Portland Wall Murals and Street Art
Portland OR is an absolute treasure trove if you’re into wall murals or street art! It’s a super artsy city with murals aplenty!
The weather can be tricky for taking photos so just remember to take that into account. If the forecast is calling for a rain free morning…make sure to take advantage!
Street art is one of my favorite things to look for when traveling these days, so Portland was a perfect destination for me!
Problem is: I’m not a solo traveler.
I’m usually with my family or at least my husband. And while they are onboard for checking out the street art we pass by, they don’t want to spend an entire day searching for some wall mural I found on Instagram or Pinterest! (If you’re not following me already…check me out!)
And I don’t know about you, but I hate putting an address in my GPS for a specific wall mural and then the next one is on the complete other side of town. And unless you actually take a street art tour, I usually feel completely lost on how to see the most street art in a short amount of time.
Which leads me to why I am writing this post.
You can find a ton of art within two areas relatively quickly in Portland. The Alberta Arts district is about a mile walk down ONE street…did you hear me?? One street!! All kinds of art in one place…no car required! Also downtown Portland has several wall murals within a few blocks radius. Again no car required. WooHoo!
Portland Wall Murals & Street Art: Alberta Arts District
During our trip to Portland, we lucked out to have approximately one rain free hour in the Alberta Arts District. The weather Gods were looking out for me because the clouds parted and gave me glorious sunshine before the deluge for the rest of our stay.
We went to Alberta Street for FOOD!! I mean, Hello, do you know me at all? This is another reason I travel…to EAT!
LOL.
Anyhow, we took an Uber to Tin Shed Garden Café on Alberta Street and put our name on the list. It was an hour and a half wait. I told the fam I knew there was another restaurant nearby that was supposed to be fantastic and let’s walk down to see how long their wait was. (I had an ulterior motive…but they didn’t have to know that I was on the hunt for street art too!)
So we ended up eating at Pine State Biscuits…which, by the way, was AMAZING!!! Holy cow, the food was awesome. Oh and we found the jackpot of street art!
If you walk from Tin Shed Garden Café towards Pine State Biscuits to Clary Sage Herbarium (0.7 miles), you will see street art galore! There are many more murals than I’ve included below, these were just some of my favorite finds:
Wall Murals & Street Art in Downtown Portland
Downtown Portland also has some fabulous street art within a mile or so radius. We actually stayed in downtown Portland and discovered all these fun wall murals while we were walking around.
If Powell’s Books is on your destination list while in Portland (and it should be, it is the world’s largest independent bookstore), this is a good starting point to find these murals. Two other good starting points are Mother’s Bistro & Bar or Tasty N Alder…and while you’re at it…you should eat at these restaurants! They may have a long wait, but trust me, they are totally worth it!
UPDATE: Sadly Tasty N Alder has closed.
Here are some of my favorite wall murals in the Portland downtown area:
There are a ton of really fun things to do in Portland and you should definitely include street art on your itinerary.
Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Street art is also a great introduction to art and culture for kids. I’ve truly found my children to be more interested in outside wall murals than indoor art museums. Read more in this post all about where and when I fell in love with street art.
More Fun Things to Do in Portland Oregon
While you’re in Portland, here are some more ideas of fun things to do:
- Visit the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry – a fantastic hands on museum locals call OMSI
- Spend the day at Washington Park – visit the zoo, Japanese gardens, arboretum, and children’s museum.
- Visit Pittock Mansion – get a little history lesson and try bird watching!
- Road trip! Portland is the perfect home base for a pacific northwest road trip!
- Chase waterfalls at Columbia River Gorge – sadly we weren’t able to make it here during our visit due to recent fires. But this is high on my list when we make a return trip to Portland!
- Take a road trip to Smith Rock State Park – get outdoors and enjoy the unique landscape!
- Hang out at Pioneer Courthouse Square – AKA Portland’s living room because it is smack dab in the middle of downtown Portland…it was magical to visit during the holidays!
- Eat donuts! Yep, you heard me right! Can’t leave town without trying Blue Star Donuts and Voodoo Doughnuts– decide for yourself which is better!
- If your sweet tooth isn’t satisfied already, grab an ice cream cone from Salt & Straw…this place gets pretty busy, so we went for breakfast! Hey, major parenting win!
Have you had the chance to see any of Portland wall murals or street art?
Let me know what y’all think!
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33 Comments
I’m like you. I love seeking out street art but my husband and kids… not so much. These murals are exceptionally lovely! Quite striking! Thanks for sharing your street art finds!
Thanks so much! The rest of the family definitely likes when we see them but not when I take them on a wild goose chase!! Lol
Just like you, I love street art and murals and often go on a hunt to find interesting ones in a new city. I learnt recently that a good way to do this is through a photo-walk…I usually discover them during them during the walk and then come back later to click the ones I couldn’t earlier!
Traveling with family makes it trickier though…but it’s great you made them a part of your Portland photo-series 🙂
I usually just have to find a good balance when traveling with the family…they’re game for awhile! We had a good time discovering what Portland had to offer!
I’ve been to Portland a number of times – how have I missed these?! I love street art, and these murals are beautiful. I always love taking photos of city art – I think they reveal so much about a specific place. Time for another trip now!
Definitely a good reason to go back!!
I really love these murals! I’m not normally a bit street art fan but they’re all so pretty and colorful and whimsical – very much my style. And I love that you included a book store as a starting point – sounds like my kind of day.
I’ve never been much for art museums but I’ve really gotten into street art…i like the colorful pieces the most! And Powell’s is amazing!! I adore all bookstores!
After reading your post, Portland would be two long walking trails for me – one in downtown and other at Alberta district. I love it when you can walk and explore the destination at your own pace – stopping for what excites you and skipping the ones that do not. Something that I miss in organized tours. All the street art looks very bright and spunky.
I had no idea that Portland had such beauty street art. Looks like an aamzing place to walk around and explore
Wow! Amazing street arts are these from Portland. I really love all of the wall murals, they are so alive and beautifully painted. It’s amazing that you will walk in this street of Portland seeing these wall arts exclusively, indeed a perfect experience. Thanks for sharing this post!
It really is awesome that you can see so much all in one place!! So much fun in Portland!!
This is such a delightful visual treat! I too try and pause during walking tours to capture such street arts. I may never get to Portland but therefore enjoyed this photo tour thoroughly.
Oh beautiful and eye-catching murals. I haven’t been to Portland but will sure keep this in mind once we get the chance to visit! Street arts are wonderful creations, for both adults like us and even for your children that greatly enjoyed it. Been to Georgetown where street art is also one of the major attractions. Oh yes, one of the main reasons why we travel is to eat! Us, too! Who wouldn’t say no to mouth-watering foods! Alberta is an ideal place for foods! Yey!
We had the best time exploring at our own pace…and Portland has an amazing food scene!! Yay!!
My wife and I love exploring through a city’s street art, it’s always refreshing to get a glimpse of the local color, quite literally! I love the video game wolves wearing sunglasses mural! At least, that’s what I think it is… What a great way to take in the art scene, along with some delicious biscuits. Now that’s an art tour I can get behind!
Food and street art= always a good combo!!? we had the best time!!
Wow – really cool street art! I would love to visit Portland one day!
It’s really a fun city!!
I haven’t been to Portland in years, but I’ve been wanting to take a drive up the coast (I live in California), and these look like some incredible spots to check out! Portland is seriously such a cool city!
We loved Portland!! We couldn’t do a lot of the hiking etc due to the closures from the fires…so we found some other fun things to do!?
Oh my! I want to visit just to see the artwork. Sounds like you had an amazing time. The pictures are amazing and captivating!
Thanks so much! We had a great time!
We didn’t catch any street art on our last visit to Portland, so I’ll have to keep my eyes open on our next trip back. Will keep a note that the Alberta Arts District is a great place to visit. Crazy that the Tin Shed Garden Café has an hour long wait!! I love how vibrant and colorful the street art is in Portland. Thanks for sharing your shots!
We weren’t able to do a lot of the outdoor stuff due to closures because of the fires…so we found some really fun stuff in the city to do!
Really love the art work. I have never been to Portland. I’d love to visit!
It’s a really cool city! We loved it!
We definitely want to go back….such a fun city!! And maybe next time we can venture over the bridge too!
Love all the vibrant color in the photos and great info in the post! I haven’t been to Portland yet but I saw lots of great street art in Vancouver BC.
Pine state biscuits is a favorite! So good!!
Portland has some beautiful murals! I love the ones with such vibrant colors!
I love wall art, too! My family is like meh, but I love it! My favorite here is the girl facing away on the left side of the wall.