We’ve spent the last three months in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve previously spent a good bit of time here for skiing, camping, or conferences, but these last few months were the first time we got to spend an extended amount of time in the city.

Honestly, it’s been great. Let me tell you why.

The mountains are 30-40 minutes away

We’ve been living in Millcreek, which is a trendy part of town roughly centered inside 215 on the east side of the city (if you’re a native to SLC, please don’t come at me for that description—I’m still learning the local terminology). This means we’re 30-40 minutes from all of the ski resorts in the Canyons (Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon). This includes Alta, Solitude, Snowbird, and Brighton. We’re less than an hour from Snowbasin in Ogden, and about 45 minutes to Deer Valley in Park City (can you tell we’re Ikon pass holders? IYKYK…).

All that skiing, so close? That’s hard to beat. Plus, anyone who’s ever spent any time on I-70 in Colorado getting to a ski resort knows that ski traffic can be terrible and take hours. In SLC, if you plan it right, you can be on the mountain in no time at all with minimal traffic.

A notable caveat: on powder days or Saturdays, traffic will always be terrible. That’s just the way it is.

Some tips:

• UDOT’s Instagram page is the best resource for updates on traffic and road conditions in the Canyons. It’s also generally a phenomenal page…whoever runs their account deserves a raise.
• When there is a storm blowing in, Solitude is a good place to be. It seems to not be too crowded. One of our best ski days this year was at Solitude when it was snowing (be careful driving back down to the city afterwards though!!).
• Look up parking requirements in advance. Most places require reservations on Friday/Saturday/Sunday, but not all (Snowbasin, for example doesn’t have a reservation system). Also, many resorts have free parking on non weekends or holidays – this includes Alta and Brighton.
• Look up traction law requirements and make sure you’re prepared for difficult conditions!

People are really nice here

Seriously – they are! This is something we first noticed when we started skiing here a few years ago. People are just friendly. The pharmacist, the man at the grocery store checkout, the lady standing in front of you in slow moving line for returning a ski helmet you bought from Amazon that is WAY too small (I have an enormous head, apparently) – they’re all so pleasant! It feels like a small town, even though it’s quite a large city.

We’ve noticed this on previous trips too. Although we mostly stayed in the mountains on our ski trips here, we’ve noticed that other skiers are much nicer here (particularly at Alta – everyone there is great). We’ve even managed to sort of hitchhike down the Canyons a couple times…but that’s a story for a different post! For now, I’ll suggest that you don’t plan on ever getting a Uber or Lyft down the Canyons – it just won’t happen. You can take an Uber or Lyft up though, provided traffic isn’t too bad.

Awesome places are within driving distance

While here, we took a trip to Jackson Hole, WY for skiing, and it was an easy (and beautiful) 5 hour drive. While there, we drove through Grand Teton National Park to see what it looked like during the winter; we’d gone backpacking there last summer.

Big Sky, MT is 5.5 hours away (awesome skiing there too – we wanted to make it out there this year but didn’t quite have the time).

Moab is 4 hours away, Bryce Canyon is 4 hours away, and Arches National Park is 3.5 hours away – we’ll need to come back in the summer to explore the nearby parks! I did get to spend some time in Logan, UT last summer, and the hiking 5-10 minutes outside of Logan was absolutely amazing. Logan is about an hour and a half from SLC.

Even Denver and the Colorado ski resorts are less than a day’s drive away!

The food and beer scene here is better than you’d expect

I’ll admit that as a native Texan, I thought most of the food here would be…pretty bland. But we’ve found some fun Korean restaurants that serve genuinely spicy food, and the Mexican food is decent. It’s not as good as Tex Mex (nothing is), but there are some good options.

• Korean BBQ: Ombu Grill
• Korean takeout in a cup: Cupbop
• Mexican food: The Red Iguana and The Red Iguana 2
• Healthy and delicious takeout: Café Zupas

We’ve found some good breweries too – Level Crossing is likely our favorite. While it’s not a brewery itself, The Porcupine has a good beer selection, and their nachos are amazing!

• Good brewery with tasty pizzas: Level Crossing
• Solid beer list and the best nachos: The Porcupine Pub & Grille
• Good brewery with great fried pickles: Wasatch Brew Pub
  • My favorite Utah beer so far is from these guys – try their Apricot Hefeweizen
  • They have a great outdoor seating area, if the weather is nice
• Also good beer and tasty food: Hopkins Brewing Company
• Tasty beer and German food: Bohemian Brewery
  • If you want to try something different, ask for a Nectar of the Gods. Trust me, it’s great.

Also, you must try dirty soda while you’re here. I like 7Brew, since there never seems to be a wait. Be sure to look up the secret menu online or ask one of the people working there for recommendations – trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

Have I convinced you yet?