USA Road Trip| Day 3: Powell’s City of Books⎮Inside the World’s Largest Independent Bookstore

VERDICT: We gave 5 out of 5 tickets and here’s why!

This guide forms part of our complete USA Travel Guide, featuring scenic road trips, iconic destinations, practical travel advice and honest first-hand travel experiences from across the United States.

This article is part of our 🚗 5-Day Pacific Northwest USA Road Trip series, exploring Washington and Oregon. Beginning at the Sumas border crossing in British Columbia, our 1,397-kilometre adventure takes us through historic coastal towns, spectacular beaches, iconic cities and one of America’s most famous volcanoes.. Read the complete itinerary here.

Day 1: Historic Bridges, Sea Lions & Astoria’s Waterfront ✅
Day 2: Haystack Rock, Puffins & Oregon’s Most Beautiful Beach ✅
Day 3: Shipwrecks, Cheese & Portland’s Weird Side ✅
Day 4: Volcanoes, Forests & The Mountain That Changed America
Day 5: Small-Town Charm, Ferries & The Journey Home

A Portland icon where millions of books, hidden treasures and literary history fill an entire city block

Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon isn’t just a bookstore — it’s a landmark. Located in the Pearl District, it claims to be the largest independent new & used bookstore in the world, and it really does take up an entire city block!

The store spans about 68,000 sqft, roughly 1.6 acres of retail space, with over 4 million new, used, banned, rare & out-of-print books.

It’s organized into nine colour-coded rooms with more than 3,500 different sections, so you can go from “Oregon History” to “Science Fiction” without ever leaving the building.

There’s a Rare Book Room with autographed first editions & antique titles, which unfortunately was closed when we arrived.

Outside the main entrance, the “Pillar of Books” greets you with carved stone spines of classics like Moby Dick & War and Peace, with the motto: “Buy the book, read the book, enjoy the book, sell the book”.

It’s equal parts library, treasure hunt, and Portland institution. You can browse new & used side by side, sell books at the buy counter, catch author events, or just get lost for an afternoon. It’s open daily 10am – 9pm, wheelchair-accessible, air conditioned & right downtown with nearby parking & transit.

After far more browsing than we had originally planned, we eventually left carrying a couple of new additions to our own library—including Anthony Bourdain’s World Travel, which somehow felt like the perfect souvenir for two people spending their lives exploring new destinations.

Continue Exploring Portland and Oregon

Nearby Attractions

Checklist For Things to See in Portland

Powell’s City of Books The world’s largest independent bookstore covering an entire city block with over four million books spread across nine colour-coded rooms.
Voodoo Doughnut One of Portland’s most famous attractions, known worldwide for its quirky doughnuts, unusual flavours and long queues.
Mill Ends Park Officially recognized as the world’s smallest park, measuring just 61 cm (24 inches) across. It’s tiny, but surprisingly famous.
Washington Park Home to the International Rose Test Garden, Japanese Garden, Hoyt Arboretum and spectacular views across Portland and Mount Hood on clear days.
Portland Saturday Market (Weekends) The largest continuously operating outdoor arts and crafts market in the United States, featuring local artists, food vendors and live entertainment along the Willamette River.

Planning Your Trip?

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With every trip, we offer feedback to travel companies along with honest views for you, the reader. We rate adventures on a scale of one to five tickets, judged on quality, service, memorability, and price. A perfect ‘Ticket Rating’ of a five-ticket score means the experience was flawless and we’d eagerly return. Your desire to go back is the ultimate measure of a trip’s worth. Exclusive to My Return Ticket.

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USA 5-Day Road Trip (Pacific Northwest)