Regaled with tales of $28 dinner checks, no sales tax, epic happy hours and reasonably priced bike rentals, chances are you've come to Portland to find cool on a budget. It's not an urban myth – Portland can be remarkably affordable, once you're actually there and situated. First, there's the lodging question – rarely, if ever, is spending a night in Portland a bargain. And why, in a city where everyone is supposedly post-car, does a pricey rental car feel like such a necessity? (Portland, you will discover, sprawls far more than it likes to admit.) Furthermore, as you'll find, the city is becoming more expensive as it changes and grows, with the food scene far from immune to the same price creep now affecting the housing market. Still, for any of the blind corners faced here by the budget-conscious, it's still actually fairly easy to keep costs down. You just have to know how. Ready to see more and spend less on your next visit? Great – let's do this.

There’s never been a better time to be a beer drinker in Portland. Sure, the market is near saturation and the spectre of InBev buyouts looms large over most conversations pertaining to industry growth, but “Beervana” continues to grow plenty of local talent and attract even more from outside the city. Truth be told, there are too many damn breweries in town (over 70!), so we did the hard work of drinking our way through most of them to give you an up-to-date assessment of which are well worth your time. Some are new, some are old, and some are a compelling hybrid of both. Regardless of how you slice it, the craft beer scene in Portland is an embarrassment of riches that may seem intimidating to dive into at first, so here’s a list of the most essential breweries to get started on in Portland. https://www.thrillist.com/drink/portland/best-portland-breweries