Eugene lies at the southern end of the famed Willamette Valley wine country - there are several stellar tasting rooms within a short drive of the city, including dramatically situated King Estate.
Close to the U of O campus, the LGBTQ-inviting Excelsior Inn has 14 smartly designed rooms rates include a lavish full breakfast. It’s a short walk from the lively Market District, with its many superb restaurants and shops. The city’s queer community hosts a well-attended Gay Pride in August, and in downtown Eugene you’ll find a slew of bars and clubs that have a mixed following as well as a dedicated queer establishment, Spectrum Eugene, which opened in fall 2018. Beer lovers should also check out Hop Valley Brewing, which produces Reveal Pale Ale, a portion of whose proceeds support LGBTQ nonprofits. Oregon’s third-largest city, progressive Eugene is home to University of Oregon (and its related, excellent museums) and one of the coolest, queerest little neighborhoods in the state, Whiteaker, where you can stroll and people-watch amid such inviting hangouts as Izakaya Meiji and Sam Bond’s Garage. Izakaya Meiji by Ayumi Kamata Eugene and the South Willamette Valley For a more rural setting, book one of 10 rooms or a separate guest cottage at the lesbian-owned Scappoose Creek Inn, a beautiful farm situated just outside of Portland near Sauvie Island and the Columbia River. Other gay faves in this part of town include lesbian-owned Tiny Digs, which is made up of eight cute and cozy tiny houses, and the Lion and the Rose and Portland’s White House, two stately, queer-owned bed-and-breakfasts in the historic Irvington neighborhood. Consider the retro-chic Jupiter Hotel and the newer and fancier Jupiter Next across the street, both of which cater to queer travelers. Countless hotels in Portland enthusiastically welcome the LGBTQ community, and you’ll also find a number of queer-owned or managed accommodations, most of them on the East Side. On the city’s east side, LGBTQ culture thrives in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods like Hawthorne, Mississippi and Alberta. Great times to visit include the Portland Pride Festival in mid-June and Latinx Gay Pride in July. Only a handful of the bars below are explicitly known as hook-up bars, but if you’re willing to do the work and build off chance encounters in the right environment, the sky’s the limit for singles in the Rose City.With one of the largest concentrations of LGBTQ residents in the country, Portland is a queer epicenter on the West Coast, with a slew of thumpin’ bars and dance clubs (hosting popular dance nights like Cake) and dozens of community-owned businesses, like the queer-feminist clothier Wildfang. Many aren’t shy about engaging with strangers if drinks are flowing, and if you know where to look it shouldn’t be too hard to snag digits here and there. That being said, the stock of young single people refreshes almost biannually, with thousands of ambitious 20- and 30-somethings filing in solo with hopes of building a new life.
Oddly enough, most females surveyed on the issue complain about how men rarely talk to them at bars, which is in stark contrast to cities like New York or Philadelphia, where most of the aggravation is centered around the exact opposite problem. A lot of our hookup culture is centered on activities, mutual interests, and dating apps (heavy sigh), which means the idea of going to a bar and talking to complete strangers can be a bit daunting. Portland is not a specifically prude city, but outsiders can’t help but notice that our notion of a “singles bar” is wildly different than what they’re used to.