There is so much to do in Portland! From parks to shopping, to food trucks and breweries — all of the uniquely Portland experiences will surprise you. Have fun while visiting Portland for the 2013 Conference. Below are just a few bits of insider information to help you start exploring this amazing city.

Eat and Drink

Dress is almost uniformly casual and the coffee just as uniformly tasty. When you’re in Portland, you’re never more than a few blocks away from a gourmet coffee shop offering an assortment of fresh pastries and freshly brewed drinks.

Portland offers more restaurants per capita than any other city in the US, and the cuisine rivals that of better-known Seattle or San Francisco. Restaurants, cafes — even gourmet food carts — provide a diverse offering of local and ethnic cuisines, reflecting more than 25 different cultures from around the globe. Portland is also known for being among the most vegetarian-friendly cities in America.

Portland is home to more than 40 breweries—more breweries than any other city in the world. The McMenamin brothers have over 30 brewpubs, distilleries, and wineries scattered throughout the area.

Shop

Portland’s downtown is surrounded by distinctive neighborhoods dotted with quaint boutiques and prominent malls. Add to that the fact that Oregon has no sales tax, and it becomes apparent that Portland is a shopper’s paradise.

The Saturday Market is the largest open-air crafts and farmers market in the US, featuring baked goods and one-of-a-kind crafts from more than 275 artists and craftspeople, plus street musicians, jugglers, dancers and more to entertain shoppers.

At Fareless Square, shop the world-famous 68,000-square-foot Powell’s City of Books, the original NikeTown and Columbia Sportswear. Across the river is Lloyd Shopping Center, with more than 200 stores and restaurants and an indoor ice-skating rink.

The Pearl District and Nob Hill neighborhoods feature trendy shops and eateries. Sellwood offers an array of antique shops, and the Hawthorne and Alberta neighborhoods are famous for their funky boutiques, health food stores and alternative restaurants.

City Parks and Gardens

With more than 37,000 acres of parks in Portland, there’s always a bit of nature nearby — Mill Ends Park, the smallest city park in the world; Forest Park, the largest forested urban wilderness park in the US; Washington Park features the International Rose Test Garden, with more than 400 varieties of roses; the Japanese Garden; Chinese garden, known as the Garden of Awakening Orchid, the first authentic urban classical garden outside China; Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden’s seven acres of rhododendrons, azaleas and other native Oregon plants.

Climate

Portland climate is usually described as oceanic. Winters are described as somewhat mild and very wet. The months of December, January, February, and March have a daytime average of 50 °F (10.0 °C) and a nighttime low of 38 °F (3.3 °C). The rainfall averages 37.5 inches (950 mm) per year. Although this isn’t necessarily a substantial amount of rain, the city’s wet reputation comes from the fact that the rain tends to fall as a drizzle or light rain over several consecutive days at a time.