We are thrilled to welcome RailsConf to Portland in May 2022! We have a few departures designed for your attendees alone. Our Craft Brewery and City Bike tour ($75) is a low-key ride around the inner city with lots of beer history and culture and visits to two of our favorite breweries to continue telling the story (and drinking the beer). And our Doughnuts, Coffee and Street Art bike tour ($39) is an introduction to Portland’s just fame for both its craft roasted coffee and its doughy sweets — ride and explore in a 5-7 mile bike tour. RailsConf only availability at 7 a.m. May 18.
Before or after the conference, we’d love to treat you to 15% off any other tour: just use code RAILS in the coupon code box of your checkout. We believe every visitor to Portland should check out the Columbia Gorge and we’ll take you to ride a bike and hike or stay on the trails with our half-day hiking tour. Or get introduced to the center of Portland and its soul with the two-hour Walk Around Portland; or the three-hour Bike Around Portland.
Craft Brewery and City Bike Tour. Our small group Portland brewery bike tour takes you to the side of the river where the hotbed of innovation has always been, to ride the quieter neighborhood streets, and into the industrial areas on the edges of golf courses and parks. On these tree-lined streets, explore the past and the present of Portland’s craft brewing culture. Portland was a leader in the craft beer industry, and boasts more breweries than any city; whatever your beer love (sours? Craft barrel-aging? Belgians? Wits? Imperial IPAs? Fresh hops, dry hops, no hops?), there’s certainly a brewery that made its name in that style. All of these thrive in the inner Eastside of Portland, where Around Portland Tours makes its home. The tour in total is about eight miles, with only small hills and lots of introduction to the city culture as a whole, and our breweries are at the end; we’ll visit two breweries and include tasting flights at both.
Doughnuts, Coffee and Street Art: Local Secrets. We’ll begin with coffee, tea or hot cocoa at a shop that roasts its own beans, and sample some amazing single-origin coffee so we’ll be ready for lots of sweets to come. While the itinerary will vary based on doughnut shop hours, we’ll typically introduce you first to a hidden gem of a doughnut shop — the one locals prefer — then head to the another favorite doughnut shop (famous for their apple fritters!). We may take a slight detour to sample a brand-new doughnut trend, if you’re up for some adventuring!
Portland’s doughnut scene isn’t just about eating pastries; it’s also about the culture that makes it possible. Did you know the doughnut-loving Homer Simpson was based off a Portlander? Which came first, the Homer doughnut or the city’s doughnut boom? We’ll include fun gems of Simpsons lore, tales of lumber barons who helped early fried dough makers thrive, and check out some sugar-fueled street art.