Location: Portland
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10 Nature & Parks in Portland That You Shouldn't Miss
You’ll wonder why you don’t live in Portland after you’ve visited this laid-back and friendly city. With a reputation for manicured parks, eclectic nightlife, fine micro-breweries and distilleries, and nature that cuts right into the city, Portland’s a Pacific Northwest must-visit. Don’t miss the famous Japanese Garden, one of the largest and most beautiful of its kind outside of Japan.
Restaurants in Portland
1. Wildwood Trail
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 19 reviews
A 10-mile running trail.
Reviewed By Curiouskelley - Oregon City, United States
What a great hike & it is right in our back yard. Pretty busy trail with lots of people running, walking & hiking. Anyone that is up for a challenge, I recommend getting up early & doing the whole thing.
2. Macleay Park
3. Washington Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,532 reviews
This popular park offers miles of trails, an extensive rose garden, a large Japanese garden and a zoo. For information on free shuttles, attraction admission hours and pricing within the park, and maps, visit our website.
Reviewed By PaulPapich - San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
My wife and I live immediately adjacent to Washington Park in Southwest Portland. In fact, being close to the Park was one of the major reasons we selected the property we bought. We visit it every week without fail. To start with, Washington Park is immense and gorgeous! It is home to the International Rose Test Garden, Japanese Garden, Holocaust Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, the city's zoo, arboretum and forestry museum, archery range, tennis courts, walking trails, and much, much more. It would be a world-class destination if it only had the Rose and Japanese Gardens, which are extraordinarily beautiful. But perhaps the greatest draw for me personally are the trees - my ancient, stately friends, covering the hilly terrain, providing shade to walkers like me, and peace to anyone seeking a haven in today's chaotic world.
4. International Rose Test Garden
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 5,561 reviews
The oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States boasts more than 8,000 roses.
Reviewed By PaulPapich - San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
If you are ever in Portland during its glorious summer months, you absolutely owe it to yourself to visit the International Rose Test Garden. It is one of Portland's true gems. Imagine tens of thousands of perfect roses in full bloom, dozens of rose varieties, colors of every hue! Now imagine lovely walks among the rows and rows of roses, the perfume in the air, the tranquil atmosphere, the stately conifers that enclose the Test Garden on three sides, the view of downtown on the fourth, and the happy people taking photographs and stooping to smell the flowers. There you have the Rose Garden!
5. Portland Japanese Garden
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 6,182 reviews
Considered the most authentic Japanese Garden outside of Japan, the Portland Japanese Garden is a haven of tranquil beauty in all four seasons. In Spring of 2017, the Garden opened its new Cultural Village, complete with new garden spaces, classrooms, exhibition and gallery space, and the Umami Cafe.
Reviewed By mrg0137
On a recent trip to Portland, my wife and I stopped in Washington Park with the intention of seeing the Japanese Garden and nearby International Rose Test Garden. Since it was clearly out of season for roses in mid-November, there wasn’t much to see when we stopped at the Rose Garden first. We almost then skipped the Japanese Garden, since it was chilly and raining, and I hadn’t realized that unlike the Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden is an attraction with its own admission fee, not just part of the park that you can meander through freely. I’m really glad we ultimately decided to pay the $18 per person and visit the Japanese Garden, since it was absolutely serene and beautiful, even while walking through in the pouring rain on a chilly day. The line for tickets didn’t look particularly long that afternoon, but it was a bit slow-moving, since there was only one person working the admission window and others had a lot of questions and were buying memberships. I would definitely buy tickets online in the future to skip the line. We entered the gardens close to 3:00 pm, and were told that the last admission of the day would be at 3:30, although it sounded like there was no real time pressure, with the gardens staying open for a while after 3:30 so the final guests of the day could still make their way through. The gardens are built into a hill, so there was a bit of a leisurely uphill climb to get from the entrance at the bottom of the hill to the start of the gardens at the top. There is a shuttle service offered for those who want to avoid the walk and start at the Cultural Village at the top of the hill. From the Cultural Village, which includes restrooms, a gift shop, and a terrace with beautiful bonsai trees, you can start to meander through the gardens themselves, which are absolutely beautiful, with stunning landscaping and water features. Everything in the gardens is currently marked out with one-way paths to help promote social distancing, and the only thing that appeared to be closed was the Japanese Tea House. The gallery building that currently has a photography exhibit with photos from internment camps was open with limited capacity and was interesting to visit. Outside of that, we really enjoyed taking a leisurely walk through the various garden paths and discovering the various sculptures and plantings. It was especially gorgeous to be able to see the variety of changing colors on the trees in the fall. We also really liked that the size of the gardens was manageable so that it didn’t take forever to see everything, but there was still enough to do that the $18 admission was just about worth it (it could maybe be a couple dollars cheaper, but it’s so lovely that I didn’t mind supporting them through our ticket purchase). We spent about an hour at the garden in total, and probably would have spent more time if it wasn’t raining the entire time. I imagine that on a nicer day, you could easily spend a couple hours meandering through the gardens and taking time to relax at various spots along the way. Despite seeming a little pricey at first, the Portland Japanese Garden is absolutely beautiful and worth a visit. It’s a serene paradise in the middle of Portland, and it’s an interesting chance to see what I’ve read is one of the most accurate Japanese gardens in the United States.
6. Hoyt Arboretum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 355 reviews
A popular destination for nature lovers, this arboretum contains many different species of trees.
Reviewed By aprkniess - Beaverton, United States
The Hoyt Arboretum park is absolutely gorgeous in the fall. We hiked about 4 miles today following the Wildwood Trail and several smaller trails from the rose garden to the Hoyt Arboretum visitor center and back. The trail was not difficult but following the exact loop was sometimes not clear with the map we had. You could easily spend all day roaming and exploring. There are memorials and old douglas fir trees, etc all through the park. It's so close to downtown Portland, yet you feel as if you're in the country.
7. Mount Tabor Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 277 reviews
A forested mountain peak lying just outside the city of Portland: great for hiking.
Reviewed By carmenlK5654FY - Houston, United States
This is a great hiking/walking park. So many trails and choices to walk. Due to the Coronavirus, these hiking trails were not so crowded. Great walk here. Check out the dead Volcano.
8. Tryon Creek State Natural Area
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 175 reviews
A beautiful, thickly wooded park lined with over 14 miles of hiking and biking trails.
Reviewed By suzannep247 - Seattle, United States
What a treat! We explored this urban state park for the first time on a sunny October Sunday and had a blast. Dense forest with well-maintained trails signed at every junction. Paved, accessible Trillium trail begins at visitor center, as does packed-earth MainTrail and others that form 2-mile and 4-mile loops. Fantastic array of mushrooms and several wooden bridges crossing the namesake creek. Stumps and other fun kid scramble zones. One suspension bridge is closed for repairs; it is so marked. Enough parking. No fee. Visitor center closed due to Covid, and no paper trail maps were available; I recommend downloading one online for your phone. Horses allowed on some of the trails; leashed dogs on all. Most users wore masks. We were rarely alone - it’s a popular park - but still found serenity.
9. Elk Rock Garden
10. Council Crest Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 61 reviews
Beautful park overlooking the city and offering spectacular views of the surrounding area.
Reviewed By heuster3 - Barstow, United States
Cako loved running through the open field and running through the pine trees. She managed to make a new friend each time since she wants other dogs to chase her! Depending on the time of day you go, it seems quite pleasant. Except for the agressive dog owner that tailgated us one day. Luckily we were staying in the neighborhood so we brought her here everyday to run around. Park hours are great! Rules are pretty straight forward. There are other areas to walk around, but we mainly stayed in this one area. We'll definitely be back if our travels bring us this way again! Cako Approves!
