15 Best Portland, OR Movers

Moving to Portland

While Portland has been known as “The City of Roses,” moving in the city may not always be a rosy experience. Known by the locals as “Portland mist,” the thirty seven inches of near constant winter drizzle can make moving in this climate challenging. Make sure to hire one of the experienced Portland moving companies on HireAHelper, like Portland's Best Movers or J&M Moving, to ensure a low stress moving experience. HireAHelper is the easiest way to compare prices and review on local movers, and even book your load, unload, or full-service move. Keep reading for tips on your new life in Oregon’s most populated city.

City Guide to Portland, Oregon

Food & Dining

One of the first questions to ask when moving to a new city is “Where’s the food?!” Well Portland boasts one of the world’s finest farmer’s markets, the Portland Farmer's Market, which offers six locations throughout the city. The Portland Farmer’s Market offers the freshest (and tastiest) groceries around: from local artisan cheese and grass fed meat, to local organic produce, nuts, and coffee. In the summer months the Market even offers demonstrations by top local chefs, and cooking classes for kids. You can check out the city’s six locations here.

If you are not much of a home cook, or simply want some quick ready-made grub, check out Eater PDX, "the Portland restaurant, bar, and nightlife blog." This local blog is a great in-depth resource for everything related to restaurant news in Portland. Their articles include topics such as best and worst restaurants of the year, latest news and reviews on grand openings, and articles like "The Ultimate Guide to New Year's Eve Dining in Portland." For a great place to start browsing read "The 38 Essential Portland Restaurants.” This list places Pok Pok, an authentic Thai kitchen, as the top rated crowd pleasing favorite. If Thai cuisine is not your first choice have no fear, the top restaurants listed include everything from classic Italian, American, and southern style joints, to vegetarian, dim sum, and even bakeries and teahouses. Regardless of what you’re looking for, Portland has huge variety and amazing quality of dining available.

No guide to Portland would be complete without mentioning the local obsession with beer. Over forty unique breweries can be found in Portland, “more breweries than any other city in the world!” The vast availability of these microbreweries offers the perfect opportunity to break out of the Budweiser rut and try local brewed concoctions that can’t be found anywhere else. Whether you are a beer connoisseur or novice taster, the [Portland Beer](http://www.portlandbeer.org/ Portland Beer Website) website is a great spring board to start your journey through Portland’s breweries. The site even lists the top twenty Portland beers on the homepage to get you started. To get an idea of how intense the love for beer is in Portland check out one of eight theater pubs throughout the city, “where you can watch a recent-run film with a pint in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other!”

Transportation

Once you arrive in Portland, how are you going to get from point A to B? There are several public transportation options offered by [TriMet](http://trimet.org/index.htm TriMet Portland Transit) including bus lines, rail systems, and the Portland street car. The MAX light rail runs every 15 minutes throughout the day and the WES commuter rail runs every 15 minutes during rush hour on weekdays. The Portland Streetcar services an 8 mile loop from Nob Hill to Portland State University about every 13 minutes during the day. You can view the TriMet maps and schedules here.

Activities

As mentioned previously, Portland weather helps to produce some of the best roses in the world, and it’s no surprise that Portland is known for it’s spectacular gardens. The Japanese Garden and the Peninsula Park Rose Garden are just a couple of the highly celebrated gardens to venture to. If you are inspired to try out your own green thumb after viewing the talent of the local gardeners, visit the Portland Nursery to purchase everything needed to produce your dream garden. They offer several classes every month on site such as “veggie gardening 101,” “shade gardening 101,” and “biodynamic composting.” Their website has extensive gardening resources that are split into monthly tips based on Portland weather patterns.

The Portland Forest Park is the number one listed attraction on the Times “10 Things to Do in Portland,” and is the best location for walking and hiking trails in the city. There are over 70 miles of trails to explore, including guided tours, equestrian, and biking trails. The Portland Parks and Recreation website also has information about Portland’s parks/facilities, recreational classes and sports leagues.

If you’re wondering what team you should be cheering for at the neighborhood hang out, the locals will be rooting for their beloved Portland Trail Blazers. In 1995 “the Blazers set the record for most consecutive sellout home games at 814 — a mark that still stands today.” While Portland’s residents love their local basketball, they are also crazy about the Portland Timbers who have just moved up into Major League Soccer in 2011. Portland Winter Hawks Hockey and Rose City Rollers roller derby league are two more local teams sports fanatics can support.

The Bottom Line

Whether you are taking the plunge and moving to Portland or just checking out the possibilities, it’s clear that Portland has something to offer everyone. This city has gorgeous outdoor scenery and activities, and indoor entertainment to boot. The dining is as diverse as the people and offers top notch quality. Get the same level of top notch quality in your Portland movers by hiring them through HireAHelper. Or, if Portland's not for you, no matter where you decide to move, HireAHelper is the best resource to ensure a less stressful transition - offering a vast range of moving labor options from Chicago movers down to Houston movers. Let the professionals take care of your load, unload, or full service move. All you have to do is compare and book Portland movers on HireAHelper.com!