Powell’s City of Books

Portland, Portland Region
1005 W Burnside
Portland, Oregon 97209
800-878-7323
Powell’s City of BooksWebsite

Powell’s City of Books is a book lover’s paradise ⁠— the largest independent bookstore in the world.

Located in downtown Portland, occupying an entire city block, Powell’s stocks more than a million new and used books. Nine color-coded rooms house more than 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles.

Be sure to grab a map: The store takes up an entire city block and it’s easy to get lost among a  million books.

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating: 5.0/5 TripAdvisor Traveler Rating based on 5390 reviews

TripAdvisor

  • TripAdvisor Rating
    March 29, 2023
    Returnt0sender

    My highlight of Portland!

    I loved this place. The people at the service counters were really helpful! The place is simply amazing, I loved it! Electronic books will never compete with this place. I walked in wanting to buy one book and I could have bought 100! I need to say, I am not naturally a lover of book places! I have a Kindle! After a week of staying in Portland, this place was my highlight!!!! It has renewed my opinion of Portland - thank you!

  • TripAdvisor Rating
    March 13, 2023
    wandah188

    A real live bookstore

    We ordered a cup of coffee and a light snack before hitting the stacks! They have everything you could possibly be looking for. Great to actually be in a real bookstore with books you can see and touch.

  • TripAdvisor Rating
    February 14, 2023
    lcalixto702

    3 Stories of Book Loving Fun!

    Powell's bookstore is like walking back in time when bookstores existed! I'm so glad they've survived the ages and gave grown to a massive array of books! There were three floors to explore hundreds of genres, and you're bound to find something that catches your eye! They also have a small cafe and lots of merchandise for sale. I walked away with a Fuel Up book and excited to start reading! Powell's also sells new and used books, there was a section where they were doing buybacks, which is really cool. Powell's is one of the largest bookstore left in the world, so definitely support these guys!

  • TripAdvisor Rating
    February 2, 2023
    bethg_ny

    One of the world's best indie bookstores

    Powell's truly is a city of books. I think I stayed here for 3 or 4 hours, just enjoying getting lost. Highly recommended to any book lover.

  • TripAdvisor Rating
    January 30, 2023
    ohailea

    CITY of Books is Right!

    I love just walking into bookstores to see what type of selection they have, but walking in here was like stepping into another world. I was FLOORED by how how many rooms, rows, and stacks of books they have; it was amazing! It's crazy too cause I didn't even have this place listed on my to-do things in Portland, but I was so glad I made it in anyway! It's located in the Pearl District, where street parking was easy to find. We came in around 7 pm, but you can definitely spend an eternity here. They close at 9 pm, so we had a little less than 2 hours to browse, which I still didn't think was enough time. I believe they also have about ten rooms that are color coordinated and range from so many genres including literature, graphic novels, sci-fi, etc. There WILL be something for you I can almost guarantee it!

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