Oregon Travel Forum

Sorry about another question but I am trying to fine tune our trip and I was searching the Best Western Website for a suitable hotel in Portland and a few options came up that appeared to be outside of Portland - yet nearby. Can anyone recommend a Best Western (or maybe another chain hotel/motel-I am booking for the first time on the internet so trying to play it safe) in the Portland area or preferably in a smaller town outside. We are definitely small town people and would love to stay outside the city. Keeping in mind we will be arriving from Seattle on the Amtrak train so near a train station would be good and we will be flying out so near the airport (or if you could recommend a transfer). Thanks in advance.

What's your rate range? Will you have a car?
In Portland, you can get by without a car, but you'd almost certainly have to stay in the city. And, anyway, you may find the suburbs actually worse than the city for crowds and traffic.
The train station is on the north side of Downtown and the airport is on the northeast side of the city, about 10 miles out, but accessible to the MAX light rail system. The hotels near the airport are cheap but there's nothing around there as far as restaurants or things to do.

Which train will you be arriving on?

You may be better off across the river in Vancouver, Washington depending on where you want to go. There isn't anything as far as hotels go in Portland that are within an easy walk of the Portland train station, the MAX line doesn't serve the train station yet, and bus service to the train station is much less frequent right now due to the construction project there. Bus route 14, for example, used to be a good bet because it was the most frequent service to the station, only serves 3 stops downtown and none of them are very close to the station.

One of the remaining bus routes that does go by the Portland train station is bus route 77, which serves a few options as well. How far do you want to be from Portland? If you are willing to go way outside downtown Portland, I would suggest taking the 77 all the way east to Troutdale and staying at the McMenamin's Edgefield complex, which includes a hotel:
http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=3
There are other hotel options along this bus route, but this is by far the most unique to Portland. It is also very close to the Columbia River Gorge (though you can only get to the Gorge by car).

Vancouver is a smaller community, and while the hotels are not close to the station, they are closer to the station than what you will find in Portland. Red Lion Hotels operates a hotel right on the river that has a fairly nice view. There is bus service across the river to Portland, but it is a more difficult trip because the two cities have two different transit systems. Most trains that serve Portland also serve Vancouver, but some of the Amtrak connecting buses only serve Portland.

Some of the hotels near the Lloyd Center (Double Tree, Red Lion, and at least one other) are very close to downtown, and I think at least the Red Lion is willing to pick up passengers at the train station.

Oregon City is another option. Again, the hotel (OC only has one hotel worthy of mention) is not within an easy walk of the train station, and only certain trains stop in Oregon City, but it isn't too far. The Rivershore hotel used to be independent, but just recently became part of the Best Western system. I'm not sure if they have a system in place for picking up people at the station or not. The OC train station isn't served by any bus routes, but OC does have a taxi company called Sassy's. Much of Oregon City, including Best Western (Rivershore) Hotel, is served by bus routes though - its mostly the train station that doesn't have bus service. It is about 1 hour to downtown Portland though, so staying there depends a bit on what you want to do when you visit here.

There's a lot more to answering this question, but it really depends a lot on what you want to do while you are here.

Thank you to you both for the helpful answers. Both of you pretty well asked what we were wanting to do. We are not 100% certain and any ideas are appreciated. We are probably not super keen to shop or hit the night life scene. We are more into walking around interesting parks or sites and the cheaper the better. We love doing day trips out of the city (obviously these are going to cost a bit) and would just like to see interesting things. Does that help with giving us any suggestions??? Some of the smaller places you have mentioned might be more our style. We would only have limited time so if there are a few interesting things to see in those places that would be great. We are not desperate to get into the downtown area unless you think it would be worth our time. Thanks again.

There are two places that I definitely would put up at the top with the "must see" attractions in the area:

Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument (the mountain in southeast Washington that erupted several times, once explosively in 1980). This area is part of VirtualTourst, and there are commercial tourst that operate out of Portland. Joining one of those would be your best bet if you are without a car, but I can't recommend any specific group as I have never done the trip with a group.

This area is really best visited in summer, as the clouds that come in during the rest of the year will make the view impossible. Also, the main road becomes buried in snow and is closed in winter.

The Columbia River National Scenic Area. This area is not covered on VirtualTourst, but if you look at such places as Multnomah Falls, Cascade Locks, Hood River, and a few other cities that are located inside this region you might be able to get an impression. Again, with very little good public transportation in that area, your best bet is really to join one of the commercial tour groups that run people through there. There are also some river boat trips that take this trip, but they are a bit more expensive than doing it by tour bus.

Oregon City, while it does have that Best Western hotel you are looking for and a train station, is a bit limited in things to do - it is highly local in points of interest.

Here are a few things from Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon and Oregon City, Oregon. If you like these I can make some further suggestions, based on your comments:

Vancouver, WA:
Fort Vancouver & Documenting Preservation:
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1ab0e7/
Vancouver Riverfront Trail: (goes right by several restaurants and a Red Lion hotel is at the western end):
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1aaebb/

Portland, Oregon:
Pittock Mansion (outside open to the public, interior only by paid tour):
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/b07f1/
Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1a12d0/
Audobon Bird Sancuary and Wildlife Care Center
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1aea3e/
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1aea44/
Forest Park
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/19bd54/
East Bank Esplanade
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1a663d/

Oregon City:
Willamette Falls
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1bc688/
Museum of the Oregon Territory
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1bc682/

The nice thing about the several hotels in Portland near the Lloyd Center is that they are on the MAX train line, so that when you fly out at the end of your stay here you have fairly cheap (US$2.05 this month, rises to US$2.30 at the end of the month), easy to get to transportation between your hotel and the airport. The bad news is that lots of luggage doesn't necessarily work that well on public transportation, but it sounds like you are used to dealing with that. I would only recommend that to certain types of people, though.

Thanks for all that info. I will take a while to sort through it and have a think. We haven't booked yet but are pretty certain now of where we will go. Will let you know if I have any more questions. Thanks again for your time and help. Much appreciated.