Free things to do in Portland

20 places in Portland with free entry or no charge, based on guide listings and map data.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

SeeNorthwest
Chapman Swift Watch
During September evenings, Portlanders gather around Chapman Elementary School to watch thousands of Vaux's swifts, a small bird species, roost in the school's chimney as they prepare to migrate as far south as Venezuela. Street parking can be difficult to find but the parking lot on the west side of the Montgomery Park building a few blocks north is available after 5:30PM.
Free
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Forest Park
Located on the hills northwest of Downtown, Forest Park is one of the nation's largest urban parks at 5,000 acres. There are many great hiking and biking trails to be found winding through this natural forest setting.
Daily 5AM-10PMFree
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Hoyt Arboretum
A large arboretum with paved trails of varying length and over 1,000 species of trees and plants in a natural setting.
Grounds 6AM-10PM daily; Visitor Center Mon-Fri 9AM-4PM, Sat Sun 11AM-3PMFree
SeeSouthwest
International Rose Test Gardens
The largest rose test garden in U.S., perched on a hill overlooking Downtown Portland, with thousands of roses planted in every possible way: rows, bushes and vines. Best to come between May and July, when it gets fragrant as everything's in bloom. Volunteer gardeners offer free guided tours at 1PM during the summer months.
7:30AM-9PM dailyFree
SeeSoutheast
Laurelhurst Park
A beautiful park designed by a horticultural expert from the same team that designed New York City's Central Park. This park has a great atmosphere in good weather, with lots of locals and visitors enjoying the duck pond, the bike paths, and the off-leash dog area.
5AM-10:30PM dailyFree
SeeSouthwest
Mill Ends Park
The "smallest park in the world", a title backed up by the Guinness Book of Records, Mill Ends was created satirically for the purpose of being "a leprechaun colony and racetrack for snails." It is in the median of SW Naito, and consists of nothing more than a single small tree in the crosswalk on the north side of the intersection.
Free
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Mount Tabor Park
At the eastern end of the Hawthorne District, Mt Tabor is a forested park situated atop an extinct volcanic butte with great views of the city. The park contains a couple of reservoirs and lots of winding trails, and is also the home of the popular PDX Soapbox Derby event (see below under Do).
5AM-midnightFree
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Pioneer Courthouse Square
This is the central courtyard of downtown Portland, a big gathering spot that's popular with tourists and locals alike. Notable features of the park are a cascading waterfall fountain, chess boards, and the Weather Machine, a machine that predicts the weather every day at noon. Many other sculptures and art elements surround the square, including Kvinneakt, the bronze statue of a nude woman that's otherwise known as the "Expose Yourself to Art" statue after a popular poster featuring a flasher (former Mayor Bud Clark) facing this work. An annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony takes place here the Friday evening after Thanksgiving to ring in the holiday day season and get everyone attending into the holiday cheer.
Free
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Portland Audubon
Bird sanctuary adjacent to Forest Park with four miles of trails, an interpretive center, and store.
Dawn to duskFree
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Source Fountain Plaza
Modest brick plaza with a small fountain evoking a mountain spring.
Free
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Tom McCall Waterfront Park
This wide expanse of green lawns along the downtown Portland waterfront is a scenic slice of park land, with views over the Willamette River and of the skyline. At one point, this narrow stretch of land was a four-lane freeway, but growing environmental awareness led to the city replacing the freeway with this park. Along the waterfront there are a number of fountains, memorials, and gardens, including the Salmon Street Springs, a large fountain at the Salmon Street entrance that's popular with kids during the summer; the Battleship Oregon Memorial, the old mast of the USS Oregon battleship between Oak and Pine Streets; and the Japanese American Memorial Garden at the north end of the park has monuments telling the story of people of Japanese descent in the US, including the WWII internment camps. The park is also home to many festivals throughout the year, including a Cinco de Mayo celebration, the Waterfront Blues Fest, and the carnival-like Rose Festival.
5AM-midnightFree
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Washington Park
Washington Park is a classic urban park, sprawling over about 140 acres, with many trails that take you between the stands of trees, around the hills and through the canyons - a park so large it can be easy to get lost without a map. In addition to the many attractions listed below, it also contains memorials for the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Holocaust, and the Lewis and Clark expedition, and has beautiful vistas of Portland and Mount Hood. The MAX red and blue lines can take you to the park; the station is located at the south end of the park, outside the World Forestry Center and the Oregon Zoo entrance.
5AM-10PM dailyFree (some enclosed attractions have separate ticketing). Parking $2/hr, $8/all day
Do Not mapped
Portland Rose Festival
Portland's annual Rose Festival is held every year at the beginning of June. The largest event of the year includes multiple parades, a carnival at waterfront park, and several military ships docked for fleet week.
Free
Do Not mapped
Portland World Naked Bike Ride
Portland's annual World Naked Bike Ride, held in early June, has many goals: to increase visibility of cyclists; to promote confidence in the beauty and individuality of the human body; to affirm nudity as a legal form of protest; to emphasize the bicycles’s place as a catalyst for change in the future of sustainability, transport, community and recreation; to celebrate the coming summer, bicycles in the urban grid, and the fun of a multi-thousand person bike ride; and to protest the automobile. World Naked Bike Ride is an annual, worldwide bike ride that highlights the vulnerability of cyclists everywhere and decries society’s dependence on pollution-based transport.
Free
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Blue Sky Gallery
Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts
22 NW 8th Ave
Free
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Keller Fountain Park
Features the dramatic Ira C. Keller Fountain.
5AM-9PMFree
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Leach Botanical Garden
6704 SE 122nd Ave
Tue-Sat 9AM-4PM, Sun 1-4PMFree, donations welcome
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Lovejoy Fountain Park
Plaza with the vigorous Lovejoy Fountain.
5AM-midnightFree
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Pettygrove Park
Paths among serene rolling hills.
5AM-midnightFree
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Robot Aley
Eclectic art installation in a residential alley.
10AM-10PM, closed MonFree

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Portland (CC BY-SA 4.0).