Portland Highlights

The “Portland Highlights” tour is a fun and entertaining clarification into why Portland is regularly recognized as one of the best places to live and visit.

Our Resident Experts (aka tour guides) will unlock the best kept secrets of “Bridgetown” as we delight and entertain your guests with stories about early and modern Portland while touring an enlightened city rich with artwork, parks, bridges, downtown trains & streetcars, and fountains. We’ll visit Portland’s most notable districts and neighborhoods including the Cultural District, Old Town-Chinatown, the Pearl District, while constantly providing photo opportunities that will delight everyone on board. We always include a guided stop (with our portable amplifiers for large groups) at the International Rose Test Garden, the oldest public garden of its kind in the United States with over 500 varieties of roses on display. See and smell why Portland is often called the “City of Roses.” Call us today to book this fun excursion and discover great stories with inside scoops and fun facts about the city of Portland!

If you want to show off some some of the more fascinating things about this area – from the urban growth boundary to the world’s smallest park – be sure to contact us today. Even locals have been amazed and entertained by what they enjoy with us.

Even though our Step-On, Charter, and Meet-And-Assist services are our most popular offerings, we can help you in other ways. And we’re proud winners of the 2007 President’s Award from Travel Portland and voted the Best City Tour from citysearch.com! Let us show you why.

Available As: Charter or Step-On Guide Service
Tour Length: 3 hours (or longer if desired)
Admission Costs: None
Optional Admission Costs: Portland Classical Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden, Pittock Mansion, or a visit to Kidd’s Toy Museum.

Industry rates for tour operators (or NTA/ABA members) are available.

Columbia Gorge and Waterfalls

On the “Columbia Gorge and Waterfalls” excursion you will experience first-hand the beauty and grandeur of the Columbia River Gorge. One of America’s most majestic waterways, our resident experts will be your guide to the rich history and breathtaking natural beauty of this area as we retrace a portion of Lewis and Clark’s epic journey through the Columbia River Gorge atop Oregon’s Historic Scenic Highway. We will visit the Vista House, perhaps the most beautiful travelers’ rest station ever built, before descending down into the gorge to visit the largest and most picturesque of the seventy-seven waterfalls lining the Oregon side of the gorge, Multnomah Falls. These falls are truly one of the country’s natural treasures, as is the adjacent Multnomah Falls Lodge (where we can stop for lunch if you would like). We then begin our return to Portland along the bottom of the gorge, providing not only a different, but equally spectacular, perspective on the natural splendor of the area, but also provides an opportunity to visit Bonneville Dam, one of the gorge’s man-made wonders.

Available As: Packaged Day Trip or Step-On Service
Tour Length: 4.5 – 6 hours
Admission Costs: None
Optional Meal: Lunch at Multnomah Falls Inn or boxed lunch

Industry rates for tour operators are available.

Epicurean Excursion

Step on board and come experience firsthand why Oregon is considered by many to be a foodie’s paradise. If you watch the Food Network or consider yourself a “foodie,” this is the adventure for you. Available as either a step-on or chartered coach tour this excursion will have you nibbling and sipping your way through some of the best food and beverages available anywhere. We change the tour seasonally to emphasize the best this region has to offer. No matter what time you join us, we always feature the best of Oregon–trust us to deliver the best pinot noir wines, local produce, cheeses, teas, mustards, jams and jellies, beer, pizza, coffees, sorbettos and gelatos, chocolates, artisan breads and breakfast pastries, and much more.

Along the way, you’ll achieve a diploma of culinary knowledge as you learn about local goods, sustainable practices, and the truth behind organic products. Most important, we’ll slow you down and guide you experience the smells, textures, tastes, after-tastes that every item brings. You’ll have so much fun, you’ll forget you’re learning something.

We recommend that you have a light breakfast or lunch before the tour. All guests are advised to refrain from wearing flip-flops and open-toed shoes as we go behind the scenes on this excursion where such footwear will pose a safety and health hazard.

Available As: Packaged Half-Day or Full-Day Trip or Step-On Guide Service.
Tour Length: 4 hours (or longer if you choose).
Admission Costs: None.
Additional Costs: Food and beverage tasting fees. Tasting fees will vary but will average between $5 and $10 per person per stop.

Exploring the North Oregon Coast

The North Oregon Coast is some of the most beautiful and rugged coastline you’ll find anywhere in the world. It is where the mountains of the Pacific Coast Range make their dramatic plunge into the Pacific creating a gorgeous winding coastline composed of steep cliffs, thick forest, and little hidden fog-covered inlets. This full-day Excursion will take you from Portland through the Willamette Valley (one of the best wine-growing regions in the country), up and over the Coastal Mountain Range, and back again. During the tour we’ll wind our way up the beautiful and famous Pacific Coast Highway, with plenty of stops for photos, shopping and short hikes. We’ll visit Haystack Rock, made famous by its appearance in the film Goonies. We’ll also be sure to visit the picturesque town of Astoria perched on the very edge of the state at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River, before returning home along the scenic and equally majestic Columbia River Gorge.

Available As:  Full-day or Overnight Step-On or Chartered Tour.
Tour Length: Minimum of 8 hours.
Optional Admission Costs:  Optional Tasting Room, park and/or museum admission fees are extra. Since this will be a full-day event a meal is strongly encouraged, either boxed lunch, or lunch on your own at one of the many fine local eateries.

Industry rates for tour operators are available.

Revisiting Mount St. Helens

It has been more than 30 years since that fateful Sunday morning when Mt. St. Helens dramatically erupted destroying more than 230 square miles of forest, shooting a plume of smoke and cinders thousands of feet into the sky that covered all the surrounding cities and towns, even those hundereds of miles away, with a coating of ash. What remains of Mt. St. Helens is no less breathtaking today.On this full-day or overnight Excursion we’ll take you to the site of one of the most dramatic natural disasters in American history. We’ll take you to the Johnston Ridge Observatory where you will be rewarded with one of the most starkly beautiful vistas in the country. Few other locations in the world can compete with this reminder of Nature’s majesty and power.

Available As:   Full-day  or Over-Night Step-On or Chartered Tour.
Tour Length: Minimum of 8 hours.
Additional Costs: Park entrance fees.
Optional Admission Costs: Lunch and/or dinner service. A meal during this event is strongly encouraged, either boxed lunch, or lunch/dinner on your own at one of the many fine local eateries.

Industry rates for tour operators are available.

Oregon Wine Country Tour

Oregon is wine country! Come experience firsthand (or should we say “firsttaste”) why the Willamette Valley, and neighboring Columbia Gorge and Columbia River Valley, is considered by many to be one of the world’s great wine regions. On this tour we’ll take your group on a fun and informative exploration of Oregon’s “Wine Country.” Our Resident Experts (aka “guides”) will keep you entertained as they reveal to you the monumental geologic forces that shaped the region and led to the terroir that makes Oregon wines, especially Oregon Pinots, so justifiably famous.

Available As:  Packaged Half-Day,  Full-day  Step-On or Chartered Tour.
Tour Length: 3-4 hours (or longer if you choose).
Additional Costs: Tasting room fees. Fees will vary depending on itinerary. Will generally range from $5-$8 per person per stop.
Optional Admission Costs: Lunch. A meal during this event is strongly encouraged, either boxed lunch, or lunch on your own at one of the many fine local eateries.

Industry rates for tour operators are available.

Journey from the Waterfalls to the Mountains

Oregon Countryside Tour

On the Countryside Tour you’ll get outside the city to experience the stunning natural beauty of the Willamette Valley. You’ll learn about the geologic events that carved and shaped this picturesque river valley, creating some of the richest and most fertile farmland in the country. It was this rich land that first lured the pioneers to cross the Rockies on the Oregon Trail more than 150 years ago and, more recently, it was the protection of which that led the state government to created the Urban Growth Boundary to keep it safe from urban sprawl. You won’t just see, hear, smell and feel the Oregon countryside, you’ll get to taste it! We’ll stop for lunch at the Historic Grand Lodge – a former Masonic Temple and orphanage. A building that was marked for destruction when two local brewers bought it and made it into a bed and breakfast and invited dozens of artisans to paint, sculpt, forge, garden and decorate the 13 acres of stunning and gorgeous buildings and grounds. We’ll also visit the only American-owned sakery in the world. one of the oldest wineries in the state. (The Willamette Valley produces some of the best pinot noir in the world) and one of the local farms, where depending on the season you’ll get to taste some of Oregon’s famous apples, berries, or produce for yourself. After our Countryside Tour you’ll understand why people choose to live in a place that is known for its rain!

Available As:  Packaged Three-Quarter or Full-Day Trip or Step-On Guide Service
Tour Length: 5 to 8 hours.
Additional Costs: Tasting room fees. Fees will vary depending on itinerary, but are around $8 per person per stop.  Lunch, either a boxed lunch, or seated meal on your own is very strongly encouraged for this event.