On our #epicUSroadtrip Portland was a big highlight we both were looking forward to. How could we not visit the best hipster city in the U.S?!? Off to Portland, we went in our hipster mobile, okay it’s not cool at all we drive a minivan to campervan conversion, but we did pimp it out with horns on the grill!
We started our weekend getaway to Portland by checking in early to our hotel. We stayed right downtown at The Nines, which was the perfect location for exploring the city. We said goodbye to our minivan as valet whisked her away, and we headed up to our room. After a quick look at the map, it was off for our first taste of Portland, we headed out on The best of Portland Food Tour!
With a city known for its food, we had no idea where to start. What better way to see the best food a city has to offer than a food tour. Our first night we joined Eat Adventures for their Best of Portland food tour, which included 5 food and beverage stops. One of the highlights included ICE CREAM, the best ice cream sandwich I have ever had.
Of course, our tour included a microbrewery, just one of the 60+ Portland has to offer. Our group of 6 shared about 3 pitchers of beer, my favorite being the S’more Stout which literally had a toasted marshmallow on the rim of my glass.
With our tummies full and a slight buzz going, thanks to our tour including 3 glasses of wine and several pints of tasty brews we headed back to our hotel The Nines. BUT we didn’t go back to our room, we headed up to the rooftop. The Departure Lounge which sits on top of The Nines hotel. We had amazing views overlooking downtown Portland and the Willamette River. I suggest heading up during Happy Hour 4pm-6pm for great sunset views. After a tasteful and fun first day in Portland, it was time to hit the sheets, as day 2 of our weekend getaway to Portland was soon approaching.
We woke up early and worked off some of the fun we had the day before, and we had to make room for round 2 of Portland best eats. We skipped breakfast because just before lunch we were heading out on a Portland food cart tour, which would include 5 food cart stops and more than enough food for the entire day. My favorite stop of the day was a Korean taco truck named Koi Fusion. This cart serves up some mean Korean bulgogi beef tacos.
Tours book out well in advance only we booked online here
After 3 hours of eating some of the best street food, we have ever had it was time to visit another thing Portland is famous for…BREWERIES! With a city with over 60+ breweries, where would we begin? How would we get from brewery to brewery? We wanted to indulge in the sampling…and driving wasn’t an option! We hopped on the ‘Friday old-school tour’ with Brewvana, which included an awesome crowd of other beer lovers on a party bus that would bring us from brewery to brewery. As we jumped on the bus we got a pretzel necklace to cleanse our palates between pints and throughout the day we got pint after pint of beer (you get to keep the pint glass too), and tons of tasty food to soak up all the booze.
We visited 3 Portland breweries on our tour- McMenamins Kennedy School, Alameda, and Ecliptic Brewing. My favorite being McMenamins Kennedy School. It’s actually an old school that they turned into a hotel and brewery. Throughout the ‘school’ they have little bars, even a bar in detention where smoking is allowed! At the end of the tour we played a game of beer trivia, naturally, Adam won being the beer genius that he is. He is now sporting a Brewvana hat as we travel around the world.
Before we knew it our brewery tour was over…thankfully our guide pointed us in the right direction to a few places within walking distance of our hotel The Nines. We enjoyed a few more beers before calling it a night. Portland sure did live up to the reputation it has. If you are in Portland and want to drink your way around to a few breweries do it responsibly and take a tour, the guys at Brewvana will take good care of you and make sure you have a “buzz-worthy” time!
We loved everything about Portland, it just has the good feeling vibe you look for in a city. We know we will be back as Portland has become our favorite city so far on our #epicUSroadtrip. A city we could see ourselves calling home. Next time longer than a weekend getaway to Portland, as we could have easily spent weeks eating & drinking our way around Portland.
Have you been to Portland? What do you love most about it?