Portland is the largest city in the state of Oregon, and has a reputation as being one of the best-planned and most pleasant cities in the USA, with narrow pedestrian friendly streets, a simple to understand public transport system, and many pleasant parks and cultural attractions.
Often known as the City of Bridges on account of the many connections that the city has across the two rivers that it lies on, Portland is also famous for the laid back nature of its inhabitants, and also for the mainly wet weather that ensures, like Seattle and Vancouver, that the city and its surroundings are home to plenty of greenery and pleasant countryside, and puddles, lots of puddles.
These days, Portland has a great reputation as one of the best cities for beer in the whole of the United States of America. Around the downtown area, and in the fashionable Pearl District to the southwest of the city centre you will find a whole raft of microbreweries and unique pubs where they make their own beer freshly with local ingredients including spring water from nearby Mount Hood.
Portland rivals Cologne in Germany as a brewer, is widely touted by connoisseurs of ale as being the true beer capital of the world, and hosts an annual Oktoberfest where locals put their best brews to the vote every autumn.
Facts for the Traveller:
Name: United States of America
Capital: Washington D.C.
Area: 9.63 million Sq KM
Population: 290 million
Language: English, Spanish, Native American
Flight Time: 6-11 Hours from London
Currency: US Dollar
