Travel & Outdoors

Best of PDX

Your Quintessential Portland Bucket List: 50 Things to Do in Town

These are our city's can't-miss activities, whether you’ve lived here all your life or are just passing through.

10/18/2026 By Portland Monthly Staff

Halloween

Visit These Portland Haunted Houses For Halloween Pregaming

Haunted manors, zombie graveyards, and spooky drive-ins to get you in the most frightful of moods.

10/16/2026 By Portland Monthly Staff

Forest Bathing

The Rise of the Nature Sauna

Remote saunas provide a place for wellness and connecting in the wild.

10/13/2026 By Zoe Baillargeon

Travel

10 Grand Lodges of the Pacific Northwest

For every season, there’s a dream destination.

10/07/2026 Edited by Ramona DeNies By Brooke Jackson-Glidden and Portland Monthly Staff

Fauna

Getting to Know the Great Blue Heron, Portland’s Official City Bird

Bud Clark made the designation in 1986. Sorry, swifts.

10/07/2026 By Rebecca Jacobson

PDX Index

Running the Numbers on 60 Years of Outdoor School

The beloved program takes kids out of the classroom and into the woods.

10/05/2026 By Rebecca Jacobson

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 all over.

09/29/2026 By Isabel Lemus Kristensen and Portland Monthly Staff

Month Ahead

What to Do in Oregon in October

Celebrate the harvest in Hood River, have fun with fungi in Yachats and Eugene, and cheer on pumpkin regatta paddlers in Tualatin.

09/28/2026 By Isabel Lemus Kristensen and Portland Monthly Staff

Squash Season

13 Great Pumpkin Patches to Visit near Portland This Fall

Pumpkins? Check. Also: hayrides, corn mazes, farm animals, apple cider doughnuts, and so much more.

09/22/2026 By Cami Hughes and Isabel Lemus Kristensen

In the Trees

8 Essential Forest Park Hikes for Any Portland Explorer

First-timer? Super athlete? Bird-watcher? We’ve got a trail for you.

09/08/2026 By Brian Barker, Rebecca Jacobson, and Benjamin Tepler

Transit Trip

We Took the Bus to the Oregon State Fair in Salem

Sheep, piglets, corn dogs, Dolly Parton tributes, Weird Al, hissing cockroaches, and a magical ski lift to nowhere.

09/04/2026 By Margaret Seiler

Peak Produce

The Making of Mt. Angel Oktoberfest’s Harvest Monument

Artist Daniel Frey works in seeds, apples, onions, and beans.

09/01/2026 By Margaret Seiler

Bier Fest

Oktoberfest Already? Here’s Where to Go In and Around Portland.

Break out your lederhosen.

09/01/2026 By Portland Monthly Staff

Month Ahead

What to Do in Oregon in September

Dahlias are in bloom, the Pendleton Round-Up kicks off, and Oktoberfest has us raising our steins.

08/31/2026 By Portland Monthly Staff

Bike Summer

Check Out These August Pedalpalooza Rides

Learn about levees, honor Dolly Parton, or sign up for a scavenger hunt.

08/25/2026 By Rebecca Jacobson and Margaret Seiler

Getaway

Seabrook’s Study in New Urbanism

A fantasy, or the future?

08/10/2026 By Amelia Arvesen

BBQ

Why Grasslands Barbecue Is More Than Worth the Drive

A trip to the Hood River food cart is a meaty pilgrimage.

08/06/2026 By Jordan Michelman Photography by Thomas Teal

Events

Don’t Miss These Annual Oregon Coast Events

Volleyball in Seaside, a music fest in Lincoln City, and cranberries in Bandon.

08/05/2026 By Margaret Seiler

Star Power

Oregon Dark Sky Locations for Stargazing

Get away from the city and all its darn lights.

08/04/2026 By Margaret Seiler

Into the Night

In Antelope, Oregon, Light Breaks Through

Red bulbs and black paint show a way forward for a rural community with darkness in its past.

08/03/2026 By Leah Sottile Illustrations by Joseph Laney

Portland Monthly

Travel & Outdoors

The Rise of the Nature Sauna

What to Do in Oregon in October

8 Fun and Easy Fall Day Trips near Portland

These Are All the Nonstop Destinations from PDX

5 Essential Rainy-Day Hikes near Portland

Why Grasslands Barbecue Is More Than Worth the Drive

Your Quintessential Portland Bucket List: 50 Things to Do in Town

Visit These Portland Haunted Houses For Halloween Pregaming

The Rise of the Nature Sauna

10 Grand Lodges of the Pacific Northwest

Getting to Know the Great Blue Heron, Portland’s Official City Bird

Running the Numbers on 60 Years of Outdoor School

8 Fun and Easy Fall Day Trips near Portland

What to Do in Oregon in October

13 Great Pumpkin Patches to Visit near Portland This Fall

8 Essential Forest Park Hikes for Any Portland Explorer

We Took the Bus to the Oregon State Fair in Salem

The Making of Mt. Angel Oktoberfest’s Harvest Monument

Oktoberfest Already? Here’s Where to Go In and Around Portland.

What to Do in Oregon in September

Check Out These August Pedalpalooza Rides

Seabrook’s Study in New Urbanism

Why Grasslands Barbecue Is More Than Worth the Drive

Don’t Miss These Annual Oregon Coast Events

Oregon Dark Sky Locations for Stargazing

In Antelope, Oregon, Light Breaks Through

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