hoyt Arboretum visitor center and back. The trail was not difficult but following the exact loop was sometimes not clear with the map we had. You could easily spend all day roaming and exploring. There are memorials and old douglas fir trees, etc all through the park. It's so close to downtown Portland, yet you feel as if you're in the country.
