Adventure in Park City, Utah
- Danielle
- Sep 16, 2016
- 3 min read
Recently, we traveled to Park City for a family wedding. I haven't been to Park City since the beginning of college, so it’s been a few years. To my surprise, they had just finished a new road leading right to one of the resorts, which happened to be our destination. The new road winds through the “back” side of Park City – going through Heber, up the mountain, through some spectacular aspens, and drops down at The Montage.
Park City has been fairly established since 1869 but gained most of its recognition since the 2002 Olympics (We got to see the Paralympics at that time!) Now it’s host to famous art shows, film festivals, winter sports, and keeping the Olympic tradition alive at the old Olympic Park with year round activities.
What is there to do?
There is so much to do in Park City, just keep in mind hardly any of it is cheap. That’s the price you pay when you occasionally rub elbows with celebrities (missed Jennifer Lawrence by 5 minutes last winter!)
If you’re a foodie like I am, you’ll be pleased to know that many of the restaurants in downtown Park City are superb. They’ll be on the higher end of the food spectrum, think dining in Las Vegas, but are worth a try. If you’d like to eat without the dinner price go in during lunch time, a lot of venues are trying to attract more people by offering better lunchtime prices.
If you’re more one for adventure, Park City boasts some fantastic bike and hiking trails as well as the Alpine Coaster – think mountain bobsled – and real bobsledding at the Olympic Park. In fact, if you’re there for the summer which is a much cheaper time to visit, you can spend your day doing being an Olympic by bobsledding, ski jumping off the original jump and into a large pool, taking a challenge course, or just riding the lift up for some amazing views. In the wintertime, all regular sports are at peak and summer spots are open only occasionally.
And of course, if your tastes are a little more refined than jumping off an outdoor playground Park City artists hosts a bevy of workshops, galleries, and activity days.
Where can you stay?
We stayed at The Montage, per wedding perks. However, I would recommend staying here once in your lifetime because it was so spectacular. The Montage is a 5-star resort located at the top of the hill overlooking one end of the valley. Prices are not to sneeze at, with rates starting at $400 a night, but this includes complimentary valet, ski in, ski out services, a spa, large rooms with fireplaces and well-kept balconies and a very nice cable selection if I do say so myself.
But don’t worry, there are plenty of hotels that don’t cost an arm and a leg. Further out in the valley you can find your everyday hotel spots like Best Western, Holiday Inn, etc. If you’re lucky, a lot of people will also rent out their condos during the summer so try AirBnB for better rates.
*pro tip* I book almost exclusively with Booking.com because they don’t charge middlemen fees (unless you cancel), and they offer some amazing rates for Genius staycationers. If you book with them a lot, you’ll start to see these savings too so check it out!
Best time to go
The best time to visit Park City in the summer would be early or late summer. Schools here typically get out in May and are back in Mid-August so if you avoid that time you’ll find some amazing deals.
Really there isn’t a best time to go in the winter, it’s all going to be packed. However, December will get a lot of Christmas tourists, January is usually when Sundance Film Festival is and February is for the lovers and last chance skiers so take your bets.
If there is something you’ve done in Park City that we haven’t mentioned, let us know in the comments. We’ll be visiting Park City more this year so we would love all of your recommendations!
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