Portland Walking Tours

We did the Epicurian tour on January 30^th. It was a catastrophic waste of time and money. For $ 60 per person we got two bites of salads, tasting of oil and vinegar at a store that gives free tastings, two ounces of macchiato, ¼ of a sandwich, a few french fries, a beer sampling, and a small scoop of ice cream. Our tour guide had some knowledge of Portland but his narrative was repetitive and tiresome. Had this tour been offered for $ 20 I would consider it an interesting novelty but at $ 60 pp (not to mention the money we paid for dinner afterwards given that we were still hungry afterwards) it is really a huge rip off.

I got to take the «We Got Tipsy in Portland» tour with Herb, and I couldn’t have had a better time!!! Herb gave us an informative, interesting, fun, and delicious tour! I don’t know if I can pick a favorite moment, but the history of Gin really stands out, I had no clue it used to be medicine not… «medicine ;)».
Everything we tried on the tour was local, and that was really awesome. The wine, cider, cocktails, beer, and snacks (yes, there’s food too!!!) were all really wonderful and super tasty. At each stop (except maybe 1) a bartender/​staff member came out and talked with us about what we were drinking, and we got to ask them questions! SO GREAT!!!
I would absolutely consider myself a beer drinker (we all have our go-​tos when we head out drinking, and I go-​to beer.) After taking this rad tour, I might get a little more adventurous and try some local cocktails.
Cheers!!!

What a cool way to learn more about this beautiful city! Our guide was so enthusiastic with his role that we got even more excited.

Originally booked with Forktown Food Tours but I was the only one so they cancelled. I called Portland Walking Tours and jumped in on the $ 20 Best of Portland (2.5 hours) and afterwards went on the Food Truck tour for $ 49 (1.5 hours). The walking tour was worth it. So much history and knowledge you just can’t get perusing the city alone. Reviewers have said it is expensive, but you pay for the history and knowledge and then the food. Basically $ 20 in food which is about right since we hit up 8 food carts that included Dumplings, Soup, Pastrami cheesesteaks, Korean BBQ tacos, Falafel, Grilled Pizza, Georgian Cheesebread, and mini donuts. The knowledge is also interesting. Our guide, Joe, knows what he is talking about and each vendor knew him. Overall enjoyable. It was like 40 degrees and raining which was unpleasant, but hey, it’s Portland!

I have been on ghost/​haunted tours in New Orleans; Philadelphia; Washington; San Diego … and now Portland. Entry into the Benson Hotel and basement of the Merchant Hotel were special; however nothing really paranormal was experienced by our group. Our tour guide, Ben, was very articulate, informative and friendly. I would recommend him. If there had been entry into one more site, I would have been more satisfied. Regardless, it was a good history lesson, and the surprise stop at Voodoo donuts was memorable. Thanks, Ben!

Really enjoyed our day time historical tour with Kevin. Super informative, entertaining, and educational! None of the hocus pocus, supernatural stuff, if that’s what you’re looking for, but it was great learning more about the how the city developed and where it’s heading now! Kevin dropped lots of knowledge ranging from Japanese Internment, flooding histories, the use of the tunnels, shady historical figures, and even how prostitution and donuts got super popular. Also, A+ Zak Bagans impersonation. Definitely worth it!

Since this is my first trip to Portland so I figure the best way to do it is to follow a local guide. We are so happy with our guide Todd, who is extremely knowledgeable, considerate, and amazing. We learned so much about Portland, and 1.5 hour walking tour was the perfect length.

Beyond Bizarre Ghost Tour — Worst waste of money we’ve found in a while. Profanity was used constantly throughout the tour to ensure this felt like an «adult» tour (10 PM). It was over the top. Would’ve been embarrassed to have booked it with family or coworkers.
Sure, some history of the city was shared but in a little over two hours we walked to two places, ate super sugary donuts, and then went and sat in the basement of the tour office which used to be a hotel. A lot of talking but I got very little out of it. I’ve been on ghost tours before. This was underwhelming to say the least.

if you love supernatural the show… you know the one with Dean and Sam …((find the salt !!!))… you will enjoy this tour because it gives you real access… at least most of the time to an emf meter … pretty cool huh :) totally awesome … my guide was Jennifer… And she knows her stuff… they don’t bs you
…or try to scare you or anything like that … its just a really entertaining, quirky, fun tour. You start out in the basement of the merchant hotel. and head all around downtown… bonus .they have old time pizza which is famous for Rachael Ray being there. totally recommended and it’s about 20 bucks give or take .but worth it :)

A delicious food cart tour with an informative guide — a fun way to introduce Portland to out of towners!

Brooke, our guide, was funny, knowledgable and energetic. Our tour was more than I expected and packed with historic and present day facts. I would reccomend it to anyone new to the area!

A group of us with our teenage kids took the Underground Walking Tour last week. The Underground Walking Tour is the «worst of Portland» tour which explores the unsavory beginning and history of Portland. The tour winds around downtown for about 1.5 miles and it took us about an hour and 45 minutes to complete. Our tour guide was very friendly and very knowledgeable. I also liked the fact that our tour guide was able to link the shady (and sometimes shameful) history of Portland to the current social ills of the city. This made history more interesting to learn. If you like to learn the history and how a city got its beginnings, then you’ll love the Underground Walking Tour. I highly recommend it!

Beyond bizarre walking tour was the bomb so much fun wicked awesome if you are into the paranormal it’s a must do while in Portland and you won’t be disappointed trust me

Taking a tour around downtown Portland has been on my to do list for years. A friend in town that was interested was the motivation to finally do it. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. We had some questions about the pictures on the wall before the tour started, and he was able to answer all but one. He got on twitter to find the answer to the one he didn’t know. Loved it.
We took the «Worse of Portland» tour. It lasts about 2 hours. Very fun, and I plan on going back for the «Best of Portland» tour.
Definitely recommend!

Went on the best of Portland tour this morning with Brian who was very knowledgeable and friendly yet still quite professional. The tour had about 15 ppl total so not too crowded. Thought the amount of time was about right and very enjoyable. Definitely learned a lot about downtown and this area well. The meeting place was not obvious from the description and a few of us didn’t know exactly where to meet. I guess meeting indoors is better bc of weather but lotsa signage needed so ppl know where to go. Was similar to some free walking tours we did in Vancouver but this was twenty bucks per person. Glad we did it. Learned about the art in the city and clear vistas and benson and fountains etc. was able to appreciate this progressive city.

Took this tour with 3 boys (10, 12 & 13) and we all had a fantastic time and are ready to try another type of tour they offer.
We had a some rain dump on us, but that’s always a risk in Portland.
The guide was great. Being from the area it was really fun to catch up on some history and stories and learn some new ones.

I took the Beyond Bizarre tour at 10 in the evening last Thursday, it was fantastic. Our tour guide Alison was engaging and you could tell that she really enjoyed giving the tours. Definitely go on the tour, it’s worth it and the sort of people you will meet on the tour are the sort of folks you’d grab a beer with, I actually did right after the tour was done!

The Portland Walking Tour is a great tour if you want to take visiting friends/​family or a group of out-​of-​state people. I booked a group for international students last summer and they had such a wonderful time that I am setting up another reservation for my spring group.
The staff is very nice and will try their best to make you feel comfortable.

Very good tour given by a knowledgeable and enthusiastic local (aka transplant who fell in love with Portland, like so many others). We did the main city tour and walked a couple of miles. (I wish I could remember the name of our guide.)
We definitely got some nice behind-​the-​scenes scoops on the public art, including Portlandia herself, the urban renewal and planning projects for which Portland is famous, and of course that very cute tiny park at the end of the tour. 2 hours well spent, before resuming our beer crawl.

As I was putting together an itinerary for my first trip to Portland, the Epicurean Excursion from Portland Walking Tours caught my eye. The 3.5 hour tour typically visits between 7 and 9 different local vendors and artisan producers, but they can vary depending on the availability of the vendor, day of the week, time of day, seasonality, and food allergies/​dietary restrictions of the guests.
My friend and I arrived for the tour at the Heathman Hotel. Yes, that hotel. The one that is referenced many times in Fifty Shades of Grey. The Heathman has good naturedly embraced the reference and has created a «Fifty Shades of Gin» cocktail and even offers «Our Inner Goddess» add-​on package which includes a bottle of pouille fume wine and a keepsake grey tie. Note: this is an AWESOME city.
After meeting our friendly tour host Pat, our group of 13 started on our food adventure and headed downstairs to our first stop, Cacao. Cacao is a specialty chocolate shop that features a hand-​picked selection of chocolate from around the world. We were fortunate to start off the tour with a sampling of their house-​made drinking chocolate. I felt guilty drinking something so decadent. But I am an adult. So there.
Next was Flying Elephants, an outpost of Elephants Delicatessen. There we had the most amazing tomato orange soup. Elephants is not only a deli, but a market where you’ll find a full selection of cheeses, baked goods, fresh breads, and chocolates.
Portland is home to hundreds of food carts and this thriving phenomenon has become an integral part of the city’s culture. Our food cart stop was at the Gaufre Gourmet where we ate (read: inhaled) the most delicious liege waffle. YUM!
Our next stop, thanks goodness was coffee! Courier Coffee Roasters, available only inside Portland, is wholly representative of what Portland is about. They deliver their coffee by bicycle and will only deliver enough to last about a week to ensure their hand roasted coffee remains of the highest quality. Here we each got our own macchiato, complete with latte art. LOVE!
Nothing goes better with coffee than pastries and at the Pearl Bakery we got to sample some of their best. Their handcrafted breads and pastries are made fresh with no preservatives. We sampled their baguette, croissant, gibassier, focaccia, and fruit tart. Hands down, my favorite was the gibassier, a French pastry made with fruited olive oil and spiced with anise and candied orange peel.
If we weren’t starting to feel full, we definitely were after our stop at Hot Lips Pizza located in the Ecotrust Building in the Pearl District. Their raspberry lemonade was delicious! We each had a full slice of their Squash & Goat Cheese pizza, summer squash with roasted pepper, hazelnuts, and goat cheese on an olive oil base. Not something I would typically order, but so glad that I got to try.
Our seventh stop took us to Ringlers Pub, where we indulged in a flight of three beers: the ruby, a light, crisp ale with notes of raspberry; the hammerhead, a classic Northwest pale ale; and the Terminator Stout, full of toasted, chocolate, nutty and coffee-​like flavors. We even made our own rubinator, topping the ruby ale with the terminator stout.
The brunch scene in Portland is huge and there’s no shortage of great places serving up breakfast and brunch. One of those places is Cheryl’s on 12^th, a local family owned marketplace, café and catering company. Here we sampled their beignets and enjoyed a plateful of their version of Portuguese fried rice with eggs, green onion, bacon, Portuguese sausage, and avocado.
Completing this epic Epicurean Excursion was a stop at Ruby Jewel Scoops where we tried two ice cream sandwiches: lemon cookie with honey lavender ice cream and chocolate cookie with salted caramel ice cream.
The tour took us on about a 1.5 mile exploration of Portland’s West End and Pearl districts complete with a ride on the Portland Streetcar. I highly recommend this tour as it was informative, fun and delicious. Perfect for hungry newbies to the city.
I wrote a more indepth review complete with pictures. If you want, you can view it here: