Portland Walking Tours

03/22/09

Epicurean Excursion

by 1FineDiner

I took this tour back in 2004 and loved it. I took it again in 3/09 and it was disappointing. Too much emphasis on chocolate and sweets and nothing but a slice of pizza to round it out. Pretty bland and not very interesting at all. They need to change it back to the way it was several years ago. Not wanting to consume so many sweets, we left the tour very hungry for something nutritious. I was disappointed and wouldn't recommend it until they make some changes. The flip side, our host Bob, was very nice and helpful.

• Pros: Nice walk
• Cons: Lack of variety...too many sweets

01/12/09

Tunnel Tours underground = Rip off!!!!!

by coredesign

I wrote a review before for the Shanghai Underground tunnel tour that begins in front of Hobo's restaurant. However, it seems it was deleted along with all the other bad reviews.<br><br>

I wanted to post a new review in order to warn people who might be looking for the same tour. It was a dreadful experience. The "tour" is basically no different than being in a dingy restaurant basement. There's nothing historically significant or interesting about the tour. It's extremely hot and stuffy (one of our group passed out and had to be carried out). The staff is no more knowledgeable or informative than any random person off the street. Sadly there's probably a lot of history and exploring to do under Portland's downtown but the city does not allow access to any of that. Therefore, this company is capitalizing on taking people into a few cramped basements of restaurants they do have access to. This includes under Hobo's and Old Town Pizza.<br><br>

It sounds like from the other reviews that there are other tours going on possibly by other companies including above ground walking tours. I am only referring to the Shanghai Underground tunnel tour that begins at Hobo's restaurant. Do not go on that one! It is a terrible waste of money.

• Pros: none
• Cons: hot, boring, waste of money, nothing of historical relevance, scam

11/09/08

Beyond Bizarre...Beyond a waste of time

by spoogie

My friends and I went on the "Beyond Bizarre" tour, we thought it would be a fun pre-Halloween treat. What a waste of money! Our tour guide was awful, he kept getting off track, and we would stand around for ever while he talked about who knows what. We did not learn an interesting stories of underground Portland as promised on their webite. We spent a ridiculous amount of time at Voodoo donuts where he just poked a "voodoo jelly donut" and made ridiculous sexual/foul languaged remarks.

We were supposed to (possibly) see things of the "paranormal" nature, and we did. Only to later discover they were hoaxes he played on us. At one point, our guide read the palms of a girl on the tour, and revelaed very personal information about her, we thought maybe she was a plant even though she said she never met this guy before. And at the end of tour we discovered that the company researches, or Googles everyone on line to dig up information on you so they can pretend to read your palms, and then reveal embarassing personal information about you.

The only part of the Shanghai tunnels we got to see were under Old Town Pizza (the best part of the tour). Apparently all tunnels were closed off around 1974.

I definitely DO NOT recommend this tour to anyone, what a waste of time and money, and VERY disappointing!

• Pros: The bartender at Old Town Pizza was fabulous
• Cons: The rest of the tour