Getting there & Getting around

Getting there

Portland International Airport is served by over a dozen airlines, with connections to many major US and Canadian cities. Commuter flights link Portland with San Francisco and Seattle throughout the day, every day, and flights to British Columbia are almost as frequent. Portland International Airport is about 15 minutes' drive northeast of downtown along the Columbia River. The city's public transport company, Tri-Met, runs a light-rail train (MAX) between the two, and Raz transport runs buses. Taxis and airport shuttles make up your other options.

Portland sits at the junction between Interstates 84 and 5 on the national freeway system, and Highway 26 stretches from the coast through Portland and into central Oregon. Greyhound buses zip up and down Interstate 5 (I-5), the coast's main north-south artery, on a regular basis. Some nine buses make the trip up to Seattle every day, with about half as many heading south toward San Francisco and Los Angeles. Greyhound serves Portland's outlying local communities too, as well as Vancouver, BC. Portland is Greyhound's western terminus along I-84, with service east through Denver, Salt Lake City, Chicago and beyond.

Amtrak offers services up and down the West Coast. East-west trains travel via the stunning Columbia River Gorge on their way to or from Chicago and points in between.

Getting around

Tri-Met buses and light-rail trains - known as Metropolitan Area Express, or MAX - are free within the downtown area. Beyond downtown they're still cheap, and their tickets are good for two hours on any form of Tri-Met transport.

As in most big American cities, downtown Portland is no treat to drive through. Still, if you're going to make field trips into the surrounding communities or countryside (and we suggest you do), a car can come in mighty handy. There are rental agencies at the airport as well as in town, and driving is on the right.

The single best way to make your way around the city streets (and beyond, for you plucky thunder-calved types) is to do so by bicycle. Portland's just about as bicycle-friendly as a city gets, and there are a number of rental agencies, repair shops and other resources to choose from.