Getting In, Getting Around Portland

Portland International Airport is located 9 miles northeast of downtown on the Columbia River. Most major airlines serve Portland from nearly all major airports in the United States. Non-stop air service is also available from Vancouver, BC, Canada; Tokyo, Japan; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Guadalajara, Mexico; and Frankfurt, Germany. Daily direct service is also available to Mexico City, Mexico; and Singapore.

Rental cars are found on the ground floor of the parking garage at Portland International Airport, just a walk across the terminal's lower roadway outside the baggage claim area. Freeway access from Portland Airport is easy. To get downtown, approximately 20 to 40 minutes away, follow signs for Portland or Interstate 84 West. Taxis queue up on the roadway outside the baggage claim area. Expect to pay $27 to $32 for a cab to downtown. The MAX light rail train can be boarded at the east end of the airport terminal on the baggage claim level. Tickets are $1.70 and are available from vending machines inside the terminal and on the platform. The ride to downtown takes 40 minutes.

Amtrak provides service to Portland from all along the west coast. The Amtrak Cascades service runs two trains per day between Portland and Eugene, Oregon to the south. Additionally, there are three Cascades trains between Portland and Seattle to the north. These trains are more reliable schedule-wise than the long distance trains. For long distance service, Portland is served daily by the Coast Starlight, running the length of the West Coast (Seattle-Portland-San Francisco Bay Area-Los Angeles). The Starlight has earned the nickname the "Starlate", since it is usually delayed for hours running north from California. The Empire Builder (Portland-Spokane-Glacier Nat'l Park-Minneapolis/St Paul-Milwaukee-Chicago) also provides daily service eastward, and tends not to be as delayed as the Starlight. Portland's Union Station, 800 NW Sixth Av., is located north of downtown, about a 15-minute walk from Pioneer Square. It is adjacent to the Greyhound bus station. The bus mall ends at Union Station, so local TriMet Buses run by Union Station very frequently.

From Washington to the north and California as well as most of the rest of Oregon to the south, the easiest way to get to Portland by car is on Interstate 5. You can enter the south part of downtown from I-5 before it goes over the Willamette River, or you can take I-405 which runs directly through downtown Portland with a number of exits. From Boise and other points east, Interstate 84 leads along the Columbia into Portland. From the Oregon Coast Highway and other points along the Pacific coast to the west, the easiest approach is U.S. 26. It cuts east towards Portland between Cannon Beach and Seaside.

Portland is an easy city to bike, walk or use public transport. Much of Portland is a grid, so it should be fairly easy to navigate. In general, east-west streets are named while north-south avenues are numbered.

Portland is blessed with an excellent public transportation system, Tri-Met, complete with online trip planner. Fares are good for buses, MAX light rail, and the Portland Streetcar. With plans to extend it to the eastside, as well as the South Waterfront District, the Streetcar loops from Riverplace Marina in Southwest Portland to the Pearl District in the Northwest.