Best Glamping near Portland, OR

We tent camped two nights at Silver Falls. Tree lined campgrounds were well maintained. Sites are close together and the grounds are very social (which we like). Ranger led evening program was educational and interactive. The highlight of the trip was the 8+ mile hike to explore 10 different waterfalls. The hike was easy enough for our seven year old to complete, but tough enough to wear us out. We very much enjoyed a swim with other families in one of the final falls. The drive from Portland was gorgeous! It was nice to get a glimpse of rural Oregon.

We stumbled on this random but fun campground nearly on accident while looking for places to camp near Portland. Just outside of town (half an hour) there's a small winding road that brings you to this green, well maintained and fun site. There's peacocks wandering the grounds, including at least two albino ones. Parking right at front, beautiful streams and a great pond for fishing. The kiddos are pretty much guaranteed to catch a fish, which is why we came there, and they offer plenty of help including a "trout shack." They charge for fish by the pound (or hourly if catch and release). There's also lovely covered tables around the pond for lunches and a whole amphitheater apparently for things like Fiddle Fest and Fairy Land festivals. The only two weird things (and the reason for four stars instead of five) is that there's very much a feeling of the whole place being run by a family and/or it being a private campground. There's two or three private houses right in the middle of everything with "keep out/private" signs, which makes it feel a bit like you're trespassing on someone's land, but our interactions with the owner were nice enough that that wasn't much of an issue. They also charge for just about everything, including $4 for parking if you're only staying for a day, and an extra $7 per person beyond the first 3 for camping (so a family of four acutally pays $32 instead of $25 for a site). Worth trying at least once though for the beautiful woods and fields, proximity to Portland, and especially the fishing.

Just off highway 6 (between Portland and Tillamook) is a series of lovely campgrounds in the Tillamook State Forest. Gales Creek is the first one you'll find on your way coming from Portland, and it's one of my favorites. The sites are surrounded by trees, and, if you're lucky, you can grab one next to the cute river than runs through the camp. Enough fun things to do like hikes or play with the water pump. The bathrooms are nothing fancy, and there's no showers, but the price is also right ($15). The main issue is that all sites are first-come/first-served, and there aren't too many sites, so hard to get something on a nice weekend or a holiday. But if you can snag a spot, you're in for a nice time.