Things to do in Bend
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Bend
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall, late June and September, everything open with the best weather to crowd ratio.
Smartest shoulder month, spring skiing overlaps desert hiking, climbing and peak waterfalls.
Ski season for Mt Bachelor, cold and crisp in town, best with soaking pools and cosy downtown.
Peak summer, all trails and lakes open, but prices peak and wildfire smoke risk builds from late July.
Locals' fall favourite early on, with Fall Festival, BendFilm and Tenth Month events, then first snows close high roads.
Worst month for a first visit, between seasons with little open and no snow yet.
What's on
- Bend WinterFest February
Ice, music and rail jams downtown in ski season.
- Bend Summer Festival July
Downtown summer festival in peak season.
- Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show July
Day trip event in Sisters, northwest of Bend.
- Bend Brewfest August
One of the Northwest's big beer festivals, held in the Old Mill.
- Bend Oktoberfest September
Fall beer festival as crowds and prices ease.
- Bend Fall Festival early October
Early October fall festival downtown.
- BendFilm Festival October
Part of Tenth Month, when film, design and startup events stack up in October.
Best things to do in Bend
Deschutes River Float
The defining summer ritual, drifting the river from Riverbend Park to Drake Park past the Old Mill.
Smith Rock State Park
Orange tuff towers over the Crooked River on the Misery Ridge loop, Central Oregon's unmissable hike.
Pilot Butte State Scenic Viewpoint
A cinder cone in town with a spiral trail to a full Cascade panorama, best at sunrise or sunset.
High Desert Museum
Indoor and outdoor desert museum with raptors and otters that makes every later hike make more sense.
Crux Fermentation Project
A vast brewery lawn with food carts and a straight sunset view of the Cascades.
Bend Brewing Company
One of Oregon's oldest brewpubs on the river downtown, a core stop on the Bend Ale Trail.
Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Oregon's largest outdoor venue on the river, booking national acts all summer in the Old Mill.
Drake Park
Thirteen riverfront acres by Mirror Pond, stitched straight into browsable downtown Bend.
Where to stay in Bend
Downtown / Old Bend
first trip, all-round base
Walk to dinner, breweries, Drake Park and the river trail and forget the car.
River West / West Side
active groups and repeat visitors
Across the river from downtown on the Galveston strip, on the road to Phil's Trails and Bachelor.
Old Mill District / Southern Crossing
concerts and families
By the river and amphitheater with pools, parking and predictable full service hotels.
Tetherow / Century Drive
golf and ski resort base
Quiet upscale resort community ten minutes from downtown on the way to Bachelor.
Sunriver and Sisters
resort, family and celebration trips
Deliberate resort communities with houses, pools and golf, trading Bend's walkable evenings for space.
Think twice about
- US-97 / 3rd Street motel corridor and NE Division Street
Highway commercial spine with fast traffic and parking lots, the least walkable part of town and a shelter and services concentration nearby.
- Juniper Ridge / far NE Bend
Industrial land and the City and County Temporary Safe Stay Area are here. Check any budget rental's exact map pin before booking.
- Emerson Avenue area between 3rd Street and US-97
The city identified established campsites here as unsafe with public health and safety impacts. Avoid the immediate blocks for lodging.
Best restaurants in Bend
Ariana
A small chef driven room on Galveston, arguably Bend's best meal, full stop.
BOSA Food & Drink
House made pasta and wood fired seasonal dishes, the consensus special occasion alternative to Ariana.
Rancher Butcher Chef
Bend's destination steakhouse for dry aged and Wagyu cuts, built for group celebrations.
Wild Rose Northern Thai
Specifically Northern Thai cooking downtown, a Bend institution and best value central dinner.
Zydeco Kitchen & Cocktails
Cajun inflected Northwest cooking and a roof deck, where locals take out of towners.
El Sancho
Mexican street food done properly, with a second cart on the lawn at Crux.
Spork
Global street food meets farm kitchen, the restaurant Bend chefs eat at on days off.
Sparrow Bakery
Home of the Ocean Roll, Bend's signature cardamom orange pastry that sells out by mid morning.
Best coffee in Bend
Backporch Coffee Roasters
A local roaster named in every Bend food tour, a better bet than any chain on Bond or Wall.
Still Vibrato Coffee Roasters
A local Bend roaster listed among the town's coffee quick hits by food guides.
Outdoor things to do in Bend
Tetherow Golf Club
Links style fescue golf by the Bandon Dunes architect, firm and fast with Mt Bachelor views.
Pronghorn Golf Club
Nicklaus and Fazio courses carved through juniper and lava rock northeast of Bend.
Crosswater Golf Club
Heathland style golf threading both Deschutes rivers and wetlands inside Sunriver Resort.
Widgi Creek Golf Club
A well kept forested 18 on the Bachelor road that locals name as best value near town.
River's Edge Golf Course
Budget and twilight golf over an old cinder mine with river views in north Bend.
Mt. Bachelor
A standalone volcano with one of North America's largest ski areas and a summer bike park.
Phil's Trail Network
Flowy singletrack west of town that made Bend a mountain biking capital, free to ride.
South Sister
A brutal non technical summit slog to a crater rim view from Oregon's third highest peak.
Best hotels in Bend
Oxford Hotel Bend
Bend's benchmark luxury boutique downtown, with soaking tubs and the 10Below restaurant.
Tetherow Resort
Modern lodge rooms and casitas above the golf course with pool, spa and Bachelor views.
Juniper Preserve
Desert resort luxury among lava and juniper with a spa and two top ranked golf courses.
Brasada Ranch
High end ranch resort cabins on rangeland with golf, pools and a hilltop Cascade panorama.
FivePine Lodge
Romantic luxury cabins on a forested Sisters campus with a spa and Three Sisters views.
McMenamins Old St. Francis School
Rooms in former classrooms at the converted school, with soaking pool, bars and cinema.
Riverhouse on the Deschutes
A rebuilt Bend institution with rooms over rapids, pools and a restaurant five minutes downtown.
Campfire Hotel
A renovated motor lodge basecamp with pool, fire pits and bunk rooms made for groups.
Is Bend expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $90 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $220 a person |
| Splurge | $450 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Hayden Homes Amphitheater: weeks ahead
- Tetherow Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Pronghorn Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Crosswater Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Widgi Creek Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Mt. Bachelor: a few days ahead
- South Sister: months ahead
- Broken Top: months ahead
- Central Cascades Wilderness permits on Recreation.gov for mid June to mid October sell out for marquee weekends.
- Lava River Cave timed entry, Ariana, BOSA and RBC about 30 days out, and Bachelor lift tickets online ahead.
Is Bend safe?
- Cold water shock on the river float, heat and no water at Smith Rock, and deer collisions at dawn and dusk are the real risks.
- Leave nothing visible in trailhead cars and check wildfire smoke AQI from late July into September.
Bend travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Doing Bend in a day from Portland, midday summer hiking at Smith Rock, and centring a day on the Last Blockbuster.
- Old Mill chain restaurants and the cheapest 3rd Street motel, which costs back the saving in driving and a worse trip.
Getting around Bend: public transport and more
- Fly into Redmond RDM, 20 minutes north, or drive 3 hours from Portland. Downtown, Old Mill and River West are walkable, but you need a car beyond them.
- Buses are infrequent and rideshare thins late. Use the seasonal Ride Bend shuttle and the Mt Bachelor shuttle in ski season.
Who Bend suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Bend your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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