Hello wonderful people!
On today’s post, I wanted to share with you what I did on my 3-day solo trip to Portland! I went in May 2022, and it was such a great weekend! Just like Seattle, Portland was a place I always thought about potentially moving to. The nature aspect is so beautiful, and their downtown area has so many cool things to explore. I am also a big fan of how artsy and liberal the whole city is. I was told to be cautious about the homeless population before going, but I honestly felt perfectly safe as a female solo traveler.
This is the second solo trip I’ve ever been on. Compared to Seattle, I’d say I definitely did a bit more exploring on my own rather than going on something like a tour. If this your first solo trip, don’t stress! I have a post of general Solo Trip Tips + Essentials for Women that goes over some general things I would have liked to know during my trips.
I absolutely fell in love with Portland. It completely lived up to its hype. I feel like I enjoyed this solo trip more than my first one just because I was more confident in the planning, and I prefer the activities I did in Portland over the ones in Seattle. Don’t take me wrong. Seattle will always have a special place in my heart because it was my first solo trip, but I think Portland fit my personality just a bit more. Hopefully, this post inspires you to head over to Portland and helps you out with some ideas on what to do!
General Tips for Portland
If you read my 3-Day Female Solo Trip Itinerary for Seattle, the tips are farely similar because these cities actually have a lot in common! This is especially for their downtown areas.
- Plan out your days by area
- As a solo traveler, I always want to make the trip as easy as possible for myself. So, I plan out each of the days by neighborhood so that I can reduce the amount of traveling I have to do around the city in a day. This makes the trips so much less stressful, and I’m not exhausted by the end of a day full of exploring!
- Use public transportation!
- I am a hugeee advocate for using public transportation, especially on solo trips. It is much more cost efficient, and I feel safer than being in an Uber by myself. With cities like Portland, there are so many stops around the city. I feel like I had to do very limited walking to reach my destinations because the Portland TriMet took me almost exactly where I needed to be.
- Start your day out as early as you can
- Because I like to be extra cautious when I solo travel, I try my best to plan all my activities in broad daylight. I’m naturally a morning person, so it wasn’t too difficult to get my day started early. I’m also not really one to explore nightlife when I travel alone, so this might be more bias towards the activities I did. It was honestly so relaxing being able to finish my days by sunset and just enjoy the rest of my night in! I also find that activites go by so much faster when you’re alone, so I feel like you’ll have plenty of time to do everything you want to do.
Where I Stayed
I always look for a place that is close to main attractions as well as public transportation stops. Therefore, I decided to stay at The Society Hotel! It was by far the cutest boutique hotel I’ve stayed in. The room itself was so cozy and had all the space I needed. I chose the option to have a shared private bathroom across the hall from my room. I think I ended up being the only guest to use it, which was really nice. The view from my room was gorgeous, and they also had a super cute rooftop area. For two nights, I believe I paid around $180!
Transportation
Again, I absolutely love taking public transportation. This is honestly one of the biggest ways I save money on my solo trips. The TriMet (public transportation system in Portland) accepts ApplePay, so it’s super easy to pay if you don’t plan on getting a reloadable Hop Card. I live in an area that doesn’t have great public transportation, so I make sure to look at the public transportation routes as I’m planning my activities for each day. This is why planning by areas is super helpful because it reduces the headache of figuring out routes all day if you’re not used to it. However, public transportation is fairly easy to understand!
The only thing about public transportation is that it may not always be exactly on time, so make sure to allocate enough time to travel if you have activites planned at specific times. I prefer to have more loose itinieraries, so this wasn’t a huge worry for me! It’s totally worth it for how much money you save using the TriMet.
Day 1
On the first day, I arrived around 1pm, so I still had the whole afternoon to explore! After I dropped off my luggage at the hotel, I headed out for lunch at Kaizen Sushi. I still dream about this place to this day. I had their salmon flight and rainbow roll, and it was amazing. Salmon is my favorite food, so to have a whole flight was a great start to my trip.
Afterwards, I explored the Lan Su Chinese Garden. It was so so pretty. I went in the middle of the day on a Thursday, and it was not busy at all, which was really nice. I walked through all the gardens and checked out the artwork. They also have a teahouse and garden shop to check out as well! It was so peaceful and made me super excited to see the Portland Japanese Garden the next day.
Then I took a little coffee shop break at Stumptown Coffee! I love my coffee and matcha, so this was a must visit place for me. It definitely lived up to its hype in my opinion. I always bring a journal and book on my solo trips, so I took some time to enjoy my iced lavender matcha while journaling and reading. The atmosphere of the shop was very cozy and chill.
Since I came into the city a little later this day, it was already time for dinner by the time I was done at Stumptown. I picked up some gyoza at Afuri Ramen and brought it back to my hotel. I was in my Grey’s Anatomy phase during this time, so I watched an episode before heading to bed!
Day 2
On the second day, I got some breakfast at Mother’s Bistro and Bar! I love a good classic breakfast, so I ordered their two farm fresh eggs choice and began exploring more of downtown Portland.
Nola Donuts was another must try place for me. I loveee beignets, so I had to try theirs, and it did not disappoint. Once again, I dream of these beignets. I’m not even kidding, I loved them so much I went back and got them on my last day. After, I shopped around Powell’s Bookstore and Buffalo Exchange, which were two stores I could honestly spend hours in. Before I knew it, it was time for my tattoo appointment!!
Portland has so many amazing tattoo artists, so I just knew that I wanted my first arm tattoo to be there. I got my flower tattoo done at Ever True Tattoo by Scott Umeki. He was great to talk to, and my tattoo only ended up being around $120! I wanted to get a tattoo to commemorate my first solo trip to Seattle, so I sent him a picture of the bouquet I bought myself at Pike Place Market. This tattoo definitely holds a really special place in my heart.
Then I headed over to Washington Park. This place is huge!! I chose to mainly explore the Portland Japanese Garden and International Rose Test Garden. The Japanese Garden was so beautiful. The greenery was never-ending, and the artwork was gorgeous. I also made a reservation at their Umami Cafe and enjoyed some tea and sweets as a little break in my day. The roses weren’t fully in bloom at the rose garden, but it was still a really pretty place to walk through and explore.
Afterwards, I headed over to Pioneer Square to do some more window shopping! The Muji there was super cool. They had a robot that makes your coffee for you, so I ordered an iced honey rose latte, and it was pretty good!
I ended my night by reading on the rooftop of the hotel and headed for bed!
Day 3
On my last day, I spent some time at the Portland Saturday Market. It was super cool getting to see all the different vendors and just window shopping. Then I went to Kingsland Kitchen for brunch. To no surprise, the burger I had was phenomenal. I would definitely go back if I were to visit Portland again.
I like to take my last day of my solo trips pretty easy since I have to head over to the airport by the end of the day. The West End area of Portland has a lot of cute shops and small businesses, so I window shopped for a few hours. Like I said before, I had to stop by Nola’s one more time to grab some beignets before heading back to Stumptown coffee. I got an iced lavender latte with oat milk, and it was so yum. I journaled for a little bit and read some more before heading over to the airport!
My Portland solo trip is definitely one of my favorite trips I’ve been on! I would definitely go back one day and explore the nature side of the city more. However, for three days in downtown, I can say that Portland was everything I hoped it would be and more! All the food was delicious, the people were super cool, and there were so many things to see and explore. I was also pretty lucky that I had beautiful weather while I was there.
Again, if you’re intimidated by the idea of solo traveling, that is totally valid! I still get nervous when I go on solo trips no matter how many I’ve been on. Hopefully, this post gave you a little more confidence in planning and taking the step to explore Portland! See you on the next post 🙂
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