Utah · United States
Where to stay in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is a city in Utah, United States, home to about 200,000 people.
- Best months
- May, June and September
- Nearest airport
- SLC9 km · Salt Lake City International Airport
- Currency
- USDUnited States dollar
- Time zone
- America/Denver
- Language
- Carolinian, Chamorro, Hawaiian
About
About Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state.
Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Salt Lake City
See
- Utah State Capitol
- Salt Lake City and County Building
- Salt Lake City Main Library
- Hogle Zoo
- Clark Planetarium
- Natural History Museum of Utah
- Utah Museum of Fine Arts
- Rice–Eccles Stadium
- Jon M. Huntsman Center
- East High School
- Temple Square
- Church History Museum
Do
Salt Lake City is a hub for an incredible variety of outdoor recreation. Summer activities available in the area include camping, hiking, rock-climbing, mountain biking, boating, and fishing. Popular trails within the city include City Creek Canyon and the walking paths at Red Butte Garden. Several world-class ski resorts are accessible within minutes of Salt Lake. Ski areas in both Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon are served by UTA bus lines. Park City, the main skiing and snowboarding venue for the 2002 Winter Olympics, is about a 40-minute drive up Parley's Canyon (east on Interstate 80).
- Red Butte Garden
- Brighton
- Solitude
- Snowbird
- Rose Park Golf Course
- The Utah Olympic Oval
- Great Salt Lake Marina
- Utah Jazz
- Utah Mammoth
- Real Salt Lake
- Utah Royals
- Utah Warriors
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Hotels in Salt Lake City
14 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City Union Pacific Depot | 1908 | 2.7 km |
| Grand America Hotel | 2001 | 1.0 km |
| Continental Bank Building | 1.8 km | |
| Knutsford Hotel | 1891 | 1.5 km |
| Cullen Hotel | 1.8 km | |
| Little America Hotel | 1980 | 1.1 km |
| Marriott Downtown at City Creek Hotel | 1981 | 2.1 km |
| Doubletree Suites by Hilton Salt Lake City | 1.2 km | |
| Hilton Salt Lake City Center | 1.8 km | |
| Kimpton Hotel Monaco Salt Lake City | 1.8 km | |
| Marriott Salt Lake City Center | 1.7 km | |
| Radisson Hotel Downtown Salt Lake City | 2.4 km | |
| Sheraton Salt Lake City | 1.5 km | |
| University of Utah Guest House and Conference Center University of Utah Conference and Event Management | 4.4 km |
All 14 hotels in Salt Lake City, with their history and operators
When to go
The best time to visit Salt Lake City
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Salt Lake City are May, June and September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 30 °C; January is the wettest, with about 82 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Salt Lake City: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), about 9.2 km from the city centre in a straight line; Ogden Hinckley Airport (OGD, 51 km) and Provo Municipal Airport (PVU, 61 km) are also within reach.
Getting in
The Wasatch Front region is served by three airports, but you will most likely fly into Salt Lake City International Airport. The two smaller airports near Ogden and Provo respectively are served by a very small number of flights and are mostly of interest to travelers who live in the direct vicinity. Salt Lake City is served by two interstate freeways: Interstate 80 connects to eastern and western destinations all the way from coast to coast, and Interstate 15, though viewed as a commuter freeway by locals, extends to both the Canadian and Mexican borders.
Getting around
Derived from Joseph Smith's ideas around urban planning from the "Plat of Zion," most of the Salt Lake Valley uses a consistent street grid radiating out from the southeast corner of Temple Square, downtown. Major streets run precisely east-to-west or north-to-south. Addresses are coordinates within the grid, and streets represent intervals of 100 in each direction. For example, the street five blocks east of the grid's center is called 500 East (commonly called 'Fifth East' in spoken conversation) and 13 blocks south is 1300 South (or 'Thirteenth South').
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
SLC · Salt Lake City International Airport
OGD · Ogden Hinckley Airport
PVU · Provo Municipal Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Salt Lake City
Eat
While not known as a hotbed of culinary innovation, there is one delicacy that originates from Utah: fry sauce, a condiment made by mixing ketchup and mayonnaise, sometimes with seasonings depending on the recipe, and eaten on French fries, onion rings, etc. Fry sauce was created decades ago by the local fast food chain Arctic Circle and can now be found in burger joints throughout Utah and in portions of neighboring states. The food processing giant Heinz has begun selling the condiment nationwide under the "Mayochup" brand name.
Drink
There are far too many watering holes in the metropolitan area to offer even a reasonably comprehensive list. Below is just a sampling.
Stay safe
Crime in Salt Lake City tends to skew a bit more toward property crime than violent offenses, although, as with any city, the situation varies between neighborhoods. As a general rule, higher elevations like the east side and Capitol Hill are safer than lower-lying areas like Glendale and Rose Park, simply because affluent locals prefer the views from mountainside properties and the poorer neighborhoods are left for the valley. The vast majority of Salt Lake City is safe for tourists during daylight hours; some neighborhoods remain safe overnight, but there are certain areas to avoid after dark.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
Salt Lake City: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Salt Lake City?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Salt Lake City are May, June and September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 30 °C; January is the wettest, with about 82 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Salt Lake City?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), about 9.2 km from the city centre in a straight line; Ogden Hinckley Airport (OGD, 51 km) and Provo Municipal Airport (PVU, 61 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in Salt Lake City?
United States dollar (USD).
Nearby
Destinations near Salt Lake City
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.