Park City and Salt Lake City Itinerary

Be sure to check out these other Rocky Mountain locations while planning your Park City and Salt Lake City Itinerary!

*Last updated September 12, 2024

 

Park City and Salt Lake City Itinerary

Table of Contents

  1. Day 1 – Park City
  2. Day 1 – Utah Olympic Park
  3. Day 2 – State Route 150 Mirror Lake Highway
  4. Day 2 – Provo River Falls
  5. Day 2 – Mirror Lake
  6. Day 3 – Cascade Springs Drive and Alpine Scenic Loop
  7. Day 3 – Timpanogos Cave National Monument
  8. Day 3 – Great Salt Lake State Park
  9. Day 3 – Salt Lake City

Day 1 – Park City

What you do in Park City will depend on what time of year you are visiting. Additionally, you can visit the Explore Park City website to see what special events are occurring during your visit.  

If you plan to visit in winter, then skiing at Park City is the most popular activity. However, there are plenty of other things to do in the winter as well. Also, if you are planning on skiing, be sure to visit my Best USA Ski Resorts page to see where Park City falls this year! 

During our trip this time, we visited in late August, so this will include more of the sights to see during warmer months. We flew into Park City the night before, rented a car and drove to our Park City hotel, which is about a 1 hour drive.

Since this was our 15th anniversary weekend trip (without kids!), we spent our first morning getting a couples massage, which was a great relaxing way to kick off the trip. Additionally, we were spending 3 nights in Park City, so we made reservations for a couple of restaurants while we were there.

Main Street is the “historic” area of Park City that you will want to visit at least once. Also, you can stroll the street to visit the many jewelry, art, souvenir shops, restaurants and bars that are on Main Street.

Additionally, there is a ski lift from Main Street that operates during the summer that you can take up to the Mountain Village area to see the views.

Day 1 – Utah Olypmic Park

Salt Lake and Park City were the home of the 2002 Winter Olympics and will be hosting the winter games again in 2034.

In the afternoon of our first day, we visited Utah Olympic Park. It is located at Kimball Junction, along I-80, just about 15 minutes from Park City. Additionally, it is the main training area for US athletes training for the Winter Olympics. Also, it makes a fun place to visit for both kids and adults.

The Olympic Park is home to the Alf Engen ski museum, which is free to visit. The museum includes both a history of skiing in the area as well as information and memorabilia from the 2002 winter games.

Also, you can purchase a tour of the grounds that includes visiting the aerial ski practice pool, Nordic ski jump, bobsled, skeleton and luge tracks. Our tour guide was US Olympian, Casey Larson, who competes in the Nordic ski jump.

Additionally, there are numerous activities for purchase, including zip-lining, an alpine coaster and bobsledding. They run the bobsled on wheels in the summer and it is driven by a professional bobsledder. The bobsled looked really fun, but the price is $100 and my wife wasn’t interested. However, if this is something you’d be interested, it could be the ride of a lifetime. 

Day 2 – State Route 150 Mirror Lake Highway

On our second day, we drove out Utah State Route 150, also known as Mirror Lake Highway. It is a beautiful and scenic road leading up to Mirror Lake. Also, there is a lot of hiking, national forest and campgrounds available. I’d love to come back and spend more time in the area.

 Additionally, we saw Smokey Bear and his pal, Woodsy Owl on our drive. So, of course, we had to stop and say hello and get a picture. Also, if you see them, make sure to stop as they were giving away a lot of fun things like keychains, frisbees, maps and other information.

However, be aware that you might also pass some Utah cowboys herding cattle (and it also might back up traffic).

Day 2 – Provo River Falls

Our first stop on State Route 150 was Provo River Falls. If you are looking at a map, it might also be listed as Upper Provo Falls. The waterfalls make for an easy stop as it is only a few steps to see the waterfalls. Additionally, there is a paved trail that is just a minute down the path to view another smaller waterfall.

Additionally, there is a bathroom available at the parking lot. However, it is a compact sight in 20 minutes will give you plenty of time to take in the waterfalls, although I’m sure you could spend more time just relaxing in the shade.

Day 2 – Mirror Lake

The next stop was Mirror Lake, which is the namesake of the Mirror Lake Highway. There is a main parking lot with restrooms. Additionally, there is a 2 mile loop trail that goes around the lake. It is definitely worth the stroll to see the lake with views of the surrounding mountains.

Additionally, it would make a great place to have a picnic and there is also a campground nearby. You will need to purchase a parking pass. Additionally, this is a national recreation area so you can display your “America the Beautiful” season park pass on your dashboard, if you have one.

After a day in the Utah mountains, we drove back to our hotel in Park City and had dinner.

Day 3 – Cascade Springs Drive and Alpine Scenic Loop

On our third day, we checked out of our hotel and drove to Timpanogos Cave National Monument. However, be aware the Google Maps will take you through Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, while that may be a little faster, it is much more scenic to drive via Cascade Springs to Alpine Scenic Loop. You might want to leave a little extra time to stop in the town of Midway, which has ties to Swiss immigrants and embraces the culture.

Additionally, the drive through Cascade Springs has some beautiful scenery, including Deer Creek Overlook and some trails and camping sites that you might want to scout out for a future visit. Alpine Scenic Loop is when you get closer to Timpanogos and has some fun windy roads through the mountains.

Day 3 – Timpanogos Cave National Monument

Timpanogos Cave National Monument is amazing, because you get two great sights in one. First, you hike the 1.5 mile trail, which is a steep, but paved hike up with some great views of the canyon. Second, you take a guided tour of the caves with a park ranger.

You can make the cave reservations two weeks in advance via the recreation.gov site. There are only about 20 tickets available per group, with tours every 30 minutes, so they sell out quickly.

Additionally, your reservation time is when you will want to start the hike up. Also, you will have 90 minutes to make the hike up in time for your tour. If you are a bit slower, you might want to show up an extra 30 minutes early as it was our experience that they will let you go early.

The trail is mostly shaded, which is nice. Additionally, the ranger at the bottom will give you a quick safety update as there are certain areas prone to rockslides, where the trail is marked to not stop in those areas.

Once you start the cave tour, the ranger will lead you on a cave tour that is about 1 hour long and actually includes 3 caves that are connected (Timpanogos Cave, Middle Cave and Hansen Cave). The cave includes many intact features, like stalactites, stalagmites and columns. Additionally, there are some rarer features in the cave as well.

Also, after the tour, you return down the trail. Going down is quicker, but also a little more work on the legs. After our descent, we stopped for lunch south of Salt Lake City, before driving on to Great Salt Lake State Park.

 

Day 3 – Great Salt Lake State Park

After lunch, we drove to Great Salt Lake State Park. Additionally, it is the closest, most convenient location to visit Great Salt Lake from Salt Lake City. It is only about a 15 minute drive from the airport.

Since it is a state park, there is a $10 fee to get in. There is a small visitor center that has information on the lake as well as the unique wildlife in the area. Warning to those that afraid of spiders, as the visitor center has a lot of them on the railing surrounding the building.

Because Great Salt Lake has a salinity of around 14%, which is much higher than the ocean at 3.5%, there are only two main animals that can live in the lake. One is the brine shrimp and the other is the brine fly. Also, you will see a lot of the flies where the water meets the sand, but don’t worry as they don’t bite. Additionally, the brine fly serves as an important food source for migratory birds that stop in the area.

Day 3 – Salt Lake City

After leaving Great Salt Lake, we dropped off our car and took a ride-share to our hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. We walked to dinner and took a stroll around Temple Square. Additionally, we stopped at the rooftop bar in our hotel, Le Meridien.

We had a great few days and really enjoyed all of our time! Afterwards, we went back to our hotel for to relax before the morning flight.

I hope that this helped you plan your Park City and Salt Lake City Itinerary!