Explore Portland - Optional Social Activities
All tours will depart from the conference hotel
1401 Southwest Naito ParkwayPortland, OR 97201
United States
Portland Walking Tours:
Curated Experiences for Conference Attendees
Portland rewards the curious. Beyond the food carts and craft breweries and rose gardens is a city with a genuinely weird history: backroom deals, floating brothels, space-age aerial trams, and wine country practically at its doorstep. These tours were designed for exclusively for CLEAR attendees to provide an authentic Portland experience: each one is led by a knowledgeable local guide, sized to allow for conversation and connection, and built around the stories and experiences that make Portland unlike anywhere else.
Click on the date tabs above to learn more about the offerings available each evening.
Tour space is limited so reserve your spot early!
TUESDAY, September 15
Ghosts of the Willamette River: At the Crossroads of the Shanghai Tunnels
~2 miles • Slow-paced with some seating • $30/person
Portland was built on an ancient crossroads, a place where the spirit world has always felt close at hand. Whether it’s the stories of human trafficking in the notorious Shanghai Tunnels, the origin of the vampire folklore that inspired Twilight, or the crafty madam who ran her brothel on a floating barge and stayed one step ahead of the law for years, this city has a darkness and depth to explore.
From fiery deaths to watery graves, we cover it all. On this waterfront walk, we weave together what we know of the peoples who lived here for millennia with the verified, strange, and occasionally unsettling stories of Portland’s more recent past and a few eerie mysteries we’re still trying to explain. Unhurried pace, and full of the kind of history that doesn’t make it onto the historical markers.
Willamette Valley Wine Walk
~1–1.5 miles • $45/person
The Willamette Valley’s Pinot Noir and Chardonnay have a serious international reputation — the kind built over decades, not marketing campaigns. This walk visits two or three carefully selected wine bars and restaurants, with one to two tastings at each stop chosen specifically to showcase the iconic varieties and styles that set this region apart: the soils, the climate, the grapes that thrive here and nowhere else quite like it.
The context makes the tasting. Full pours are available at each stop for anyone who wants to slow down and stay a while. Small group and experienced guides.
WEDNESDAY, September 16
Aerial Tram Sunset Tour
~1 mile walking • Streetcar + tram fare included • $45/person
Portland has a commuter aerial tram — one of only a handful in the world designed for daily use. We love this tour at any time of day, but at sunset it’s something else entirely. After taking the streetcar to the gleaming, newly-developed South Waterfront neighborhood, you’ll board for the short but fun ride up. From the upper observation deck, perched above a working medical school and hospital, the views stretch across the city, the bridges, and the West Hills going amber in the evening light.
The colors shift fast. The ride down happens just as the city lights come on. We’ll help you navigate back to the hotel or point you toward a great dinner in this newly-minted neighborhood — better than most visitors expect.
Soul of the Weird City: A Walk Around Portland
~2 miles + streetcar to the west side • $40/person
Art, architecture, history, and the inimitable soul of Portland are best experienced on foot. The parks, the “skyscrapers,” the public art — Portland’s downtown looks like a city that had a plan. It didn’t, really. The blocks that make up this skyline were shaped by backroom deals, paperwork disasters, and early deaths at exactly the wrong moment. One mayor spent a decade in open war with hippies. A major civic statue was commissioned specifically to announce Portland’s arrival as a world-class city; the results were not what anyone intended.
And then there’s the city’s proudly strange cultural underbelly: pioneering drag queens and strippers, a reformed porn theater, and the Voodoo Doughnuts phenomenon explained in full context. A donut stop is built into the route. A great dinner recommendation comes at the end. The unique soul of the city that resists being summarized — all in one walk.
For More Information:
CLEAR Cancellation Policy
Registrant substitutions are welcome. Cancellations received less than two weeks before the event will be subject to the full registration fee, and no refunds or credits will be given.