SALT LAKE CITY

SALT LAKE city

Salt Lake City always seemed a bit like a mystical, spun-in-a-dream spot enwrapped in ethereal, meringue-like white peaks to me before I got a chance to visit the city for myself. After spending a little time there, I can say that my assumptions were correct! Those gorgeous peaks that you always see in Salt Lake City’s background are skyline shots belonging to the Wasatch Mountains. Exploring this range in any part of the 160 miles that stretch to the Utah-Idaho border is its own vacation. A lot of people also like to bundle trips to Salt Lake City with Yellowstone vacations. The drive is just about four hours. If you’re looking for a shuttle that will let you enjoy views instead of focusing on driving, a company like Salt Lake Express offers daily shuttles. However, I’ll just be focusing on what there is to see in and around downtown in Salt Lake City!

GETTING TO SALT LAKE CITY If you’re planning to fly in, Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) will be your obvious choice. In addition to being a hub for Delta, SLC is also served by United and American. The really good news is that JetBlue and Southwest seem to also love this airport. Ultimately, Salt Lake is one of the best cities in the country for finding cheap, frequent flights. Salt Lake is one of the rare major cities to have its airport positioned just four miles from the center of downtown. That means you don’t necessarily need a rental car if you prefer to take a shuttle or hail a ride.

What to Expect in Salt Lake City First, the Mormon in- essentially to Mormons life easier in Salt Lake fluences on everything what the Vatican is to City every time I visit. from architecture to Catholics. The center- This has to be the most attitudes are appar- piece of the campus is non-frustrating city in ent everywhere in Salt the Salt Lake Temple. the United States in Lake City. The city’s Most of the grounds are terms of layout and acpopulation is about open to non-Mormon cessibility! Even finding split between Mormons tourists just looking a hotel is breezy. Salt and non-Mormons. As to take in some sights! Lake City’s downtown a result, you get a nice Also stunning is the features Salt Lake City intersection of fun bars Tabernacle. While this Marriot Center, the and fascinating reli- may feel like a place of Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, gious landmarks. I have secrecy at first glance, the Grand America to recommend Temple outsiders are invited to Hotel, the MetropoliSquare if you’re look- stop in to watch choir tan Hotel and dozens ing to get right into rehearsals and hear the more that offer luxury action after arriving in world-famous Taber- within walking distance the city. This is a 10- nacle organ! of nearly everything. acre complex of build- It always feels like 44 || Terra Travelers ings and facilities that is fate aligns to make

Some Key Salt Lake City Attractions for Your Itinerary

Red Butte Garden is a and giraffes. The zoo’s I can say that Salt Lake highlight. Consisting of elephant exhibit is also City has a definitive “cuclose to 100 acres of both a spectacular surprise. linary” identity. You do manicured and pure ter- There’s also a big-cat ex- get the impression that rain, this garden invites hibit that certainly made restaurateurs here really you to explore the city’s my hair stand up a bit! go out of their way to get foothills at a leisurely One thing I did not ex- past the infamous Utah pace. Hundreds of thou- pect during my first vis- casserole dishes we’ve all sands of blooms populate it to Salt Lake City was been warned about by the garden in the spring. that the city is a hub for going heavy on fusion Utah’s Hogle Zoo is luxury shopping! Locat- influences. You’ll find a another fun spot to dis- ed right on Main Street, good mix of steak houscover in Salt Lake City. City Creek Center is a es, oyster houses, pizza

Spanning 42 acres, this high-end, ultra-mani- joints, sushi joints and impressive zoo is home cured retail and dining diners in the city. The to roughly 800 animals. destination. You’ll find standouts near down-

The standout exhibit in everything from depart- town for me are Current the zoo is the African sa- ment stores like Nord- Fish & Oyster, Log Havvanna campus that serves strom to niche retailers en and the Pie Pizzeria. as a grassland home to like Fabletics when you

African lions, zebras pop in. I don’t know that

Salt Lake Really Is a World Within a World I have to say that Salt Lake City did feel like a place from a dream the time I watched African lions peeking out from frayed tall grass on the same day that I heard organ music coming from a sacred Mormon temple. No place in the world pulls off being quite so welcoming and enigmatic at the same time as Salt Lake City! You’re going to love the way that natural beauty, industry and Terra Travelers || 45 mysticism can come together to create a one-of-a-kind city like Salt Lake City.

NEXT: the TOP TEN issue

46 || Terra TravelersTRAVELERSTERRA