Portland is a scenic and cultural city filled with unique boutiques, massive bookstores, charming cafes and other attractions. It's also a family-friendly city that offers a range of activities for parents and kids to do together for a memorable vacation. If you're a resident of Portland, lots of kid-centered destinations abound in the city, allowing you the chance to rediscover your town.
The Portland Children's Museum is a hands-on museum for kids that fosters creativity and encourages children to jump into projects that will allow them to imagine, invent, use new tools and collaborate with each other. For example, there's a clay studio and a water works station for making huge bubbles and propelling vessels of the sea. There's even a dig pit filled with soft non-staining rubber gravel and dump trucks, shovels, conveyor belts and other items for digging fun. The museum also boasts a fascinating "wonder corner," which according to the website is "...dedicated to experimentation and creative play where children invent stories, share memories, imagine, design, build and wonder."
Portland Children's Museum
4015 Southwest Canyon Road
Portland, Oregon 97221
503-223-6500
Portlandcm.org
The Portland Aerial Tram is a form of public transportation that allows riders to travel between Marquam Hill and the South Waterfront. Engineers of the tram attest that it's safer than anything in the Swiss Alps and can withstand earthquakes. Arriving every five minutes and traveling leisurely at 22 miles per hour and 500 feet in the air, kids will enjoy the height and the view of the mountains. Kids six years and younger ride free.
Aerial Tram
OHSU Marquam Hill Campus
Portland, OR 97329
503-494-8283
Portlandtram.org
Oaks Park is an amusement park that has rides for kids of all ages. For adolescents, there are thrilling roller coasters like the "Looping Thunder Roller Coaster" or "The Scream-N-Eagle" which toss you up in the air at breakneck speeds, looping and twisting wildly. For younger kids there are rides like "The Skyfighters" or "The Toon Cars" that go around and around like modern updates of a merry-go-round. The park even hosts a skating rink that is happy to accommodate kids' birthday parties.
Oaks Park
7805 Southeast Oaks Park Way
Portland, OR 97202
503-233-5777
Oakspark.com
