Where to stay for a visit?

[cooky01]

A friend of mine will be visiting the Portland area, and asked for advice on where to stay.
He'll be coming w/ wife & young son.
They're open to suggestions on where to stay & visit.


Would it be a good idea to stay in downtown Portland (if so, which areas), or are they better off in a suburb?

[StealthRabbit]

What is their mode of travel? (Public transportation or personal car?)
What are their travel objectives? (Parks, gardens, regional areas.... Or city centric venues?)


Personally, I stay rural (Columbia River Gorge / Coastal / small rural towns (often farms stays) ). I prefer quiet and free and safe parking. An urban visitor might prefer night / comedy clubs/ valet parking at 5 star hotel.

McMenamin stays are rather 'Portland unique'.
One of many choices. (Several are remodeled hotels)
https://www.mcmenamins.com/edgefield.

[Hemlock140]

Oddly enough, my wife and I always stay at the Portlander Inn, which is a motel and marketplace at the Jubitz truck stop. It's a fun place with all kinds of amenities like a nice restaurant the Cascade Grill, a bar, deli, and theater with cheap first-run movies. Last time it was $15.99 for a ticket, popcorn and a soda. You just have to be sure to book a room in the main building, the separate East Wing building is next to the truck parking area and near the bar, so noisy. We would never have thought to stay there until a friend recommended it, and we gave it a try. It's right off of I5/99E just across the river from Vancouver Washington, 7-8 miles from downtown.

[EasyBeezy]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

What is their mode of travel? (Public transportation or personal car?)
What are their travel objectives? (Parks, gardens, regional areas.... Or city centric venues?)


Personally, I stay rural (Columbia River Gorge / Coastal / small rural towns (often farms stays) ). I prefer quiet and free and safe parking. An urban visitor might prefer night / comedy clubs/ valet parking at 5 star hotel.

McMenamin stays are rather 'Portland unique'.
One of many choices. (Several are remodeled hotels)
https://www.mcmenamins.com/edgefield.

I had friends come to town with their three kids last month. They stayed at the Kennedy School (one of the aforementioned McMenamins hotels, and they seemed to enjoy it.

[cooky01]

Thank you all for your responses.

What is their mode of travel? (Public transportation or personal car?)
What are their travel objectives? (Parks, gardens, regional areas.... Or city centric venues?)

They'll fly in from out of state, and rent a car.
I believe they're open to all ideas, as long as it's safe for a family of three w/ a young kid. (no bar hopping w/ the beer brewery)

[archmagus]

It really depends on what you want to do. Downtown is a bit hollowed out since COVID, but it's very beautiful! There are some cool boutique hotels there.

[leastprime]

stay in Seattle area

[NW4me]

I stayed at the Moxy recently... it's a new brand in the Marriott lineup...
I think they've opened only one or two others thus far.
It's very much oriented toward youth and nightlife;
the 'front desk' was like a tiny adjunct to the bar.
So the lobby was noisy at night (but I didn't hear it up in my room).
The rooms are attractive and contemporary...
though for some reason, they keep the hallways very dimly lit.

Being 60-something, I felt a little odd amid the young crowd;
when I met a gray-haired woman in the elevator, I said,
"What are we doing here??", and we had a laugh at that.

So, nothing untoward happened, but I'll choose a different place
to stay on my next visit. And probably a couple with a child
would do better to stay elsewhere too. However, it does have
a very handy location... the streetcar goes right by.

[Nell Plotts]

FWIW:

My husband is an architect (now retired), he had a hotel project on the boards near Beaverton. I traveled a lot for work and complained that it was difficult to buy a glass of wine at hotels because they only served in the hotel bar which wasn't a 'friendly' place for a woman traveling alone. I asked him to propose bar service in the lobby which was a big ask as liquor laws varied. It turns out that the hotel was in an unincorporated area and the client loved the idea.

The lobby bar was born and spread throughout the industry.