Seattle or Portland (Oregon)

boardy

Thinking of visiting the Pacific North West.
Anybody been to Seattle or Portland?

Love to hear from anyone with experience of this area.

whiskeyman

Seattle = Dublin, but much more chilled out and slightly warmer... Seattle has a name in the States as the rainy city.
The Emerald City... lovely place. Home of Coffee (Starbucks), Boeing and Microsoft.
Mt Everett and Boeing bus tours are well worth a look... and maybe catch a Seattle Mariners Baseball game.

Vancouver would be worth the trip if you decide Seattle also.

Portland is smaller and not a heck of a lot seeing I think.

boardy

I know quite a lot about both cities (from the web).

I was hoping to hear from people who may have lived there (e.g. Microsoft employees who are back in Ireland). And their experiences of living in the area.
Especially from people who visited both cities and how they compared. Is Seattle a livable city?

Was also thinking of checking out Bellingham and Olympia.

whiskeyman

I was there a few times and have a good friend, from Ireland, living there.
Not sure why you want to know about living there, if you're only going to visit as tourist.
Big differences.

boardy

Let's say visiting for a prolonged period (not in the touristy way). From my travelling experiences, I usually try to get a 'heads up' before getting to my destination e.g. that city is crap, don't go there. A lot of crime in that area, avoid it. Or cool city, would love to move there. Or since you are in the area, you should check out this city.

I might consider staying in Seattle or Portland if I really like it. Employment or visa issues do not factor into the equation. I know about the traffic, environment, weather, demographics etc. But 'first hand living experiences' are invaluable and that's what I'm looking for (especially from Irish people).

Been on Fodors and other travel forums and most of the comments are positive.

Tom Dunne

I lived in Portland for the best part of a year (well, in a suburb of it). To be honest, it isn't a big city and there isn't a hell of a lot to do in it. The city (and state, for that matter) is renowned for it's microbreweries. Check out Mcmenamins. Don't get me wrong, Portland is a great place, you have the beach 1.5 hours to the west, great skiing 1.5 hours to the east. The people are not as anal as, say, LA or New Yorkers and the climate is great. Both myself and my wife loved it there.

Seattle, on the other hand, I visited a few times. It's as you would imagine a huge American city (in comparison to Portland). Full of life and culture, coffeee and beer. There is a great buzz to it. And, as others have pointed out, Vancouver is just up the road (3 hours drive). Now there is a city I loved, but that's for another thread.

boardy

tom dunne wrote:

I lived in Portland for the best part of a year (well, in a suburb of it). To be honest, it isn't a big city and there isn't a hell of a lot to do in it. The city (and state, for that matter) is renowned for it's microbreweries. Check out Mcmenamins. Don't get me wrong, Portland is a great place, you have the beach 1.5 hours to the west, great skiing 1.5 hours to the east. The people are not as anal as, say, LA or New Yorkers and the climate is great. Both myself and my wife loved it there.

Seattle, on the other hand, I visited a few times. It's as you would imagine a huge American city (in comparison to Portland). Full of life and culture, coffeee and beer. There is a great buzz to it. And, as others have pointed out, Vancouver is just up the road (3 hours drive). Now there is a city I loved, but that's for another thread.

Thanks Tom. This is exactly the type of information that I am looking for. Vancouver sounds like my type of place (and I've read a good deal about the place), but I don't want to start the emigration process all over again for a new country, so that's why I am looking at alternatives like Portland and Seattle.

I miss the city buzz, and Seattle will give that to me. Is the infrastructural problems with transport as bad as they say?
As you said, Portland is a great place. The climate is great. The sea to the left of you and the snow to the right of you, what else would you want? But I'm afraid that it may be a bit too boring.

I will eventually visit both areas but in the meantime any more insight from anyone would be gratefully accepted.

Tom Dunne

boardy wrote:

I miss the city buzz, and Seattle will give that to me. Is the infrastructural problems with transport as bad as they say?

Well, put it this way. I drove to Seattle from Portland. And within 10 minutes of seeing the space needle from the motorway, I was at it. Ok, I have lived in the US for around 2 years and was quite comfortable driving, but the ease with which we got around was incredible.

I only visited as a tourist, so I can't say much more than that on the infrastructure.

boardy wrote:

As you said, Portland is a great place. The climate is great. The sea to the left of you and the snow to the right of you, what else would you want? But I'm afraid that it may be a bit too boring.

Exactly. If you like the outdoor life, Portland is for you. If you want hectic nightlife, you may want to consider somewhere else.

boardy

tom dunne wrote:

Exactly. If you like the outdoor life, Portland is for you. If you want hectic nightlife, you may want to consider somewhere else.

The nightlife doesn't have to be hectic but I would want some type of (non-earthquake) buzz around the place. And I love the outdoor lifestyle.

Does Portland close down after 6 p.m.? Is it totally void of nightlife?

idontknowmyname

For my J1 I went to Portland cause had family friends there. I ended up in their beach house for the summer- The beaches in Oregon are amazing especially Cannon Beach- some great golf courses too if that's what you're into. To the east you can go to Bend which is a big town in the mountains, great craic there.

Portland itself is a small city. Good nightlife. The Pearl District, which is also the gay area, has the best nightlife. Great Irish bar called Kells there, owned by our Presidents cousin where I spent many a night being dragged up on stage to do some Irish dancing.

I've been to Seattle a tonne of times over the last 10 years and I never really fell in love with it, not that keen on it. Vancouver is definitely worth the trip!

boardy

I'll definitely visit Vancouver but it's not really an option for long term residency (not wanting to start the emigration process again).

How come you were not too keen on Seattle .... what was it that put you off?
Don't forget that your experiences of the city will be really helpful to me.

Sounds like you enjoyed Portland though.