Originally posted on Travel + Leisure.

Spectacular Utah Geography Only A Short Drive From Salt Lake City

Vacationers flying into Salt Lake City, Utah often take long drives to Zion, Bryce, Arches and other national parks and are unaware of the spectacular geography near the capital city.

By Gary Stoller,

Out-of-state visitors often head to Utah’s “Mighty Five” national parks—Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches—though each is a long drive from the state’s main airport in Salt Lake City. Many travelers, including those with limited vacation time, are unaware that spectacular geography can be found just a short drive from the airport.

Avid skiers will likely know some of the incredibly scenic destinations less than an hour’s drive—and some less than a 30-minute drive—from downtown Salt Lake City. Park City, Deer Valley, Snowbird and Alta, among others, are popular for their world-renowned slopes but shouldn’t be neglected by nonskiers. Besides scenic wonders and outdoor activities, the ski destinations offer unique dining, shopping, entertainment and event options.

The 40-minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City up through Big Cottonwood Canyon to the Solitude ski resort in Brighton is beyond stunning. The rock formations, particularly on the return drive down the canyon, might, arguably, put the crown on Big Cottonwood as the world’s most scenic canyon.

Nearby Little Cottonwood Canyon is no slacker either. It offers beautiful mountain scenery and a paradise of wildflowers in the Twin Peaks Wilderness area en route to Snowbird and Alta, which became Utah’s first ski resort in 1938.

Another skiing wonderland, Park City, is about a 30-minute drive from Salt Lake City and home to three ski resorts—Park City Mountain, Deer Valley and Woodward Park City. The drive up Parleys Canyon on Interstate 80 offers dramatic mountain scenery. Various Winter Olympic events were held in Park City in 2002, and the Olympics will return to the city in 2034.

Ski resort areas are not the only scenic wonders near Salt Lake City. Many—maybe most—out-of-state travelers are unaware that a big island wonderland protrudes into the Great Salt Lake. Antelope Island is 15 miles long and five miles wide and offers great views of the waters and the Wasatch Mountains. It encompasses 28,000 acres and is home, Utah State Parks says, to bison, bighorn sheep, deer and antelope. On a recent visit, scores of bison were viewed.

It’s less than an hour’s drive from Salt Lake City to nearby cities Ogden and Provo —two cities with fantastic mountain scenery. Ogden is home to Weber State University, and Provo is home to Brigham Young University.

The mouth of Ogden Canyon displays awesome rock formations that rival those in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The canyon leads to a beautiful, jaw-dropping basin of mountains and Snowbasin ski resort’s 3,000 acres of terrain. The drive back to Salt Lake City is less than 40 miles.

A drive up Provo Canyon leads to gorgeous Deer Creek State Park, a mountain park next to a huge reservoir where vistors can kayak, Jet Ski, zip line and rent a pontoon boat.

Utah residents know the wonders of their 46 state parks. In 2024, according to the Deseret News, more than 12.9 million people visited them.

That was an all-time record, says local TV and radio company KSL.com. Sand Hollow State Park in Washingon County, which is not near Salt Lake City,was the state’s most popular park with 1.5 million visitors. The park near Salt Lake City with the most visitors was scenic Antelope Island, which attracted 1 million visitors.

Out-of-state visitors attending a concert or a pro sports event in the city may benefit from a different type of scenery. The downtown Delta Center arena is undergoing a multiphase transformation into a dual-sport venue that will bring seats closer to the action for games of the Utah Jazz in the National Basketball Association and the Utah Mammoth in the National Hockey League.

When the renovations are complete, seating capacity will increase from 11,131 to about 17,000 for hockey and from 18,206 to nearly 19,000 for basketball, according to the Smith Entertainment Group, which owns the center and the teams.