Gray Line Portland

Stuck on the «Big Pink Sightseeing» trolley. It’s crazy-​busy at the Rose Gardens and the idiot grandma driving can’t maneuver well, and stops every time a car comes in the opposite direction (in their own lane). Plus she stops every 10 feet to let someone hop on or off, rather than direct to the official stops. It’s infuriating.

You can buy the pass for this from the driver if you happen to see the trolley anywhere or from their ticket location right in the middle of Pioneer Square. Helps that this is located near the travel info center where you can get other tourist info as well as restroom facilities. Also helps that it is right next to Starbucks if you wanted to pick up coffee. And it never hurts to be located close to some retail stores and restaurants in case you happened to be there too early and needed to waste time window shopping. This was my chosen mode of transport for the day — they cover 12 attractions and provide narration along the way. They tell you exactly where they will pick you up and at what time so you never have to worry about being stranded anywhere. It costs $ 32 only!

Just finished a tour. After reading other reviews I decided not to hop off but instead enjoy an overview of Portland. I had a pleasant and knowledgeable driver. I wish I had brought a map or reviewed a map in advance just to give me a better sense of where we were traveling. It is a good way to start your trip and decide where you might want to visit independently. Word of advice, don’t plan on taking pictures if you aren’t getting off as the trolley is to point out landmarks but still keep on moving.
I think the trolley is best for either a nonstop tour or if you are getting off on one or two stops where you will be spending some time.

The Portland city tour was about an hour ½ and stopped at 11 spots. The trolley got to the spot for pick up on time. It’s not safe to say that you will hear everything the guide says as people are taking amongst each other. And I admit our group did.

Loved, loved, loved the Mulnomah Falls/​Columbia River Gorge tour! Brian was a fantastic tour guide and driver! I did this half-​day tour on my own and thoroughly enjoyed every minute! The stops were great, and we were allowed plenty of time to explore and discover the great sites! I highly recommend this for a half-​day sight-​seeing MUST DO!

The city tour was good — I loved being able to get up into the park near the Rose Garden and Zoo and to see Portland from that vantage point. It was a great way to get a little bit of an overview of the town and figure out where we wanted to be and see some of the neighborhoods that I haven’t been to on other visits to Portland.
However, if you’re planning to ride it straight through, it’s a pretty long ride on a pretty hard wooden bench — probably best if you really do hop on and off occasionally.
Our driver sure was a chatty little thing, which I know is her job, but it did come across as rambly and odd sometimes instead of informational. Unless you count knowing that she doesn’t like: ivy, rats, bubble tea, or blue cheese as informational.
And yes — the trolley was late on our ride as well, because the line for drinks at the Nordstrom café was taking a while and one half of a couple was on the bus, while the other was in line — I agree that it’s odd to put an entire tour schedule off just so someone can get an iced tea. Great for them, obviously, but not for everyone else.
Then, even though we were already late, an older couple yelled across the intersection at us so we stopped again to wait for them — and they were in no hurry to board, let me tell you. It definitely seemed odd, but it would’ve been cruel to just drive off, right? Had we departed on time, they would’ve just missed us entirely and would’ve had to wait. Now if we were in Hawaii, this would just be expected, so.. . perspective.

Driver was nice and seemed knowledgable (Kelly), tour was not very interesting and not worth the $ 32 or so per ticket. I’ve been on many of this type of tour, maybe Portland’s history isn’t that interesting?

I booked the combo package with half day Columbia River Gorge tour + 2 day trolley passes. The half day tour was fantastic. Our bus driver (Brian/​Bryan?) was very informative and funny. He gave us adequate time at each stop to enjoy everything while maintaining our schedule. The waterfall stops and Bonneville Dam area were all great sights that I probably wouldn’t have seen if I had planned my own trip. I’d give 5 stars for this tour alone.
On the other hand, the hop-​on-​hop-​off Big Pink Trolley service was pretty disappointing. Only running from 10am-​4pm, with trolley leaving the starting point every hour, made it very difficult to plan for. We ended up not wanting to get off the trolley because we’d have to wait an hour to get picked up again. With 12 stops, you could only get off at half of them in one day. I’ve bought hop-​on-​hop-​off passes at other cities where the bus comes every 30 minutes, and that is much better. I would not recommend booking the trolley passes. Instead, buy yourself a TriMet day pass and explore the city on your own.

Consistently late at every stop. Not just a couple minutes. 15 to 20 minutes on average. Neat idea. Poorly executed.
When I called the company at one of the stops, the person indicated «one of the customers needed to use the bathroom» making the trolley late. I asked why they would hold the trolley up for one person’s bio break, while impacting every other paying customer. They were unable to answer, other than to apologize.
I read another post indicating the same issue of the trolley bring late. Obviously a pattern.

We were really excited about the hop on hop off tour having some similar tours in other cities. Unfortunately this tour really let us down. The pros were the trolley was easy to spot and a portion of the proceeds went to a great cause (the only thing keeping me from demanding a refund). However the trolley was over 15 minutes late every time and at our last stop it was over an hour late. When we called the company to ask where it was all they said was it should be there any minute. The tour guides didn’t have much to say about the sites, in fact when asking for directions to Voodoo Donuts from the stop our guide said «its somewhere over there» before driving away. Finally the speaker sets were shoddy and all we could hear when the guides spoke was wind static. All in all it was a frustrating and disappointing experience that ate up a bunch of our time without offering much in the way of a silver lining, and left us feeling rather price gouged. Its a good thing we had some donuts to eat while we waited. Would not recommend or use again. Update: my 1 star became 3 because after we got back the owner took good care of us. It appears one of the trolleys broke down causing the epic delay. The owner was very gracious and apologetic which was appreciated.

Did both the City hop on/​hop off tour and the Columbia River tour. Enjoyed both. Very friendly and personable staff.

We love hop on hop off tours. It provides us with the ability to see the city we are visiting, at our leisure and pace. We always do this on our first day arriving.
Portland’s «Big Pink», as it’s called, was lots of fun and our lady driver/​guide (Joann) made it entertaining, informative and fun.
The tour covered just about all the important areas in the city and it was well priced. Well worth the time, effort and money. We’ll hop on and hop off the «Big Pink» again.

This is for the hop-​on hop-​off tour… it was okay. The speaker system went out so we couldn’t hear much but it served its purpose and we got to see a lot of the city. I’d suggest it for a first time visitor to the city if you want to see a lot and be able to hop off the tour and take a look around.

I bought a LivingSocial voucher for their hop on hop off pink trolley tour, which I thought would be a good way to get a quick overview of the city and decide what we wanted to see in more depth. As our guidebook of Portland said, there are not any major tourist attractions in the city, which made the trolley tour even more welcome, as it pointed out some points of interest we would not have taken in otherwise. Our driver was very nice and outgoing, which I really have to give him credit for — it’s got to be difficult to tell the same jokes multiple times a day every day and still give it some zest.

Tour: Multnomah Falls & Columbia River Gorge Tour
Visit date: September 4, 2011
First time? Yes.
Tourist prices, yes. But all the tours support breast cancer health education/​research and you get to explore the outskirts of Portland without having to drive yourself! :) The bus driver was a little dry, but the tour was enjoyable and made for some great photo ops. The tour I went on was ~4.5 hours. We drove on the scenic road along the Columbia River Gorge, saw many waterfalls (including Multnomah Falls and Latourell Falls), and even visited a hatchery (which actually kind of freaked me out). Bring a jacket, it can get windy. Also bring your wallet if you want to do any souvenir shopping. Note: there are restrooms at almost every stop.

Despite its name, you don’t have to be a senior citizen looking for the 4PM dinner special at Applebees to book a tour with this outfit.
I have to admit that Gray Line is my default synapse when I am suddenly a stranger in a foreign land. Well OK, Portland is hardly foreign territory to a San Franciscan like me, but hey, I’ve never been here before and don’t know anyone to show me the local color. I suppose that’s why the Gray Line tours appeal to the xenophobic, blue-​haired crowd who cannot be bothered with depending on the kindness of strangers.
I took a couple of the half-​day tours while having a three-​day getaway in Portland. One was the $ 37.50, three-​hour morning city tour, which to be honest, was rather dull until we got to the one and only stop, the luxuriant Japanese Gardens. Be forewarned that the gardens are closed on Mondays. Even my people need a holiday.
The other was much better — the $ 47, 4 ½-​hour afternoon tour of the Columbia River Gorge which includes photo stops at various waterfalls and longer stays at the key attractions — a scenic viewpoint overlooking the gorge, the art-​deco Vista House, the Bonneville Fish Hatchery and best of all, the spectacular Multnomah Falls.
The drivers are the tour guides, and Chuck and Marty, both expert on the necessary factoids about Oregon, are both entertaining in that folksy way that charms the dickens out of the blue-​hairs. The buses depart from the western side of Pioneer Courthouse Square in front of the Nordstroms, which conveniently has an espresso bar for those early morning journeys.
I’ve used Gray Line in places as far-​flung as Melbourne, Wellington, Santiago de Chile and Lake Titicaca, so believe me when I say you’ll get something close to market value when you book a tour with them. I say check it out if you don’t have a clue what to do in Portland.