TRAVEL LIKE AN OREGONIAN

As a traveler, you no doubt recognize the countless ways travel enhances your life. With a little planning, your travel adventures can also enhance the places you visit and the lives of local residents. That’s the win-win of regenerative travel: By leaving places better than we found them, we build a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the places we visit.

In Oregon there’s a lot to love — and plenty of ways visitors can show their affection. We encourage you to look for low-impact options for recreation, seek out locally sourced foods and sustainable lodging, book a tour with a local guide, and take advantage of energy-efficient ways to move around the state. You may even enjoy giving back to this beautiful place with a hands-on project. Visitors and locals alike pitch in to clean up beaches with SOLVE and Surfrider, plant trees with the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, and rebuild well-trodden trails with Friends of the Columbia Gorge. All across the state, Oregonians are happy to help you match your vacation to your values.

Greener Ways to Get Around

You can lighten your footprint by giving some thought to transportation choices. For visitors arriving by air, Portland International Airport sets a sustainable tone with its current $2 billion improvement project optimized for efficiency, resilience and well-being. It’s also quite stunning, especially the 9-acre undulating wood roof and skylights that evoke the dappled light of an Oregon forest.

Traveling by electric vehicle is encouraged and easy to do in Oregon, home to one of the nation’s largest and most robust networks of fast-charging EV stations. We’ve even mapped out some Electric Byways — scenic routes dotted with charging stations, environmentally friendly businesses and, naturally, electrifying scenery.

For travel in and around Portland, take the MAX Light Rail, which connects Portland International Airport to the city center and outlying areas. Bus services include Greyhound throughout Oregon, the Columbia Gorge Express serving towns and scenic attractions between Portland and Mt. Hood, and the Mt. Bachelor shuttle that connects Bend to year-round recreation on its local volcano. Many communities offer bike rentals and bike-share programs for short hops around town.

Dining and Drinking With a Difference

Sampling local cuisine is a rewarding part of travel — and you can reap even more rewards by supporting food and drink producers who make an extra effort to care for the environment. Seafood suppliers like Chelsea Rose Seafood in Newport and Flying Fish Company in Portland sell only sustainably harvested seafood, such as fish caught by hook and line.

Hopworks Urban Brewery was the first beer producer to become certified salmon-safe for using grains grown in a way that protects wild-salmon watersheds. Many Oregon wineries rely on biodynamic practices for healthier soil and vibrant flavor.

Locally sourced, seasonal foods taste better than those trucked in from elsewhere and are a tasty part of regenerative travel. Spring through fall, many communities host farmers markets — typically on Saturday mornings — where you can buy directly from growers and producers. The Oregon Farmers Markets Association maintains an online directory of markets across the state. Oregon’s Food Trails connect you to the sources of local food and drink, self-guided routes that lead to orchards, ranches, breweries, wineries, restaurants and other food purveyors. In Portland walking food tours introduce you to local eateries and chefs who make the most of the region’s bounty.

Recreation That’s Easy on the Earth

Oregon is a big place — more than 97,000 square miles/255,000 square kilometers — with vast amounts of public lands and trails. Guided trips are not only an efficient way to explore, they’re also a great way to experience destinations that could be challenging to discover or access on your own.

Whitewater-rafting trips are a classic example, multiday journeys that take care of everything from camping gear to home-cooked meals as you ride the current through remote river canyons. Backpackers can set off into the wilderness of the Wallowas and Blue Mountains with Go Wild American Adventures, accompanied by guides who know their way around the backcountry and with the option of pack mules to carry gear.

Outfitters and guides don’t just get you there — they provide insights into local culture, history and nature that you might otherwise miss. Whether pointing out ancient pictographs, giving a crash course in geology or identifying the weird warble of a bugling elk in the backcountry, guides help establish the true sense of place that is a foundation of regenerative travel.

Hiking and biking are naturally low-impact ways to explore on your own or with an experienced local guide. Check out the state’s scenic bikeways for some memorable cycling itineraries and plenty of bike-friendly businesses along the routes. Backpackers can enjoy town-to-town routes like the Oregon Coast Trail or tackle a section of the famed Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Canada to Mexico. Oregon’s state parks and its 11 national forests have endless options for day hikes. Wherever you may roam, please help steward the land by packing out what you

Pack

in and practicing Leave No Trace principles.

Consider visiting during spring and fall. You’ll find fewer crowds, more opportunities to connect with locals and lower prices.

Thoughtful Shopping

Buying locally made goods is easy in Oregon, and you’ll find a number of makers who focus on using recycled materials and producing zero-waste goods. Marley’s Monsters in Eugene provides an alternative to single-use, disposable products with cheery, colorful, reusable home goods. In Wheeler The Heart of Cartm transforms materials that would go into the landfill into vibrant art pieces; it hosted an artist workshop in 2022 using marine debris as a “inspiration” for art and writing. Boutiques like Artifact in Portland make recycling fun and funky with their carefully curated collections of secondhand clothing, decor and art. As an added bonus, gifts and souvenirs purchased anywhere in Oregon are sales-tax-free

Sustainable Stays

Whether you’re looking to sleep under the stars or to bed down in a deluxe hotel, you can choose to stay in a way that’s easy on the earth. Built with regionally sourced materials, Soul Community Planet (SCP) Hotels aim to create a positive impact on their local communities. Their properties in Oregon — SCP Redmond, SCP Depoe Bay and the Salishan Coastal Lodge in Gleneden Beach — plant a tree for every guest stay and actively support local children in need. KEX Portland showcases its Icelandic roots, transforming a century-old apartment building with reclaimed wood-herringbone floors, salvaged European light fixtures, and hostel and hotel rooms designed for a communal spirit. Like many Portland properties, it’s within walking distance of a transit stop. You can forgo your car once you arrive at the Westfir Lodge, too. From its trailside location in the mountain biking hub of Oakridge, guests can take advantage of shuttles and tours with the lodge’s Cascades Outdoor Center. The location is also ideal for car-free long-distance bike packers and hikers. In Cave Junction, guests go off-grid off the ground: Out ’n’ About Treehouses has 15 leafy perches accessible by stairs and suspension bridges.