While the impressive Great Salt Lake is reason enough to inspire a visit to Salt Lake City, this vibrant, Western town features an array of activities in addition to the natural marvel that is its namesake. Animal lovers, history buffs, and sports fans will all enjoy a trip to Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City for Animal Lovers
- Tracy Aviary, located in Liberty Park, is the nation's oldest and largest aviary, with more than 130 species of birds. Here visitors can enjoy a nature getaway in the middle of the city, surrounded by a lush environment and more than 1,000 exotic birds. One highlight at the Aviary is the Parrot Encounter, where visitors enter the world of the Australian parrot (or lorie) for a chance to feed them or allow them to land on their hands, shoulders, and heads! Also featured in the Aviary are flamingoes, laughing thrushes, geese, pelicans, trumpeter swans, vultures, emus, hornbills, owls, bald eagles and kookaburras.
- Hogle Zoo, located in Salt Lake City, features more than 1,100 animals and 250 species. There is a solarium, tropical garden, and even a giraffe house with a balcony, allowing visitors to be eye-level to the world's longest-necked animal! Take a trip on an 1869 steam train, or go with the kids to the theater to see children's programs.
History and Tours in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is also chock full of history, having everything from museums to living history farms and towns to historic buildings.
- The Capitol Building, constructed in Renaissance Revival Style, offers a chance to see the inner workings of Utah state government and to learn about the state's history in its exhibits and artwork. From the Capitol's steps, visitors enjoy a view of the entire Salt Lake Valley below, and once inside, marvel at the 165-foot dome above. Tours allow visitors to enter legislative chambers, the State Reception Room and other "off-limits" areas.
- Wheeler Historic Farm is a living history dairy farm that offers a glimpse into the life of the 1800s pioneers. There are century-old farm buildings, a petting zoo, nature preserve, and farm chore demonstrations such as egg gathering and cow milking. Annual events include a fall Scarecrow Masquerade and Breakfast with Santa.
Sports and Outdoor Recreation in Salt Lake City
If you're looking for sports and adventure, then Salt Lake City is the place to go, whether you visit in the summer or winter.
- With nine major ski resorts, three cross country ski areas and the nation's only recreational ski jumping facility, Salt Lake City is a haven for winter sports. The city's perfect powder snow and ideal conditions helped it to host the Winter Olympic Games.
- Visitors will enjoy a stop at Olympic Cauldron Park, which features the original steel and glass flame cauldron, the Hoberman Arch, beneath which Olympians received their medals, and a Visitor Center documenting the greatest moments of the Games in more than 50 images. The Park also has a 180-degree theater screen that projects a film of the opening ceremonies, athletic events, winter scenery, and the cheering crowds.
- Summer visitors will not be disappointed either. Raging Waters is an amusement park with more than 30 slides and attractions, including erupting volcanoes in Dinosaur Bay and numerous waterslides like Shotgun Falls and Waimea Wave Worlds, and it is the perfect place to cool off on a hot summer afternoon!
Hosting 7 million visitors every year, Salt Lake City is one of the West's most popular travel destinations, and rightly so, with such a wide variety of fun and memorable attractions for visitors of all ages.
