As a home grown Seattleite, we like to think that Seattle definitely is the more sophisticated and exciting city than it's younger sister, Portland. However, as I recently took a weekend trip to Portland with my boyfriend to visit friends, I was pleasantly surprised. Portland is more like Seattle's cooler hipster little sister. Portland is a lot smaller than Seattle, so I would like to describe it as less intimidating. The driving and parking is still just as frustrating, but Portland has Seattle beat in a many different ways.
Portland is a fast growing city. It used to be this hidden gem on the West Coast between Seattle and Los Angeles. But now there is quite a few tourist attractions. As someone who hates being 'touristy' I found the attractions in Portland to be very unique. My friends and family in Seattle make day trips down to Portland all the time just for the famous Voodoo Doughnuts shop. This doughnut shop features unique doughnuts with unusual toppings like Fruit Loops or Bacon. The tourist attraction that happened to be my favorite however would have to be Pal's Bookstore. A multi floored bookstore with hundreds of different genres and topics. If you take a picture outside the bookstore and give it to the store manager they may post in on the wall too. And of course Oprah's favorite little ice cream shop in Portland happens to be to die for, Salt and Straw. Salt and Straw features unique ice cream flavors like Pear and Bleu Cheese or Olive Oil.
Of course Portland doesn't have a professional baseball or football team, and giant Space Needle that overlooks the whole city, but it does have the great places I mentioned before. If you're looking for a great little city escape on the West Coast but are not quite ready to take on Los Angeles or Seattle, Portland is definitely the best place to experience.
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