Salt Lake City, Utah Attractions

Salt Lake County Recreation facilities and programs serve over 1.6 million County residents each year. Thousands of people make use of County recreation facilities each day by working out, participating in a class, competing in a sports league or utilizing childcare services.

Family History Library was founded in 1894 to gather genealogical records and assist members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with their family history and genealogical research. It is the largest library of its kind in the world. It is visited by an estimated 1,900 patrons or more each day! The collection includes over 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records; 742,000 microfiche; 310,000 books, serials, and other formats; 4,500 periodicals; 700 electronic resources.

The mission of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art is to encourage contemporary visual artists and art that challenge and educate public perceptions of civil, social and aesthetic issues affecting society. The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art as the Art Barn Association, was founded in 1931 with the leadership of Alta Rawlins Jensen. For the first thirty years, the Art Barn's activities were managed entirely by volunteers, with professional artists hired to teach classes. In 1979 the institution moved to its current location at 20 South West Temple, in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City.

For more than 70 years Brighton has set the bar high providing a quality mountain experience at a great value. Brighton is Utah's only resort that can boast that 100 percent of its terrain is accessible by high speed quads. Our five quads, one triple and magic carpet service 1,050 acres and 1,875 vertical feet of incredible Utah skiing. Other amenities include The New Millicent Chalet, three additional day lodges, high quality rentals, top notch ski and snowboard school, lockers, cafeterias, a pub, frequent public bus transportation from many points in downtown Salt Lake City and park and ride lots around the valley. What's more, kids seven and under ski and ride free. The mountain averages 500 inches of snow a winter. The snow is traditionally light, fluffy and dry making it a paradise for riders and skiers. Brighton is located directly in the path of winter storms and it is also at the very top of Big Cottonwood Canyon so it gets the very best of the "greatest snow on earth," and lots of it.

Organized in 1947 by the Salt Lake City Council of Women, the International Peace Gardens honor the various cultures throughout the world. The gardens were designed to encourage cultural tolerance and worldwide peace among all nations and classes of people. The gardens are famous for its plots, designed to represent more than 26 countries and 14 nations. Other items on display include flags, plaques and statues. The gardens provide a serene spot for relaxation and meditation. And there are a plethora of picture opportunities for those with a passion for photography.

Solitude Mountain Resort is located a short 40-minute drive from the Salt Lake International Airport. With over 1200 acres of skiable terrain, Solitude is one of Utah's most intimate and inviting winter resorts. Over 500 inches of annual snowfall covers: 65 named trails, three bowls and groomers for every ability level. They also offer a family-friendly Terrain Park, as well... as a Nordic Center. And don't forget Honeycomb Canyon. It has some of the most awe inspiring, lift-served terrain in the country.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is Utah's primary cultural resource for global visual arts. It is unique in its dual role as a university and state art museum. It is Utah's only visual arts institution that collects, exhibits, interprets, and preserves a comprehensive collection of original art objects. Since the beginning, the UMFA has always made it a priority for its collections to represent principal artistic styles and world culture. Today the UMFA strives to give anyone the opportunity to experience different ideas, values, and cultures from its extensive art collections. The Utah Museum of Fine Arts was selected as Salt Lake City's 2008 Parents' Pick for Best Museum for Teens and Best Artsy Class for Little Kids as part of Nickelodeon's ParentsConnect's First Annual Parents' Picks Awards.

The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is a vital active hub for emerging and established artists and arts organizations. The Performing Arts Coalition conceived the project after completing a community cultural needs assessment. This center grew out of a need for additional rehearsal space for the tenants at Capitol Theatre as well as affordable performing spaces for the myriad performing arts companies that have developed over the last 25 years. Theatre Projects Consultants were hired to prepare the needs assessment and to develop a design scheme for the new performing arts center. The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center contains the Black Box Theatre, the Studio Theatre and the Jeanne Wagner Theatre.

The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is a vital active hub for emerging and established artists and arts organizations. The Performing Arts Coalition conceived the project after completing a community cultural needs assessment. This center grew out of a need for additional rehearsal space for the tenants at Capitol Theatre as well as affordable performing spaces for the myriad performing arts companies that have developed over the last 25 years. Theatre Projects Consultants were hired to prepare the needs assessment and to develop a design scheme for the new performing arts center. The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is an excellent example of a public/private funding partnership. Salt Lake County and the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City are the public components of this partnership, with Salt Lake County managing the Phase II construction and ultimately operating the facility once completed. Over seven million dollars was raised by the private sector to complete the partnership. The facility is named after major donor I. J. Wagner's mother, Rose. The Leona Wagner Black Box Theater is named after Mr. Wagner's sister and the 500-seat theatre is named after Mr. Wagner's late wife, Jeanne.

The UMFA's galleries are bursting with portraits! During this free workshop for teachers and others with interest, participants will discover self-portraits, portrait paintings, and portrait photography currently on display in the Museum and in the UMFA's collection. Participants will then discuss and explore how identity, status, and notions of self in relation to society are expressed through portraiture.

As a complement to Bierstadt to Warhol: American Indians in the West, the UMFA is once again partnering with the Utah Film Center to present three films created by Native American filmmakers whose work represents an evolution of the Native American storytelling tradition.

Analogital is an exhibition of international artists who engage with concepts generated from the transitional space between analogue and digital. Specifically the notion analyzes the forms that emerge from our culture's conversion from film grain to computer pixel. However, more broadly the term identifies a perceptual evolution in the human experience and its mediation. In the mid-seventies at the University of Utah, innovators made breakthrough developments in early computer graphics and virtual designs like the "Utah Teapot", experiments that would lead to the founding of Pixar and early pursuits of digital reality. Eventual media such as ASCII, ProTools, Nintendo Entertainment System, CAD, gifs, jpegs and above all the Internet opened a multiverse of possible ways to render, perceive and copy the world around us. Social networking interfaces, video game systems and reality television additionally provide new avenues through which communication, behavioral learning and interaction occur virtually or with mediated remove. Analogital is about artists analyzing this science-fictional relationship existing between technology and the human condition. "Today's voracious image culture has led to a simulacrum of compounds where artists reference references of references and imagine the copy to be the original," says Senior Curator Aaron Moulton. "New image vocabularies are emerging coupled with an unnostalgic condition where these images appear, quickly evolve, disperse and disappear unarchived. Yet certain likenesses pervade our consciousness with no traceable reference, a kind of collective consciousness in an open-sourced handmade pixel. This combined with the virtual social conditions allow for a new way of considering sentimentality, sentience and sociality in the 21st century." The opening of Analogital will be on January 18, 8:00pm-10:00 p.m. with DJ/DC, food and cash bar. There will also be a Question and Answer prior to the reception with artist Jennifer West 7:00pm-8:00pm.

The Farndale Avenue ladies don't shy from a challenge--though they probably should. Their current entry for the annual Guild Dramatic Society is a bold interpretation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Despite that fact that Lady Macbeth now lost somewhere on the wrong bus and the props, sound effects, and light cues are rarely in the right place, the Farndale Avenue ladies are going to make it to that curtain call, by golly, if it kills you.

Experience the UMFA galleries through a thirty-minute tour with a docent. No pre-registration necessary.

Experience the UMFA galleries through a thirty-minute tour with a docent. No pre-registration necessary.

As a complement to Bierstadt to Warhol: American Indians in the West, the UMFA is once again partnering with the Utah Film Center to present three films created by Native American filmmakers whose work represents an evolution of the Native American storytelling tradition.

Alta is a skier's mountain - snowboarding is not allowed. Whatever your ability, Alta is for you! Deep powder, a variety of terrain, and spectacular scenery make Alta world-renowned. Alta Ski Area is open to the public all summer long for hiking and biking. Enjoy a fabulous lunch or brunch on weekends at the Alta Lodge or Rustler Lodge.

The Kimball Art Center is Park City's non-profit community art center. For 30 years, the Kimball has provided a venue for residents and visitors alike to experience the visual arts in an intimate setting. The Kimball produces exciting exhibits and activities for all art lovers, including a full-scale education program, popular art events such as the Park City Gallery Stroll, and fun large scale events such as the Park City Kimball Arts Festival. Visit, and see what discoveries await.

Long before Park City became a world class mountain resort and venue for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, it was famous as a silver mining town, and boasts a lively and colorful past. Founded by prospectors in the late 1860's, Park City continued to mine silver until the early 1970's. The mining company, Park City Consolidated Mines, started the ski business in 1963, when they built the first lifts on what was then called Treasure Mountain. The Park City area now has three world class resorts: Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley Resort, and the Canyons Resort.

Canyons is the largest single ski and snowboard resort in Utah and one of the five largest in the U.S. Canyons Resort caters to folks who really love to ski and snowboard and can appreciate how well our diverse terrain holds and protects an average annual 355 inch bounty of snow. We have 17 lifts giving you access to 167 trails over 3,700 acres of terrain. Whether you visit as a family, a group or a single, you'll find endless terrain for every style and ability. Take your pick: Long and gentle. Big and Bowled. Steep and steeper. Aspen and pine.

It's the smiling staff who carry your skis from the car to the snow. It's bottomless powder turns in an expertly gladed aspen forest...even days after a storm. It's the limited number of daily lift tickets sold so that you spend your precious vacation time actually skiing. It's the complimentary overnight ski storage so that you never have to struggle home with cumbersome gear. It's grooming so fine you could practically roll a coin down the corduroy grooves.

At Forage, they believe a great meal is more than just good food and wine, and a great restaurant does more than just satiate hunger. Instead, a great restaurant is one that takes you on a memorable journey. Some tastes may be familiar, but with each revisit, you are taken back to experiences you had forgotten and on to exciting places you have never been before. It leaves you with that desire to return over and over again to explore new pleasures and experiences that cannot be provided elsewhere. We take pride in hosting this kind of experience where no detail is left unattended because it brings joy to our staff and our guests. After all, the sole purpose of a great meal is to make one happy.

The Copper Onion is one of the new additions to the growing Utah foodie scene. Former NYC chef (and native Utahan) Ryan Lowder now brings his personal take on New American cuisine to his own kitchen with an approach inspired by his passion for Utah's outstanding farmstead ingredients and his experience as a chef cooking his way through Barcelona, NYC and South America. The Copper Onion serves a wide array of vegetable side dishes and a menu designed to explore and share, with plates such as Ricotta dumplings with lemon, sage and brown butter and Braised Pork Belly with shaved Brussels sprouts and pickled celeriac. Entrees include Fresh house-made papparedelle with lamb ragout and Duck Confit with butternut squash and roasted mushroom caps. An insistent focus on the freshest and best is paramount; sausages and burgers are ground daily, bread is baked and ice cream is made in house, offering casual diners an exceptional experience at affordable prices.

Fresco Italian Café offers dine dining Italian cuisine, adding fresh herbs and seasonal ingredients lightly accenting their sauces and dressings, all complimented by exceptional attentive service. Fresco Italian Café features a daily selection of risotto not to be missed! In warmer months, the candlelit patio is a lovely setting for the delicious food.

The concept of Café Madrid is hundreds of years old. Exceptional food and world class service blended into an intimate, charming environment, providing a rich and memorable dining experience. Imported from Spain, this concept has become a reality for the people in the Salt Lake area.

With a tempting New American Bistro menu featuring a "World of Flavors" and a playful sense of whimsy and style, Bambara is one of downtown Salt Lake City's liveliest restaurants. Housed in the historic Continental Bank lobby, Bambara Salt Lake City expertly melds a sense of tradition with a very contemporary energy, at once colorful and elegant. Located in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, this nationally recognized, award-winning restaurant has attracted a devoted following that expands daily.

An authentic Brazilian Steakhouse featuring a parade of rotisserie-grilled meats carved tableside by Brazilian Gauchos. Rodizio Grill is America's Original Brazilian Steakhouse since 1995. Rodizio offers a mouth watering, sizzling, succulent experience of Glazed Pineapple, Top sirloin, Turkey wrapped in bacon, and so much more -- over a dozen selections to choose from! Rodizio Grill also boasts an impressive, 30-plus item gourmet salad bar with a variety of hot and cold specialty dishes. Just make sure to enjoy one of Rodizio's original, homemade Brazilian desserts. It's the perfect ending to the most amazing dining experience in Salt Lake City. Rodizio Grill was voted Nation's Restaurant News "Hot Concept" award winner. Locations include Salt Lake City, American Fork, Denver and Fort Collins.

A hidden gem in the Knudsen`s Corner area of Holladay, Utah, Franck's is the new home of Chef Franck Peissel, formerly of L'Avenue Bistro in Sugarhouse fame. Franck's is a casual fine dining restaurant set in a renovated old home with a warm, contemporary design. The dining room is small and cozy; it's a friendly neighborhood "getaway". Franck's menu may be described as American with a French flare as Franck is French and trained in France before moving to the United States. On the menu you will find classic American comfort food such as fried chicken, meatloaf, and steak as well as classic French dishes such as escargot, cheese fondue, and fois gras.

Pago features seasonal cuisine from local producers and 20 artisan wines by the glass, complemented by an intimate eco-chic setting.

Log Haven, long synonymous with warm fires, wildflowers, waterfalls and fine canyon dining, is located in a historic log mansion in the Wasatch National Forest, just 20 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City. Established in 1994 by Margo Provost, Log Haven specializes in seasonal American cuisine. Log haven has a veritable scroll of national awards and media mentions. The Zagat Survey calls Log Haven an "unsurpassed, spectacular mountain setting" and raves about the restaurant's "consistently, innovative and delicious American-eclectic cuisine". Log Haven has garnered top Mobil, Four Diamond and Zagat rankings and Awards of Excellence from Wine Spectator and DiRoNA. Log Haven has also won numerous Best of State awards, including "Best Fine dining" medals from 2003-2011 and "Best Restaurant" statues in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Salt Lake Magazine has awarded Log Haven "Best Restaurant (Canyon)," "Best Romantic Restaurant" and Best Ambience."

Although the taste of their award winning brick-oven flatbreads is more than enough to convince your palate that you have indeed found a great restaurant, there is much more that goes into making this restaurant Epic. At Epic they pride themselves on high-quality food as well as service that stops at nothing to provide customers the best casual dining experience in Utah. Epic Casual Dining serves contemporary American cuisine including tenderloin of beef, seared ahi tuna, grilled chicken, brick-oven flatbreads, unique salads as well as intriguing specials. They have an extensive wine and beer list to satisfy everything from the simplest of tastes to the most discerning of wine lovers. Epic's atmosphere is elegant yet upbeat-which turns dinner into a night on the town. By the end of your meal, you will not only know that you are in a great restaurant, you will know that you are in an Epic Restaurant.

Located in downtown Salt Lake City, Discovery Gateway is a children's museum, featuring interactive exhibits, educational programs and hands-on workshops that invite the whole family to create, learn and play together.

The Clark Planetarium, featuring 15,000 square feet of free exhibits, is a premier center of learning for audiences of all ages. Exhibits include "Science on a Sphere," a computer animation globe, "Newton's Daydream," an audio-kinetic sculpture, a Foucault pendulum, meteorites, telescope displays, an updating video from the Hubble telescope and an authentic moon rock sample from the Apollo 15 mission. Clark Planetarium also features an IMAX certified big screen theater with a 12,000-watt, 6-channel digital surround sound system for a stellar audio experience.

Utah's Hogle Zoo nurtures respect and appreciation for the natural world by providing diverse educational, recreational, and conservation opportunities. This is accomplished through imaginative exhibits and programs, professional animal care, and a commitment to excellence.

After three years of construction, the new home for the Natural History Museum of Utah, the Rio Tinto Center, is now open. Housed in an architecturally stunning building, the Museum features all new exhibits, interactive displays and hands-on activities. Don't miss the three-story Collections Wall, four outdoor terraces connected by hiking and foot trails, and stunning views of the Salt Lake Valley. The new Museum Store and Museum Cafe are just two of the enhanced visitor amenities. Discover this new location for yourself! The Natural History Museum of Utah is proud to be featured in the Visit Salt Lake Connect Pass.

Weaving a Revolution is the story of a design revolution that has been underway for the past 30 years along the Utah Strip of the Navajo Reservation. The special exhibition features more than 150 works of art created by basket makers from the Monument Valley, Utah area.

This National Geographic film explores the life of famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey and his work with his wife, Maeve, and daughter, Louise, in Kenya's Turkana Basin. Following the screening, University of Utah Distinguished Professor of Geology and Geophysics Thure Cerling will discuss his research in the Turkana Basin on the evolution of landscapes our ancestors lived in over the last one million years. Dr. Cerling is featured in the film! Science Movie Night is presented in partnership with the Utah Film Center.

Originally known as the Utah Winter Sports Park, the facility was funded as part of the $59 million tax diversion approved by Utah taxpayers in 1989. The facility was a critical element in the Salt Lake Bid Committee's efforts to capture a future Olympic Winter Games. Construction of the Utah Olympic Park began in 1991 with the Park, ski jump facilities and freestyle aerials splash pool opening in 1993. The bobsled, skeleton and luge track became operational in 1997. During the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, the venue welcomed more than 300,000 visitors during 16 days of competition. The Utah Olympic Park was the site of 14 events with three in ski jumping, three in Nordic combined, three in bobsled, three in luge and two in skeleton. The mission of the Utah Olympic Park is to provide a year-round, world-class facility to develop athletes in winter sports through competition, training and recreational programs.

Kristauf's Martini Bar features a premier selection of vodka and gin as well as other specialty spirits. Choose from over 80 varieties of classic and designer martinis or enjoy one of the many house cocktails. The intimate environment of Kristauf's is reminiscent of the eclectic bars and lounges of Paris, New York City and San Francisco. Kristauf's also provides event services for birthday parties and other special events. Kristauf's also provides event services for birthday parties and other special events.

Recognizing a demand for a hip, downtown restaurant and bar combination that features authentic Mexican food, Inferno Cantina has answered that call with a bang! Blazing the trail for locals and tourists alike, Salt Lake's only Tequila Bar will satisfy even the most upscale agave connoisseur.

Piper Down Pub is the place where you can enjoy a true Olde World Pub experience. Service here is as important to the staff as it is to the customers. There is a sense of visiting a friend's home when you step into Piper Down. Enjoy the smoothest, freshest pint Salt Lake City has to offer, or sip one of our fine Irish Whiskeys. But that is just the beginning, sit back, relax, and allow our music to move you.

ZEST are Raising the Bar for Salt Lake's dining and social scene by incorporating delicious healthy cuisine, organic wines and beers, fresh, hand crafted drinks with a modern and fun atmosphere. With an array of entertainment from deejays to musicians, there is sure to be something that will fit your taste. 21+

In late summer 2005, Pete, Kym and the Roosters" fabulous crew introduced their vibe to Layton. From geographical, philosophical and culinary perspectives, the new location is just off what locals call "Restaurant Row." Roosters is Davis County's first and only micro brewery and boasts what is arguably the city's most unique menu.