Hotels in Portland

Portland sits where the Willamette meets the Columbia, with Mount Hood on the eastern skyline and the Pacific 90 minutes west. It is a green, walkable, low-rise city built around independent businesses: Powell's City of Books occupies a full block and claims to be the largest independent bookshop in the world, and the food cart pods scattered through downtown are a genuine institution.

Oregon charges no sales tax, which makes shopping noticeably cheaper than in neighbouring states. The city has more breweries than almost anywhere in America, a serious coffee culture that predates the national wave, and the Alberta, Hawthorne and Mississippi corridors each hold their own concentration of restaurants and bars.

The outdoors is close and varied. Forest Park is one of the largest urban forests in the United States at over 5,000 acres, the Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls are 45 minutes east, and the Willamette Valley's pinot noir vineyards start an hour south.