Salt Lake City and Park City Trip Planning
 

We are making a quick three-day trip to Utah, flying into SLC in late August. We will likely stay at the St. Regis in Park City or somewhere else that is recommended in Park City. We really don't have much experience with Utah and don't know a lot about it. I've been doing some reading on FT about it so have a few ideas, but hoped more seasoned Utah-travelers or locals could offer their feedback. We sort of want to strike a balance between seeing gorgeous nature and having a bit of a luxury quick-trip. We will not be doing any sort of strenuous hiking (easy hikes or cycling are good) and are not particularly into museums or the Mormon history. Unfortunately, it looks like all of the national parks are quite a bit further south (at least 3.5 hours south) and considering we are only there for 3 days/2 nights, I'm not sure if it's worth it to drive down there, or if we should just find beautiful nature to see up where we will be staying. Based on posts I have seen here on FT, it looks like we should look into the Uinta mountains and Mirror Lake Highway, Park City's Main Street/downtown area and Deer Valley, Solitude, Utah Olympic Park, and maybe Snowbird. Is all of this too much? Are there any other things to add to the list? Or should we forget about all of this and go straight for a national park down south? Thanks for any help!

Your travel time is to short to hit the southern Utah national parks.

To do the SW corner parks:

day 1 fly into SLC, drive to Torrey
day 2 Capitol Reef, UT 12, night near Bryce
day 3 AM Bryce, PM tp Springdale and Zion
day 4 Zion
day 5 AM Zion, PM return to SLC

or

day 1 AM into SLC, PM to Moab
day 2-4 Moab
day 5 return to SLC

I am not much of an expert on the ski areas near there....but with 2 full days that limits you and what you could do. Park City would be a good place to stay and then each day go out and do a hike somewhere. I am sure there are some of the resorts that allow you to take the chair lifts up to a higher area for hiking.

Sounds like your travel interests/style are similar to mine. I went to school in Utah and still go back to visit each summer to do some hiking. While the National Parks are excellent, there's no way you could visit all of them and have time to enjoy yourself. If you're interested in Arches/Canyonlands National Parks you'd have enough time to drive there. You may also be interested at looking into Boutique Air which flies SLC-Moab on Small Pilatus aircaft. Because they're subsidized the rates are actually reasonable.

Your choice of the St. Regis is a solid choice, although I'd also look into the Waldorf Astoria or Stein Erikson lodge. The Uintas and Mirror Lake Scenic Byway are beautiful, some of my favorite hiking/backpacking has been in those mountains and they only get a fraction of the visitors you'd find in the National Parks. The Uintas have dozens of trails to lakes/waterfalls/summits for all levels of fitness. For closer hikes, there are also plenty of options up Cottonwood Canyon. I assume your hotel would also have a concierge who can give you some additional suggestions for activities in the area.

Rent bikes in downtown SLC from one of the numerous kiosks. https://greenbikeslc.org/

Then ride along Canyon Road, which starts in the heart of downtown SLC at the intersection of State Street and Second Avenue. Within a few minutes, you will be in Memory Grove Park, which has a number of monuments to the military fallen. Keep going, the mountains are just a short ride further on.

http://www.bikeslc.com/wheretoride/m...morygrove.html

You actually don't need the bikes. You can hike, too (not strenuous if you keep to the paved trail/road).

http://www.bikeslc.com/wheretoride/m...morygrove.html

Salt Lake City has mountains closer to downtown than any other city I know. This picture was taken just a couple of miles from Temple Square.
http://www.bikeslc.com/wheretoride/m...yonJan2015.jpg

I've been living in SLC for over 3 years, and despite its quirks, I have to admit it's a pretty amazing place and it would be a shame to spend your time in a car on your way to Zion instead of exploring it. As a disclaimer, I'm not Mormon and never have been, and yes there's a huge LDS presence, but there's also an increasingly large counter culture because of that presence.

Spend at least an afternoon in downtown SLC; I would start at Temple Square - it's literally ground 0 on the city grid system, and you should visit it briefly just for the insanely manicured gardens. Seriously, those tithing $$ come in handy for all the landscaping they do. From there, if you're into architecture, you can cross the street to check out City Creek Mall; the creek literally runs through the mall and you can feed the koi fish. It has some high-end luxury stores, especially on the west half (the mall spans 2 blocks). The actual city creek trail is just North of Temple Square. Also several blocks north is Memory grove park, (which may be the picture above, or else it's city creek) which has several trails running off of it.

Get a great view of the city from either the quick but steep hike at Ensign Peak (North by the capitol), or from The Living Room (E by the university). There are numerous other hiking trails by the Living room and off of/near Red Butte Garden in that area.

I second going to big or little cottonwood canyon to hike. Desolation Peak trail also has a fantastic view and isn't too lengthy. Other good ones are Bell's Canyon (a bit strenuous), Donut Falls (easy), and Diamond Hot Springs (easy/medium, and farther south around Provo). I'd check AllTrails or ask your concierge to make sure whatever you do is in the shade, as Aug. heat is not conducive to strenuous hiking.

SLC has tons of things to do in the summer. I'd peruse cityweekly.net or pick up one of the local free papers for info on festivals, concerts, and other events. Farmer's markets are huge in the summer. The downtown one (www.slcfarmersmarket.org/) is every Saturday and takes up an entire park. The Park Silly Market is Sundays.

I'm not a skier, and I find so much to do near downtown that I honestly don't venture up to PC that often for activities, but the drive up the canyon itself is beautiful. If you don't stay at Stein Erickson, pop in just to check it out. If you drink, their bar is top-notch and a wonderful place to unwind and take in the scenery.

Don't worry about not being into museums, as Salt Lake is seriously lacking in any substantial ones. And just know that although the church has greatly reduced its stranglehold over tourism, you'll still have to buy booze at a state-run liquor store and ask if you can get a "long pour" to get even 1.5 oz of liquor (the max amount allowed in a drink). But aside from weird liquor laws and few stores closed on Sunday, the only other effect of LDS presence is a surprisingly clean, safe, and extremely friendly town.

I very much beg to differ on this point. The Utah Museum of Natural History presents its unique collections on the natural history of the American West
in a world-class way, comparable to the Smithsonian NHM and the London Natural History Museum (both of which I have visited). And the building itself is an architectural statement, for which docent-lead tours are available.

http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/201...hitects_11.jpg

http://continuum.utah.edu/wp-content.../umnh_8193.jpg

http://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/...pp150508_2.jpg

More details: https://newsdesk.nhmu.utah.edu/newsd...o-tinto-center

Doing this post has inspired me to make additional posts about other museums and buildings in Utah that are architectual gems. I don't have time right now but Stay Tuned.

Salt Lake City's downtown public library was constructed about a decade ago and immediately was named Library of the Year. http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2006/06...cracy-happens/ This is where a leg of the CBS tv show The Amazing Race ended. The architecture is definately something that you have to see in person. But I am including a few beauty shots nonetheless. It is easily reachable via light rail -- it has its own stop on the Red Line. http://www.slcpl.org/branches/view/Main+Library

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...y_interior.JPG

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/o...l/17273875.jpg

http://www.allysoncondie.com/wp-cont...1/08/79134.jpg

And while I am on the subject of libraries, people come from all over the world to do research on their family tree at Salt Lake City's Family History Library. https://familysearch.org/ask/locatio...kecity-library
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/churc...228CTR-657.jpg

When Salt Lake City's present downtown public library opened, the building that had previously had that function was repurposed as a museum. The Leonardo explores the overlap between art, technology, and science.
http://www.theleonardo.org/get-invol...-the-leonardo/

http://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview...b65c1213db.jpg

This is a picture of the centerpiece of the museum, the Hylozoic Veil.

http://www.theleonardo.org/

From 21st-century architecture to 19th-century.

Near the Leonardo (and the new downtown public library) is The City and County Building.

http://static.thousandwonders.net/Sa...ginal.1577.jpg

http://www.utahheritagefoundation.or...ounty-building

And of all tourists have to hear the pin drop at the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. (Yes, the accostics are so good that a pin dropped by the pulpit can be heard clearly in the back of the room.)
https://www.mormontabernaclechoir.or....html?lang=eng

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m8oCi7LcUZ.../s1600/tab.jpg

Wow!
 

These posts are tremendously helpful! Why should I expect anything less of FTers, though? :) I am really grateful for all of your posts. I will look at each post in more detail and start to make up an itinerary. Thank you all! These posts are really making me look more and more forward to this trip (and wish we had more time there).

This really helps in ruling out the southern parks so that we can focus our planning on something doable up north. Thank you!

I have never known of Boutique Air but glad to know about it. I just looked at their website and while there are flights available, I think that we will decide to stick up north after all. I will definitely keep the information handy so I can find it again for future trips, however. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks, too, for the opinion of St. Regis vs. Waldorf Astoria and Stein Erikson. My traveling companion has very good elite status with SPG (and good status with Hilton) so we were thinking we might get the best experience at St. Regis, but we are still quite open to those other two and had been considering them as well. Do you think it makes sense to factor in elite status in our choice of hotels or is that silly, assuming that we will be treated quite well at any of the three?

Thanks for the tips about Cottonwood Canyon and the Uintas. It sounds exactly like what we're looking for.

We're really happy for the bike trail ideas! Thanks for the help!

There are lots of great to-do ideas packed in this post - thanks for spelling them out for us, right down to good trails and a good website to find events. We'll check them all out. Thanks so much.

Amanuensis, you make a pretty strong case for the merit of the architecture and museums there. I must say that the architecture is quite impressive, and frankly, I am a sucker for libraries and the art/science overlap. We won't do it because I don't think my traveling companion will be interested, but I am glad to know about these things should I return to SLC again. Thanks for making your well-presented case.