Salt Lake City: A guide to short-term rentals

Salt Lake City is served by Salt Lake City International Airport, a bustling airport located about 4 miles west of the city’s downtown. The Utah Transit Authority offers public transportation to and from the airport in two forms: a light rail system called TRAX and a bus line. These options, along with commuter trains, are also available throughout the city, making it easy to get around without a car if you intend to stay relatively local.

If your travel plans include trips that range well outside of the city, a rental car is the way to go. You can always take taxis and rideshare services from where you’re staying to where you’re going, but fares can add up if you’re covering a lot of distance, and if you travel to remoter areas for hikes and sightseeing, you may have some trouble hailing a taxi back.  The city center is very walkable, and biking in Salt Lake City is also a terrific option.

Temple Square is the holy hub of the Mormon church, and it’s a peaceful and majestic place to visit, with impressive buildings, flowers, and fountains. While some parts of the complex are currently being renovated, others remain open to visitors. (Make sure you check what’s open and closed beforehand.) The most iconic part of the complex is the Mormon Temple, built in a distinctive style in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

For more Mormon history, visit This Is the Place Heritage Park, where Brigham Young determined that the area was where he had envisioned church settling after a long and perilous journey from the east.

The Natural History Museum of Utah has a vast collection of exhibits, including an entire indoor canyon, housed in a stunning building.

And the State Capitol is a neoclassical gem where you can walk around on your own or book a guided tour.

A disproportionate number of Salt Lake City’s best restaurants are clustered downtown, near Temple Square. You can find high-end Tuscan and American cuisine blocks away from simple German food, with craft cocktails and beer in between. From downtown, most of the city’s best eating spreads south, into the neighborhoods of Ballpark, East Central, and Windsor Place. There are Lebanese, Thai, Japanese, and Ethiopian restaurants, as well as New Hampshire and Texas themed establishments, and a bakery specializing in cake donuts.

Every year, countless visitors pass through Salt Lake City as a gateway to Utah’s exceptional wintersports terrain. The city is close to a host of famous resorts, among them Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort, as well as the smaller resorts Snowbird and Alta.

For greenery and fun within the city, head to Liberty Park, a leafy, 80-acre retreat where you can walk, jog, picnic, or play games like tennis and bocce. One of the oldest aviaries in the world, Tracy Aviary, is also within the park.

Like Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, Utah’s Great Salt Lake has been rumored to be home to a monster. In the 1840s, employees at a salt company claimed to have spotted a creature swimming in the lake. They said it had the head of a horse and the body of a crocodile. When it noticed the workers, it made a frightening bellowing noise and charged at them. They ran away. Unfortunately the “North Shore Monster” hasn’t been spotted again, but a few dedicated locals keep looking.