Best time to visit Portland

United States · North America

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Portland

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in May, Jul, Aug or Sep — these months score within a whisker of each other; 29C max, 1 rainy day. Jun is the next best.

Plan this trip

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.

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Flights

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Where to stay

Things to do

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Things to do in Portland

Pittock Mansion Historic house museum in Portland, Oregon, USA
Forest Park Public municipal park west of downtown Portland, Oregon, USA
Oregon Zoo Zoo in the United States
Mill Ends Park Miniature city park in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States
Mount Tabor Extinct volcano in Portland, Oregon, USA
The Grotto 62-acre Roman Catholic sanctuary in Portland, Oregon
Oaks Amusement Park Amusement park in Portland, Oregon, United States

Tours and tickets in Portland

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	8°	16d	84%	4.1h	avoid	monsoon: 16 rainy days, 182mm
Feb	8°	14d	83%	5.1h	avoid	8C max, 14 rainy days
Mar	12°	15d	80%	6.8h	ok	12C max, 15 rainy days
Apr	15°	13d	76%	8.6h	good	15C max, 13 rainy days
May	20°	9d	72%	10.2h	sweet spot	20C max, 9 rainy days
Jun	24°	7d	66%	11.8h	goodbusy	busier than usual
Jul	29°	1d	58%	13.3h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Aug	29°	1d	59%	11.9h	sweet spot	29C max, 1 rainy day
Sep	24°	6d	69%	9.7h	sweet spot	24C max, 6 rainy days
Oct	17°	10d	78%	7.2h	good	17C max, 10 rainy days
Nov	11°	15d*	84%	4.9h	avoid	monsoon: 15 rainy days, 193mm
Dec	8°	17d	86%	3.6h	avoid	monsoon: 17 rainy days, 220mm

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at Pioneer Courthouse Square, downtown, 10 km from the airport (PDX): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.* Rainy days in November are as the weather station at Portland airport (10 km away) counts them, where it and the model disagree on a wet month (WMO 72698, 2017–2026).

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in July; quietest in February.

Then and now

Portland's July days now average 28.7°C, 2.8°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 2 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	8.2°	9.4°	12.7°	15.4°	18.3°	22.4°	25.8°	27.2°	23.0°	17.2°	10.2°	6.6°
2017–26	7.7°	8.3°	11.7°	15.1°	19.7°	23.5°	28.7°	29.0°	24.0°	17.0°	10.9°	8.0°
Change	-0.4°	-1.1°	-1.0°	-0.3°	+1.4°	+1.2°	+2.8°	+1.7°	+1.0°	-0.2°	+0.6°	+1.4°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Portland is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type A and B plugs at 120 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the United states dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for United States: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay work almost everywhere, though a few small places take cash only. Keep some $1 and $5 notes for tips; Venmo and PayPal are for locals.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Tipping — Expected: 15–20% in sit-down restaurants (18–20% is standard in New York) and 10–20% for taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers. Large groups may find it already on the bill.

Getting around Portland

Tap a contactless bank card or phone on the green Hop reader every time you board, inside the bus or at the MAX or WES station before boarding: the $2.80 adult fare lasts 2½ hours, and you never pay more than $5.60 a day or $100 a calendar month. The fare also covers Portland Streetcar. Buses also take cash (a 2½-hour or 1-day ticket from the farebox); for MAX with cash, load a Hop card ($3) at the station machine. The MAX Red Line runs from the airport, by baggage claim, to downtown in about 40 minutes.

Apps — Rides: Lyft, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: Text messages (SMS), WhatsApp. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and some other cities you can also book a driverless Waymo in its own app.

If you are touring the United States without a car, rejoice! Portland is an easy city to bicycle, walk or use public transport. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Portland (Oregon), written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — 911 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (50)

Portland in pictures

Ned Flanders Crossing, Portland, Oregon, 2025 — i

Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Woodstock Park, Portland, Oregon, U.S., 2024 — i

Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Portland Japanese Garden October 2019 005 — i

King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA (51307173571) — i

Domenico Convertini from Zurich, Schweiz, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Portland is like

Few American cities can match the youthful spirit of Portland, "The City of Roses". More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Portland has many unique and interesting neighborhoods to explore. One of the most exciting aspects of visiting Portland is the constant possibility of discovery. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Cross each of the twelve bridges over the Willamette River. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Portland International Airport (PDX IATA), 7000 NE Airport Way (9 mi (14 km) northeast of downtown, near the Columbia River). More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe: Portland is generally safe for tourists, but it is still a big city with big city problems. The city's violent crime rate is moderate and is usually in the middle of the pack among U.S. cities. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Portland (Oregon), written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Portland

Also in United States

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Kind of place

Cities

Portland is in United States, North America. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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