park city.

Park City, Utah is a world class ski town that is so easy to get too. One of my favorite parts of Park City is the convenience. Flights to Salt Lake City are generally on the lower side, cost wise. A perk to Park City is there is no need for a rental car. The slopes are a 30 minute Uber ride from the airport! Doesn’t get much easier than that!

Park City has a free bus system that makes things even easier. Hotels can be pretty expensive in Park City. To save on cost, we stayed a few miles away from downtown but the bus system made it so easy to get to both downtown and the slopes!

We had a great experience renting from Aloha Ski Rental. Aloha has locations all over town which makes for an easy pick up and drop off. Remember, make sure to purchase your lift ticket and rentals at least a week before your trip. Renting online will save money. Also, the resort will mail you your lift ticket ahead of time so you don’t have to wait in line when you get to the mountain.

Before you start your day on the slopes make sure to download the app called Slopes. This app will not only track your runs (elevation, mileage, time on lift vs. time on run, etc.) but it will also track your friends who also have the app. If you get separated from your group, you can find their exact location on the mountain using the app. It’s extremely helpful!

We skied Park City Mountain but I have heard Deer Valley is just as good, if not better. Deer Valley is only a couple bus stops away and is for skiing only. Vail recently purchased both Park City Mountain and Canyons resorts. Now, a ski pass will get you on both mountains. There are so many runs, we didn’t even make it to Canyons on our first trip. If you like tree skiing, you are going to love Park City! My favorite run we did was Jupiter Access to Thaynes Canyon. The whole run is in and out of trees. Quit N’ Time is a perfect run to end your day. The run ends at the Town Lift, right in the middle of downtown!

Our second trip to Park CIty we focused on the Colony and the Canyons since we had done Park City mountain a few years prior. The Colony was our favorite place to ski! The runs take you through neighborhoods with massive homes. The runs are much longer and not nearly as steep yet they are still challenging due to the narrow runs and many curves. The Colony was also not nearly as busy as the Park City side. When we go back to Park CIty, I would like to stay in this area the whole time.

The Canyons was also less busy than the Park City side, as it was much more challenging than Park City. Majority of the runs are hard blues or blacks. We enjoyed spending time in the Canyon Village after a day on the slopes.

As soon as you get off the run, go straight to High West Distillery. Keep in mind, Utah has very strict alcohol laws. If you order a drink, you will also have to order an appetizer. All of the beers and cocktails are measured out perfectly. I am still dreaming of the spiked cider served at High West outside on their patio. This is one of my favorite ski bars of all time! There is usually a long wait to eat at High West so we just enjoyed the whiskey. We also enjoyed the whiskey flights at Alpine Distilling downtown. Wasatch Brew Pub is another great spot! Wasatch has a $1 appetizer menu so if you aren’t hungry, you can order a cheap bite such as almonds and still follow Utah’s state laws. 

Where We Stayed: 

We stayed at the Carriage House Condos. Each condo is privately owned and rented. We did not have the best experience at our condo, but that doesn’t mean all of the units are this way! The bus stop is a short walk from the condos so it made for an easy trip downtown! Aloha Ski Rental was also right next door to the Carriage House. Next time we go to Park City, I will spend more to stay closer to downtown.

Our second trip to Park City we stayed at a ski-in, ski-out location right on the base of Park City Mountain. Marriot Mountainside was both a great location to downtown and skiing but also a fantastic hotel to stay at. The rooms were spacious and the best part were the hot tubs. Marriot has 6 hot tubs (one is their pool that they convert to a hot tub in the winter) overlooking the main ski lift. It was so fun to finish our day and then end at the hot tubs watching the rest of the ski crew come down for the night. Though it was expensive, I would absolutely stay here again. The convenience of staying this close to the lifts allows for so much more time on the lifts. We skied from open to close both days!

Where We Ate: 

No Name Saloon and Grill is well known in Park City. I highly recommend stopping by for a bison or buffalo burger! Atticus Coffee Books & Teahouse is a great grab and go breakfast spot right across from the Town Lift. We also went to Flannigans on Main (the basement will have less of a wait). Park City has dozens of restaurants and I am sure anywhere you find will be great. Keep in mind, Park City is a very expensive city with several high-end restaurants. If you want more than bar food, you will have to make reservations far in advance. 

Near the base of Park City mountain is Harvest at the Base - a grab and go, healthy breakfast place. No one wants to indulge (rather, everyone wants to but no one should!) on pancakes before skiing all day. It felt good to have a healthy breakfast before hitting the slopes. Legends at the base of Park City mountain is a good lunch spot right off the slope. We had delicious wagyu burgers here.

We had dinner at 501 on Main, Red Tail Grill, and Drafts Burger Bar. Red Tail and Drafts are part of the Canyons Village.

Dining in Park City is limited, I highly recommend making reservations well in advance for every night that you are in town. We did not make reservations either of our trips and just ate where we could get in…usually this resulted in very late dinners or bar food. We were okay with it but if you have a taste of something or really want to try a certain place, make sure to reserve your spot.

Best Time to Visit:

• Winter

• Sundance Film Festival

  • During our second visit to Park City, we arrived not knowing that the Sundance Film Festival was also happening that same weekend. No wonder our hotel and life tickets were so expensive! That being said, we had a fantastic time on the slopes, there were literally no lines at all! We had heard that a couple of weeks prior, there were hour long lines to get on the lifts. Everyone in Park City is at the film festival the weekend of Sundance and the runs are literally empty. I would spend the money again just to go this weekend and have the mountain to ourselves.