Activity of all types is bubbling over in Portland, Oregon, a wellness destination for many reasons. For starters, the place is shaped by two mountain-fed rivers that flow through the city, providing pristine water crucial for beloved breweries, ramen shops, and bathhouses.
Over the past few years, Portland has embraced a “very open for business” attitude for visitors. The mindset of local tastemakers and citizens channels a determination to keep this West Coast city sustainable, food-driven, vibrant, and always innovative.
Soho House, which caters to creative professionals in major cities worldwide, debuted in Portland in 2024 with a stunning 62-foot rooftop infinity pool.
Photo by Pablo Entiquez
How to experience Portland right now
Elaborate indoor wellness establishments have become extremely popular social hubs in the Rose City as of late. In December 2024, Cascada became the newest luxe spa to enter the category, and it has an on-site, multistory eco-hotel, café, restaurant, and bar. Set in the heart of the hopping Alberta Arts District, this space showcases Portland’s first subterranean thermal pools. Downstairs, the sanctuary is calm, quiet, and dark, with pools of varying water temperatures, a sauna, an ice fountain, and a marble steam room. Upstairs, you’ll find a spacious glass conservatory maintained at 82 degrees year-round; it envelopes a large warm pool for socializing, lounging, and soaking. Chatting is encouraged.
The soaking scene has been around in Portland for about a decade, and health clubs such as Knot Springs have long attracted those in need of relaxation. Sadie Voeks, a retail entrepreneur who plans to open Portland’s first hammam later this year, notes that people are opting for a soak and steam with friends instead of spending a hundred dollars on dinner and drinks.
“We’re putting down our devices and seeking experiences rather than material goods,” said Voeks. “We want healthy options to detoxify our bodies, engage in real-life experiences, and be social.”
During the summer months, try a plunge right into the mountain-fed Willamette River at one of the newly created urban public swim beaches, such as Poet’s Beach. Across the river, the freshly opened Soho House Portland overlooks the city.
The Forest Park trail hike takes you under giant Douglas fir trees.
Photo by Ethan O Cusick/Shutterstock
And what else in Portland, Oregon?
After soaking, sweating, or cold plunging, take a Forest Park trail hike or set out on a walking bookstore tour. Southeast Portland’s new social center Literary Arts, is a contemporary, independent bookstore, café, and spacious event destination for bibliophiles. This is the birthplace, after all, of the original independent bookstore destination, Powell’s City of Books. A few blocks away from Literary Arts is the recently opened Postcard Bookshop, which features travel reads and resides in the bright Cargo Emporium.
Creativity thrives in Northeast Portland. Try a hands-on custom candle-making session at Mister OK’s Essentials, on NE Alberta Street. Owner Precious Hannah-King, a former Nike designer, built the studio herself in 2022, channeling her creativity and expertise from her groundbreaking career as one of the first Black women to design athletic shoes.
The edgy Portland Art Museum will unveil major renovations later this year, including an interactive experience and intuitive user pathways. During construction, a select permanent collection of galleries remains open on a rolling basis. Visitors can also enjoy a slate of special exhibits all year, including Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s and Unveiling Monet’s Waterlilies.
Wonderlove, an on-site bar and food-cart center in inner Southeast Portland, is blazing the trail for the future of outdoor gathering spaces. Catch the ongoing Light Art Experience as part of the Portland Winter Light Festival, mixing light projection, art, and music through February.
In late 2025, the highly anticipated James Beard Public Market will open in downtown Portland, with a plan to do so in stages. It will feature an open-air local farmers’ market, cooking classes, resident chefs, wine and cheese vendors, coffee sellers, a cookbook store, fishmongers, florists, and butchers.
Restaurants to plan a trip around
The influence of the broader Pacific is clear in Portland right now. Asian American and Pacific Islander food trails are everywhere, and Asian-led kitchens dominate the city’s hottest streets.
Take Vietnamese Brunch hot spot Mémoire Cà Phê, which has a line out the door each morning. Patrons come for a creative Vietnamese American take on coffee, bakery items, and brunch with a shrimp coconut rice omelet, black sesame cinnamon rolls, and oozy egg and pork sandwiches. Just down the street, Fat Kitty Ramen opened in 2024 with sizzling skillets of okonomiyaki tater tots alongside popular ramen.
In Northwest Portland, the new Japanese gluten-free bakery and café Kirari West is the American offshoot of Hiro Saito’s family-owned bakery in Fukushima, Japan. For an afternoon dessert, visit the 2025 James Beard semifinalist JinJu Patisserie, which serves Korean-inspired pastries by Seoul-born chefs Kyurim “Q” Lee and Jin Caldwell.
Portland’s restaurant Dame, on NE Killingsworth Street, rotates diverse chef residencies, allowing up-and-coming chefs to experiment. In 2025, Luna Contreras will be in permanent residency Thursday through Sunday evenings, serving a Guadalajara-inspired menu from her popular restaurant, Chelo. On Monday and Tuesday evenings, Jewan Manuel (also known as Plant-Based Papi) will take over the space with his restaurant, Bianca, which has a vegan-Italian focus.
Hotel Grand Stark’s cheery Little Bitter Bar serves pizza, antipasti, and cocktails.
Photos courtesy of Hotel Grand Stark
Hotels to book now
Be one of the first to also stay in Cascada, the same upscale hotel attached to the exciting spa. Its decadent modern suites and lofts have views of Portland’s West Hills and overlook the popular food-cart pod across the street. In the ground-floor lobby, Alberta Street Coffee serves seasonal bites and housemade nut milk. Upstairs, the opulent Terra Mae is a new, humming dinner venue with a female-led kitchen that serves a blend of Portuguese and Japanese cuisine with a focus on locally sourced ingredients. The menu includes peri-peri chicken, wasabi salad, Linguica croquettes, and shareable bite-size tonkatsu pork sandwiches on milk bread.
For historic Pacific Northwest art deco extravagance, book the newly opened Hotel Grand Stark. The rich, warm space is an independent hotel centrally in Southeast Portland.
In late 2023, Portland welcomed another symbol of luxury when the 251-room Ritz-Carlton Portland opened (complete with an indoor infinity pool and spa). The 35-story glass facade offers breathtaking views from every window, and the 20th-floor Bellpine Bar is an excellent happy-hour stop.
Fly into . . .
Undoubtedly, one of Portland’s most significant openings is the main terminal at Portland International Airport. Its art-gallery–meets-spa-meets–local-shops vibe was carefully designed for visitors to relax—even if they aren’t flying. Features aimed to reduce the stress, blood pressure, and heart rate of travelers include a suspended timber ceiling, 72 mature trees, and 5,000 live plants. The marketplace highlights only local brands, among them Orox Leather Co. and Stumptown Coffee Roasters.
