Hey everyone - I wanted to take a little time today to chat about Park City. It's a beautiful town in Utah about 40 minutes outside of Salt Lake City. It's known for it's scenic mountain resorts where people from around the world come in to ski and snowboard. Park City also hosted the winter Olympics in 2002. So the appeal if you're into winter sports is clear - but what about if you're not a skier? Should you still visit? My answer would be 100%, yes!
While the town has great mountains and slopes for skiing, you'll find so many other great activities in Park City. We went in early March, which was a busy time for the area. Most restaurants required reservations on the weekends, and the ski resorts were very busy! We opted for a couple AirBnB spots that had wonderful amenities and were impressed with both spots. I wanted to share my top (non-ski) activity recommendations...
1. Rancho Luna Lobos
While searching for winter activities in the area, I came across Rancho Luna Lobos. As an avid dog lover, I was instantly intrigued. Rancho Luna Lobos has a variety of activities from Dog Sled Experiences, to Snow Shoe Adventures, or simply a Kennel tour. The facility is a dog rescue first, and it's clear that everyone that works there loves the animals they work with. While we were there, they had 80 dogs, including a litter of puppies. Our tour guide knew every single dog by name!
We opted for the Snow Shoe Adventure. When you book with them, all of the money goes straight into supporting the rescue. The Snow Shoe Adventure was great because we got to take out the retired and non-sled dogs with us. We each walked a dog while we hiked up a top of the hill, with beautiful views of the fresh snow fall. Each excursion includes a tour of the kennel, and we got to meet every dog. Our tour guide was fantastic, and the pups were so adorable. This was easily our favorite part of the trip!
2. Stein Alpenglobes
This was easily one of the best dining experiences that I've ever had. Not only did we get to enjoy our own private Alepnglobe, but we also had extremely attentive wait staff, amazing food, our own speaker provided, and incredible weather. I realize that the weather isn't always predictable, but it truly added to the experience.
One recommendation - I'd make the reservation during a time where you can catch the sun up and sun down, as it does provide two completely different vibes. Don't let rain or snow deter you from this experience, it started raining (that turned into snow) while we were there, and both felt that it added to the experience.
Additional details, reservation instructions, and pricing are available here.
3. Gondola Ride
I want to start by saying - you have a lot of options when it comes to gondola rides in Park City! We opted for Red Pine Gondola, which had some amazing views. I'd definitely recommend this experience, but there are a few drawbacks to notes.
First, they close this particular gondola closed at 4pm. We arrived at 2:30pm, which didn't quite give us as much time as we would have liked to enjoy the restaurant at the top. This also meant that coming down was with a large rush of skiers finishing up their day. I'd recommend trying to avoid right when they open or close, to avoid the busy traffic.
Secondly, the restaurant up top didn't give us quite the experience we had hoped. We ended up at Red Pine Lodge, which was a bit more like a cafeteria for skiers. In hindsight, Lookout Cabin seemed to win with views at the actual restaurant. But you would have needed to use a chair lift to get there.
Overall, I'd still recommend the experience. But do your research ahead of time to make sure you're picking the ride that best fits what you want!
4. Historic Main Street - Shops and Restaurants
While in Park City, don't miss the opportunity to walk down historic Main Street and check out the shops, coffee shops, restaurants, and bars. We had a lot of fun here for an afternoon. I'd highly recommend Atticus Coffee shop and No Name Saloon.
Main Street gets even better after the sun goes down, as they have lights strung from the street lamps. A couple bar suggestions are Star Bar Park City and Alpine Distilling Bar.
While we were just in Park City for a long weekend, I believe you could easily spend a week here - especially if you enjoy outdoor snow activities. This is a town that I'll definitely make an effort to go back to. Don't forget to get a car with four wheel drive, in case you get some fresh snow. Happy travels!