Month Ahead

What to Do in Oregon in February

Leaving the house is good for you. This month delivers truffle dog competitions, sausage eating contests, and salty verse. (Also... Saxsquatch?)

01/26/2026 By Rebecca Jacobson and Portland Monthly Staff

Month Ahead

What to Do in Oregon in January

Plunge into the Pacific on New Year's Day, dance to folk music in Florence, and cheer on sled dogs in Oregon's answer to the Iditarod.

12/31/2025 By Rebecca Jacobson and Portland Monthly Staff

Outdoors

Sno-Parks, State Parks & Beyond: Snag a Wilderness Parking Pass

Tired of paying trailhead parking fees? There's a pass for that. Get one of these Pacific Northwest wilderness passes for yourself or your outdoorsy friend.

12/23/2025 By Margaret Seiler and Wriik Maui

Eat, Stay, Play

A Guide to the Ultimate Bend Winter Trip

Ski runs and sled dog rides by day, drag shows and 32-ounce porterhouses by night.

12/17/2025 By Cathy Carroll

Travel

9 Grand Lodges of the Pacific Northwest

For every season, there’s a dream destination.

12/09/2025 Edited by Ramona DeNies By Portland Monthly Staff

Transit Trip

Antique Store Hopping in Aurora via TriMet and Canby Area Transit

Plus wine tasting, shortbread samples, relics of a utopia, and so many plug-in plastic Jesuses.

12/02/2025 By Margaret Seiler

Transit Trip

We Rode from Portland to Seattle on City Buses

Pro: It cost $7 total for seven buses. Con: It took seven hours.

10/02/2025 By Margaret Seiler

WEIRD OUT

Visit These 13 Oregon Oddities and Roadside Attractions

Our state has shipwrecks, shoe trees, and sinkholes awaiting you.

09/16/2025 By Isabel Lemus Kristensen, Margaret Seiler, and Portland Monthly Staff

Travel

8 Fun and Easy Fall Day Trips near Portland

Sip cider in Hood River, get spooked in St. Helens, and celebrate the fall harvest around Wilsonville.

09/09/2025 By Isabel Lemus Kristensen and Portland Monthly Staff

Summer Weekends

Eugene Is Oregon’s Underrated Wine and Dining Destination

Tasting flights, Trinidadian doubles, and tantalizing views.

07/23/2025 By Andrea Damewood

Summer Weekends

A Waterfall-Loving Wine Nerd’s Guide to the Gorge

Follow hikes and swims with skin-contact viognier and stone fruit.

06/13/2025 By Brooke Jackson-Glidden

Museums

10 Can't-Miss Oregon Museums Outside of Portland

Could we interest you in the world's largest pig hairball? Perhaps a gravity-defying X-Files fixation?

03/25/2025 By Portland Monthly Staff

Getaways

3 Perfect Spring Day Trips from Portland

Shake off the winter doldrums on a jaunt out of town.

03/07/2025 By Arlo Voorhees

Oregon Trails

Step Inside the Oregon Coast’s Historic Bowling Alleys

Life’s a beach. Then you bowl.

01/07/2025 By Margaret Seiler Illustrations by Jordan Kay

Heat Seeking

Destination Saunas in Oregon and Beyond

Shvitz in a “wine barrel,” cold plunge in a river, or soak up the steam from a bubbling hot spring.

10/30/2024 Edited by Brooke Jackson-Glidden and Rebecca Jacobson

History Tour

Visit These Oregon Ghost Towns This Fall

Once-bustling towns like Bridal Veil, Shaniko, and Golden hold remnants of the state's past.

10/22/2024 By Gabriel Granillo

Going Solo

Solo Travel Isn’t Always Comfortable, but It Is Always Revelatory

Free of witness, you meet a different version of yourself.

07/01/2024 Illustrations by Sophie Escavy-Lim By Erica Berry

Life’s Fictions

Miranda July in Conversation with Portland Novelist Chelsea Bieker

“A feeling of recklessness is what made me write it down,” July says of her latest novel, All Fours. “I’m pointing at a thing and calling it out.”

05/15/2024 By Chelsea Bieker Illustrations by Becki Gill

Our Oddities

Oregon’s Weirdest Tourist Attractions, According to Reddit

Let’s be honest: you didn’t come here for cookie-cutter.

05/10/2024 By Zoe Sayler

Road Trip

Portland to Seattle: How to Survive the Drive on Interstate 5

Hippie sandals, squirrel bridges, playgrounds, a car museum, hot pot, skydiving ... take a few breaks on the drive between Portland and Seattle.

05/09/2024 By Cassondra Bird, Michelle Harris, and Margaret Seiler