Salt Lake City’s spectacular setting and family-friendly lifestyle make it a welcoming spot for adults and kids. Museums, water and amusement parks are easily reachable and the mountains around the city offer great winter sports facilities for old and young. Utah ski resorts offer kid-friendly resort mascots, ski lessons for children as young as two and licensed child care.
Discovery Gateway
This hands-on discovery museum, boasting over 60,000 square feet on four floors, welcomes you to a world of fun and adventure with hundreds of permanent exhibits, rotating feature exhibits, daily workshops and special performances. Children are guaranteed a fun-filled, action packed day learning about the arts, humanities and sciences.
Phone: +1 801 322 5268; website: www.childmuseum.org
Hogle Zoo
Offering family-friendly entertainment at affordable prices, this zoo is home to more than 1,100 animals from over 200 species from all over the world. With an excellent staff and educational programmes, the midsize zoo is especially popular with kids. Noteworthy exhibits include Elephant Encounter, the Primate Forest and the African Savannah. The zoo remains open all year. Children two years and under are admitted free.
Phone: +1 801 582 1631; website: www.hoglezoo.org
Lagoon Amusement Park
Offering rides such as the Merry Go Round (built in 1893), the classic roller coaster, and the daring Rocket, Lagoon Amusement Park has rides suitable for the fearful to the brave and lots of attractions for the younger children. Hundreds of games scattered throughout the park offer prizes to be won in between rides and the numerous food vendors hawk burgers and fries, BBQ and sandwiches.
Phone: +1 801 401 5555; website: www.lagoonpark.com
Two years after beginning to construct the city, the early pioneers formed its first cultural organisation. The Deseret Musical and Dramatic Society provided entertainment for the faithful with musicals, concerts and pageants in the Old Bowery Building on Temple Square. The tradition of supporting a lively arts community continues to the present day.
Governor’s Mansion
Constructed by the wealthy Utah Senator Thomas Kearns at the turn of the century, this stately home is decorated with Italian marble. It was later donated to Salt Lake City in 1937 by Kearns’ wife, Jennie. From that point on, the house served as residence for Utah governors for another 20 years until being bestowed to the Utah Historical Society in 1957. The mansion was severely damaged by fire in 1993 but has since been restored.
Phone: +1 801 538 1005
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
This world-famous choir first had a radio performance broadcast in 1929 and has been performing around the world ever since. Having performed to critical acclaim in venues such as the White House and the Red Square in Moscow, this group should not be missed. Performances are staged at Temple Square, inside the Tabernacle where a gigantic pipe organ and exceptional acoustics back up the choir. Visitors can attend rehearsals as well as network broadcasts.
Phone: +1 801 240 4150; website: www.mormontabernaclechoir.org
Museum of Church History and Art
This captivating museum tells the history of the Church of Latter Day Saints by means of a series of interesting exhibits, including displays of a wagon like those used by the pioneers and an immigrant’s ship bunk plus precious artefacts and recreated frontier lodgings. These exhibits and documents will teach visitors more about migration, pioneer settlements and the Church’s history. Phone: +1 801 240 3310
Pioneer Memorial Museum
This museum documents the early pioneers and is home to some fascinating memorabilia and artefacts, including displays on the lives of Brigham Young and Heber Kimball. The Carriage House exhibit displays a collection of interesting means of transport from a pioneer wagon to a mule powered streetcar. Phone: +1 801 538 1050
Utah Museum of Natural History
This fascinating museum is home to exhibits on anthropology, geology, mineralogy, palaeontology and vertebrates, as well as regularly rotating exhibitions and is one of the most popular museums in Salt Lake City. Housing lots of educational features and a gift shop, the museum is a great place for embarking on a journey into the natural world and a great place to spend a rainy afternoon. Phone: +1 801 581 4303
Utah State Capitol Building
This structure is Salt Lake City’s most prominent landmark and is the seat of the state government. One of the most splendid attractions in the whole of Salt Lake City, its architectural traits include a remarkable rotunda that reaches 165 feet, marble interior, Ionic columns, pediment and arches. Exterior works of art portray Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers.
Phone: +1 801 538 1030; website: www.utahstatecapitol.utah.gov
Utah State Historical Society
This museum tells the history of Salt Lake City through photographs and artefacts. Housed in the Renaissance revival depot, the society suitably puts on displays focusing on Utah’s industrial, cultural and social development, while providing a research facility for writers, historians and genealogists in the Utah Information Centre housed within. Phone: +1 801 533 3500
Salt Lake City is a gourmet’s paradise. Plentiful restaurants exist, featuring cuisine from every conceivable cultural background and trend. European cuisine features prominently, along with plenty of Mexican and Latin cultures. You can get deli sandwiches, hand brewed beers, flashy new urban plates and Salvadoran snacks should the mood strike.
The downtown area is definitely the cultural centre of the Salt Lake Valley. Here restaurants abound, catering to every taste and occasion as well as serving the lunchtime crowds of shoppers. Dining choices here are plentiful to round out an evening of theatre or music.
Those who don’t mind travelling a bit further from central Salt Lake City for an unforgettable dining experience might want to sample some of the elegant eateries and restaurants in Cottonwood or the Canyons, where continental choices and steak houses can be found.
Once notorious for its strict drinking laws, Salt Lake City has introduced more liberal liquor laws in recent years. Brew pubs now offer microbrews on tap, while beer and wine is available in most restaurants, with increasingly impressive wine lists becoming the norm. As it is not permitted to have more than one glass in front of you, it is not uncommon for a waiter to stand next to your table, waiting to refill your first beer or cocktail.
The Mormon religion has shaped the city’s cuisine as well as its culture. Church goers are advised to refrain from drinking beverages containing alcohol or caffeine. Some people speculate that this has led to the development of a communal sweet tooth. Sweet red punch is possibly the city’s most popular beverage. Other local specialities include green Jell-O gelatine, topped with tiny marshmallows and mixed with grated carrots or cottage cheese and pineapple, a favourite at every Mormon social function. Funeral potatoes are potatoes mixed with cheddar cheese, canned soup and sour cream, all baked and covered with buttered bread crumbs. Fry sauce is a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise and spices and is served with your French fries at all burger joints.
Salt Lake City features wide-ranging shopping opportunities across the city, from supermarkets and department stores to massive shopping malls and unique boutiques.
The ZCMI Center Mall downtown has a great range of stores offering visitors the ultimate shopping experience. The food court serves a range of international cuisine as well as all the usual fast food chains. The Crossroads Plaza Mall houses world famous department stores and smaller retailers, as well as cafés and restaurants. It is located just across from historic Temple Square.
Historic Trolley Square is home to over 80 individual shops and restaurants. Located at a national historic site, it boasts big names including Hard Rock Café and Pottery Barn. Utah’s first shopping mall, Cottonwood Mall, is renowned for its specialty shops, entertainment and popular chain stores such as Meier and Frank and JCPenney.
Much of Salt Lake City’s appeal lies in its natural backdrops. The Great Salt Lake and Wasatch Mountains provide rich outdoor experiences within minutes of downtown, from a quiet stroll up City Creek Canyon to a peaceful cruise on the Great Salt Lake. The weather is also conducive to outdoor pursuits; most of the city’s average 10 inches of precipitation comes in the form of snow.
Cycling
Salt Lake City is a great city to tour by bicycle, thanks to its extra-wide streets and comparably calm traffic. The white striping on certain streets shows it’s a bike lane. A particularly popular route is City Creek Canyon, east of the capital. On odd-number days from mid-May through until September, the road is closed to motor vehicles. Liberty Park and Sugarhouse Park are also home to good cycling and running paths.
Parks
Most neighbourhoods have a small park, generally with a children’s playground. Fairmont Park is a smaller park featuring a children’s play area, duck pond and a large indoor swimming pool. Liberty Park features a jogging path, tennis courts, picnic areas and children’s playgrounds, including a modern playground especially for disabled children. Sugarhouse Park is mainly open space where you can jog, bicycle, fly a kite, throw a Frisbee or soak up some sunshine. Parks are under the supervision of Salt Lake City Parks Division. Website: www.slcgov.com/publicservices/parks
Skiing
If you want to take advantage of some of Utah’s great ski resorts, advance equipment and clothing rental reservations are available from Utah Ski and Golf. The company has branches downtown and at Salt Lake International Airport. It also provides free shuttle service from downtown hotels to their shops. Phone: +1 801 355 9088
