Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Summer in the city

Portland’s not exactly what you’d think of as a beach town, but sitting at the confluence of two rivers the city has its fair share of sandy (and rocky) shores for those urban beach bums who don’t want to hoof it to the Oregon coast. We’ve rounded up the best beaches around the city, and ranked them based on access, crowds, scenery, uniqueness and the ability to lounge or lay out (see a map at the end). Disagree with our opinion? Let us know. We’ll see you on the sand, Portland.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Sauvie Island caveat

Sauvie Island is too big and diverse to consider it one beach, so instead we’ve divided it by the four different beaches found on the island – including the clothing optional one. All are beautiful, but suffer from overcrowding, so consider going in the morning or during the week.

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Oregonian File Photo

12. Tom McCall Bowl Beach

Situated on the front porch of Portland, in the bowl of downtown Waterfront Park, Tom McCall Bowl Beach is very much an urban experience. There’s way more grass than sandy riverfront, and it’s teeming with people (and geese), but it’s arguably the easiest beach to access in Portland.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

11. Poet's Beach

Revamped by the Human Access Project as a portal for people to get into the Willamette River, Poet's Beach is small and largely rocky – not exactly inviting, but certainly unique. Boulders leading down to the beach – found off the western side of the Willamette downtown – are engraved with poems written by local kids.

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Mike Zacchino/The Oregonian

10. Cathedral Park

The darling of North Portland, home of the much-photographed St. Johns Bridge, Cathedral Park is a lovely grassy park with plenty of space, but cross the railroad tracks and you'll also find a small sandy beach on the eastern shore of the Willamette River. The beach has a decidedly industrial view, but the St. Johns Bridge is gorgeous – even from underneath.

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Mark Larabee/The Oregonian

9. Sellwood Riverfront Park

Located on the east side of the Willamette River just north of the Sellwood Bridge, Sellwood Riverfront Park offers your general public park amenities (including a popular dog park), but aside from the grassy hillsides and dock, you can enjoy a small sandy/rocky beach as well.

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Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian

8. George Rogers Park

Oswego Lake may be off-limits, but Lake Oswego's George Rogers Park is open to the public. Located at the junction of the Willamette River and Oswego Creek, the park boasts tennis courts, ample green space, trails, playgrounds and, yes, a lovely strip of beach.

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7. Elk Rock Island

Elk Rock Island is made of lava flow from about 40 million years ago, considered to be the oldest exposed rock in Portland. It's only accessible when the Willamette River is low, and there really isn't any sand here to speak of, but the island is unique and one of Portland's greatest geological treasures.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

6. North Unit Beach (Sauvie Island)

Go all the way north on Sauvie Island’s Reeder Road to find the North Unit Beach, the remaining strip of shoreline up to Warrior Point at the tip of the island. The beach here is spotty, with sand giving way to small cliffs and brush, and you’ll have to walk a distance to find anything substantial, but it boasts one benefit over other Sauvie Island beaches: no crowds.

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Fredrick D. Joe/The Oregonian

5. Walton Beach (Sauvie Island)

The most popular beach on Sauvie Island, Walton Beach is found at the north end of Reeder Road, where parking is positively impossible to find on warm weekend afternoons. But the crowds come for good reason: The Columbia River shoreline is sandy and serene, with lovely shallow water for wading.

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Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian

4. Collins Beach (Sauvie Island)

The ever-popular clothing-optional Collins Beach is just up the shore from Walton Beach, and offers almost the exact same experience (crowds included) with one glaring exception: nudity. Whether or not that’s your cup of tea, Collins Beach scores points for uniqueness here, and is a beautiful place to get some sun – bathing suit or not.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

3. Kelley Point

Kelley Point was supposed to be a grand city before Portland came to life, but now the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers is a lovely public park, with several sandy beaches on the western side. There are three main beach entrances from a paved trail, each offering great river views, though some do border on industrial port activity.

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Kristyna Wentz-Graff/The Oregonian

2. Broughton Beach

Well known to participants in Portland’s annual Polar Plunge, but little known otherwise, Broughton Beach is a great strip of sand on the edge of the Columbia River off Marine Drive. You’ll have to deal with air traffic noise – the beach is next to PDX – but otherwise Broughton is an excellent beach in an area best known to boaters and air travelers.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

1. Willow Bar Beach (Sauvie Island)

Plenty of sandy beachfront, a gorgeous view of the Columbia River and relatively few crowds makes Sauvie Island's Willow Bar Beach, in our opinion, the best beach in Portland. Though popular among fishers, Willow Bar doesn't get quite as crowded as Sauvie's other beaches, its parking lot more obscured at the end of a dirt road off Reeder Rd. There's little shade, but Willow Bar has a long shoreline and shallows fit for wading.

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