Salt Lake City travel guide

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• Outdoors Activities: rated for 90%
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Located at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake City features one of the most scenic backdrops in the country.

The capital of Utah is viewed as an emerging economic center of the Rocky Mountains with a growing population that has reached more than 800,000. But despite of the economic boom Salt Lake maintains the charm of a small, personable city which offers great hiking or cycling in summer and fall and, in winter, some of the world's best skiing (many excellent ski resorts are accessible in less than ½ hour from the city) and by hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics the city added to its value and world fame.

The city is busiest in winter as ski resorts buzz from December to early April, especially during Christmas and President's weeks. But if you don't mind the capricious weather and you like tranquility, spring and fall are also good seasons for visiting. You’ll feel quite isolated as snow usually blocks the high country and mountain-pass roads stay closed well into June. But spring is a good time for fishing, the angling is excellent, rafting on rivers is swollen with snowmelt, birding, and wildlife-viewing while in fall wildlife come down to lower elevations.

Though it’s not considered by people elsewhere in the US as being the top destination for having fun, it can be a surprisingly enjoyable experience so long as you're willing to switch gears and slow down. It is an easy place to get around, and its residents are as down-to-earth as you will find anywhere.

A great ways to get a real feel for the city is to head out to the core of downtown, a compact area that includes several buildings central to Mormonism, two large shopping malls, historic buildings, and entertainment venues. You can explore the city in different ways as it has a good public bus system, which includes a Free Fare Zone covering downtown and Capitol Hill, as well as round-trip service to the ski resorts. It’s also easy to get around if you want to explore the city on foot as it has a grid plan and most street names have a directional and a numerical designation, which describes their location in relation to one of two axes, Main Street and South Temple. Salt Lake's most prominent streets are North Temple, South Temple, and West Temple, all bordering Temple Square.

The city includes landmarks like: Beehive House erected in 1854 by church leader Brigham Young, a plain white New England-style house restored to the style of the period that it's now a small museum of Young's life. A great thing about it is that free twenty-minute tours are given at least every half-hour. Another landmark intended to enable Mormons to trace their ancestors is the Family History Library, the world's most exhaustive genealogical library, across West Temple Boulevard from Temple Square. You can find here tons of information, anything you want to find out. Through CD-ROMs and banks of computers, you’ll have immediate access to birth and death records from over sixty countries, some dating back as much as five hundred years. Next door to the library, the Museum of Church History and Art charts the rise of the Mormon faith in art and artifact.

If you’re a sport lover go to the massive Salt Palace convention center and sports arena, home of the Utah Jazz basketball team the community takes great pride in and which plays basketball at the Delta Center.

Come to friendly SALT LAKE CITY, you'll be glad you did!