Salt Lake City Guide

Salt Lake City is the capital of the US state of Utah. This city was for thousands of years settled by indigenous Native Indian tribes and was chosen in 1847, by the leader of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, Brigham Young, as the spot to set up home; as he declared ‘This is the right place, drive on".

The Latter-day Saints community was escaping persecution in the East and needed a place to practice their faith without any judgment or impediments. Four days after arriving in Salt Lake City, they began to construct the Salt Lake Temple which took forty years to construct and went on to become a major Mormon and Salt Lake City landmark.

Salt Lake City is situated in a valley located between the snow-covered Wastach mountain range and the Great Salt Lake and continues to be largely associated with the Mormon faith though the city is also famed as winter sports destination that has successfully hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Every winter scores of winter sports enthusiasts head to Salt Lake City to ski at the top notch resorts located in the mountains though the city also is also equipped for the pursuit of other sports like hiking, biking, mountain biking, rock climbing and more. In all Salt Lake City vacations are meant for the sports freaks.

In addition to being a favored winter sports destination, Salt Lake City in recent years has become an important hub for business for many high-tech firms and software firms who have chosen the city as their base. The city is additionally a popular venue for many corporate conferences, meetings and conventions and is accordingly equipped with many kinds of hotels in addition to ski resorts.

Salt Lake City hotels are of various types as they aim to cater to all budgets. No matter what your hotel search for Salt Lake City entails; be it luxury hotels in Salt Lake City or even cheap hotels in Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake City hotel deals offered by us at Fare Buzz encompass them all.

Many visitors to Salt Lake City choose to stay within its downtown area if they are not heading directly to the ski resorts located on the mountains around the city. The downtown area of Salt Lake contains a huge concentration of Salt Lake City hotels along with attractions like Temple Square and other historic buildings, malls and some of the city’s best restaurants and pubs. This is where most vacationers to Salt Lake City head to when they want to engage in sight-seeing and quality time.

Besides the downtown hotels, visitors to Salt Lake City also often choose to stay at some of the accommodation choices that are available in the city’s other popular neighborhoods; such as the Avenues district, located on steep slopes near downtown and the Cathedral of the Madeleine.

Another popular accommodation choice for visitors to Salt Lake City is the city’s Sugar House district. This neighborhood is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Salt Lake City and home to many furniture stores and the Westminister College.

Each Salt Lake City neighborhood has its own character, which is defined by its unique architecture, retail establishments and of course its residents.

The Utah State Capitol Building is modeled on the US Capitol and located on a hill above the city. It is surrounded by acres of beautifully landscaped gardens. This building was constructed at huge cost of USD 2.7 million dollars and features a rotunda that reaches 165 feet adorned with many paintings and murals that depict Brigham Young and the early pioneers.

The building is largely constructed of granite and is an exponent of the Renaissance Revival style of architecture. It is topped by a copper dome that is fronted by iconic columns. The Salt Lake City Capitol provides free public access as it charges no admission fees.

The Temple Square complex extends over 10 acres in downtown Salt Lake City and is the city’s most prominent attraction. This temple features six spires and is topped by the golden statue of Angel Moroni. It is the international center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Much of the temple is sealed off for those who don’t belong to the Mormon faith though visitors can access the structures’ visitor centers that offer films and exhibits that explain the religion. The temple also contains the oval shaped Tabernacle building, which is the home of the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir whose weekly rehearsals and organ recitals are open to all free of charge.

The Utah Museum of Fine Art is housed in the Marcia and John Price Museum building that is located on the University of Utah campus. This museum hosts more than 20 individual galleries and hosts nearly 15000 works of art from all corners of the globe in its permanent collection. The museum, additionally, hosts several temporary rotating exhibits, which highlight the artworks of a particularly country or an artist at a time.

The Tracy Aviary extends over eight acres inside Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park. This aviary is the oldest bird sanctuary in the USA and is considered to be one of Salt Lake City’s premier attractions, suitable for visitors of all ages.

The aviary houses more than 400 birds that belong to more than 135 species. The collection at the aviary includes birds like bald eagles, flamingos, hawks, parrots, peacocks and many more. Additionally, the aviary also offers organized activities like flight demonstrations and interactive feeding activities, which are immensely popular with children who come for vacations to Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City enjoys four distinct seasons. Summers in Salt Lake City are warm, dry and sunny with low humidity and winters are cold and characterized by much snowfall. These snowy winter conditions are considered to be perfect by many ski enthusiasts that head to Salt Lake City during its peak tourist season of November to March.

Salt Lake City is inundated with celebrities and other film people during the month of January when its neighboring city, Park City hosts the renowned Sundance Film Festival for independent film makers.

Delta airline has its hub at the Salt Lake City and thus might be the best airline to choose for flying. However, we invite you to have a look at the various attractive cheap air tickets available for Salt Lake City before making a buying decision. With our cheap air tickets, you would not only save time but also a lot of money as well.

The public transport system that serves Salt Lake City is owned and operated by the Utah Transit Authority and is made up of a light rail system called TRAX besides an extensive and reliable bus service system.

During the winter months, the authorities even run a ski bus system that offers easy access to the ski resorts located in the mountains around Salt Lake City.

The city’s public transport options also include metered taxis which can be flagged down on the street or then ordered on the telephone though if you choose to hire a car to drive around the city you should not have many problems as the city is well laid out in grid system and is equipped with many freeways that provide convenient connecting routes throughout the city. Fare Buzz offers an affordable assortment of car rentals for Salt Lake City. In all, people on vacations to Salt Lake City would not find moving around the city difficult.

Salt Lake City has a long association with shopping; in fact the first department store in the United States was founded here in 1868. The shopping culture in Salt Lake City has since then evolved and developed to such an extent, that the city’s shopping landscape currently features a wide variety of shopping malls and shopping center offering a good mix of local stores and outposts of national chains.

Most frequented malls in Salt Lake City include shopping destinations like City Creek Center, the Fashion Place Mall, Valley Fair Mall and Southtowne Center (the largest mall in Utah). All these varied malls feature outposts of various national chains and nationwide department stores like Michael Kors, Coach, Forever 21, Tiffany, Dillard’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s amongst others. Also onsite at these malls are numerous restaurants and various entertainment options like cinemas, dancing fountains, carousels and play areas for kids.

One Salt Lake City mall which is known to be extremely family-friendly is the Gateway mall. Opened in 2002 to coincide with the city’s hosting of the winter Olympic Games, the Gateway is an outdoor mall which hosts 125 retail stores and 23 restaurants. Aside from shopping and dining, the Gateway also hosts attractions like a 12-screen movie theater, the Clark Planetarium, the Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum and the Union Pacific Depot, a restored, historic building used for the display of art exhibits.

Also worth a visit in Salt Lake City is the shopping and dining hub of Trolley Square located five minutes southeast of downtown. This shopping center is housed in a historic, brick trolley barn built to house Salt Lake City street cars in 1908. Today Trolley Square hosts the city’s most popular brewpubs and bars along with several stylish home décor, art and apparel stores.

Salt Lake City is home to a thriving, varied and ever-changing dining scene. So much so this city which was founded by the Mormons in 1847 is today regarded as a culinary hotspot of the Rocky Mountains that offers much competition to the traditional gastronomic capitals of New York and San Francisco. The list of the ‘best’ restaurants in Salt Lake City changes frequently but current hotspots on the city’s culinary landscape include eateries Takashi (Japanese), Forage (New American), Pago (farm to table), Fresco Italian Café (Italian) and Red Iguana (Mexican).

For years the draconian liquor laws in Utah, hampered the development of a nightlife scene in Salt Lake City. However, in recent times as these laws have been eased, the nightlife scene in the city has blossomed, so that it now offers an adequate number of after-dark entertainment options.

Brewpubs are big draws on the city’s entertainment scene and establishments like Red Rock Brewing Company, Squatters pub Brewery, Bohemian Brewery, Wasatch Brew Pub and the Brewhouse Pub @the Unita Brewery are popular locales for night on the town in Salt Lake City. Other popular nightlife haunts include bars like the Bayou, Fiddler’s Elbow, the Garage, Bar X and the Red Door dance club.