The Best Family Portland City Guide

Science IS fun, and at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, you can see why with nearly 220,000 sq ft of interactive exhibits and hands-on fun for the whole family.

The museum features five main interactive exhibit spaces where you can program your own robots, attempt to solve real-world problems, and explore a 6ft sphere that projects the moon, Mars, animal migration patterns, AND a submarine, just to name a thing fun things to do!

With family-friendly programs and classes to boot, it's a day of experimenting, designing, creating, and learning for all ages!

Explore the wonderful world of art at the Portland Art Museum, home to over 42,000 objects that represent the history of art, and art work themselves!

Kids can explore the collections featuring Native American art, English silver, and even graphic arts, offering a fascinating variety of art, and historic art.

With plenty of family events and FREE public tours across the week, it's an art-tastic day out in Portland, where you never know how you just might be inpsired!

Roar! It's time to explore your WILD side at Oregon Zoo, where you can come face to face with grand lions, watch elephants play in the water, and marvel at the tallest giraffe!

Oregon Zoo is home to amazing species from all over the world, with enclosures that reflect their natural habitats. Asia comes to life with creatures like the Amur tiger, and the plains of Africa are calling with cheetahs and African wild dog

It's not just animal watching at Oregon Zoo either, so keep an eye out for special events and daily animal activities too! From keeper talks to feeding sessions, you can't help but feel WILD in Portland!

Ready for a day of play? Well that's just what you get at the Portland Children's Museum, filled with hands-on exhibits that encourage learning, discovery and development through play.

Kids can become contruction workers as they create the coolest skyscrapers, or plan the specials for their newest restaurant. Animal loving kids can look after "animals" in the Pet Hostpital, or they can just relax in the treehouse with a quiet spot of reading!

From exploring gravity, getting creative with clay, jumping behind the wheel of an ambulance or reconnecting with nature, it's indoor fun for kids in a museum designed JUST for them!

Want to visit one of the OLDEST continually operating amusement park in the entire nation? Well then, Oaks Amusement Park is where you need to head for your next Portland family day out!

Since this family-friendly amusement park opened in 1905, families have been enjoying the old time charm of the classic coasters and gentle rides, with fun activities for all ages. Whether it's the thrills or the joy that you thrive on, there is something for you at Oaks Amusement Park.

Today, the old time atmosphere blends perfectly with modern excitement - and combined with their ice skating rink, it certainly makes for one of our top Portland days out!

Pittock Mansion was built in 1914 and is a fascinating historic home within the city of Portland.

When you visit this century-old property, you uncover the story of Portland's transformation from a developing pioneer town to a modern, vibrant and industrialized city.

Built by an Englishman searching for his fortune on the West Coast, a visit to Pittock Mansion will transport you back to another time, where you can actually re-live history in person.

Influenced by many of the famous classical gardens in Suzhou, the Lan Su Chinese Gardens are a stunning and peaceful day out in Portland.

So much more than just a beautiful garden, what you will see around you is based on 2,000 years of Chinese tradition melding architecture, design, art and nature - all in perfect harmony.

If you need to escape the rush of the city, you don't need to travel far to find yourself in a nature filled oasis.

The Oregon Historical Museum is where history comes to life, with a number of permanent exhibits (and rotating too!) that piece together the history of the beautiful and fascianting West Coast state of Oregon.

All of the exhibits within this Portland museum showcase the people, events and ideas that shaped the state to what it is today, from the end of WWII to present.

With hands-on fun for kids to top off your journey through history, the Oregon Historical Museum is a great destination during your time in Portland to really appreciate everything around you.

We have Lan Su Chinese Garden on our Top 9 list, but the Portland Japanese Garden is so different, and so special, it needed to be our second "garden" mentioned!

Portland Japanese Garden is 5.5 acres of just stunning flora and nature, and is considered one of the most authentic Japanese Gardens outside of Japan.

With a range of unique gardens, including a Tea Garden, Sand and Stone Garden and Strolling Pond Garden, it's a peaceful and zen day out as you immerse yourselves in an incdredibly unique culture!