Add this nature haven to the top of your bucket list. If you’re interested in mountains, beaches, trees, waterfalls, funky cities, theater, and incredible food, take your family to Oregon now.
With an average of 44 inches of rain per year, Oregon is full of lush vegetation, lakes and waterfalls. Go hiking, discover hidden treasures, and explore the empty beaches along the Pacific. It may not be the best place for sunbathing and floating in the Pacific, but the beauty of the Oregon coast is unbeatable. Check out the many family-friendly beaches for rock exploring, tide pool hopping and picture taking.
Oregon is home to Crater Lake National Park, with its beautiful and clear lake just ripe for water sports.
With all the rain Oregon gets, you can bet they are getting unbelievable snow.
Oregon mixes it up with nature-loving festivals like the annual Tulip festival, to the arts, such as the Shakespeare Festival.
This trendy city is definitely a state highlight. Check out the hands-on Oregon Museum of Science and Industry that’s sure to be a hit with kids. Don’t miss stopping at the nearby USS Blueback where you can get a taste of submarine life and look through an old periscope. Get close to nature at Washington Park where you can see animals at the zoo, relax in Japanese Gardens, visit the children’s museum and more.
This area gets some of the best snow. Find the perfect powder at great ski resorts for kids like Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood Ski Bowl, Cooper Spur Mountain Resort and Hoodoo Mountain Resort. This picturesque area is also great for enjoying other winter activities like sledding and snowshoeing.
The outdoors are a huge part of Oregon culture that visitors will definitely want to take advantage of. In addition to gorgeous national parks, it boasts 361 state parks. Not to be missed are Crater Lake and the Three Sisters Wilderness in the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests. Take in the gorgeous blue of the lake, go for a hike, explore a cave, go camping and more.
The beautiful arboretum in Washington Park in Portland has several easy loop trails to choose from, or wander half a mile along the Hobbit Trail through a mossy fairy-tale forest and a bush tunnel to arrive at Hobbit Beach where you can find an ocean wonderland of tide pools. Trestle Creek Falls is a wonderfully green hike is a fairly moderate 3.5 mile loop to an impressive waterfall.
Let kids run wild with water works, a veterinarian office, grocery store, recycled art room, clay play, and a big stage they can perform on to their heart’s content!
Learn about science with hands-on exhibits and see the stars at the planetarium.
Probably the most touristy beach in Oregon, it’s popularity does not come without cause. The 235-foot Haystack Rock, home to puffins and seagulls is an iconic formation in Oregon.
If you’re a family of book lovers, head straight to Powell’s Books. Taking up an entire city block, it is the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world.
While downtown Portland has a great public transportation system, including streetcars, light rails, and amazing orange solar-powered bikes that you can rent, if you want to get outside the city and explore all that Oregon has to offer, you will need a car.
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