Salt Lake City in 7 Hours 48 Minutes

City Highlights

• Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

• Population (metro): 1.26 million

• Known for: Capital of Utah, home to the University of Utah, host to 2002 and 2034 Winter Olympics

• Weather during visit: Sunny, 6-19ºC (43-67ºF)

• Time in Place: 7 hours 48 minutes

Of all the mountainous cities within the United States, perhaps no other matches the unique culture and location of Salt Lake City. Deep-seated in the Mormon Church and possibly best known for it still, SLC manages to Combine this religious background with modern movements such as hosting the Olympics and building an impressive light rail network. While much of the interest in the city is thanks to the surrounding wilderness and recreation like skiing, there is plenty to do in Salt Lake City proper, and visitors can enjoy a destination so unparalleled it was founded with the idea that “this is the place.”

My travel partner for this trip and I visited the Crossroads of the West for a short day trip, eager to see what we could find in our limited time. Not knowing much about the city besides being home to the LDS Church and the University of Utah, we had very little expectations of what we would find. Thankfully, with a sunny still-to-early-to-call-it-Spring day and a hunger for exploration, we were able to discover part of what makes this city so special and enjoyable, even against others in the Mountain West.

Arriving in Salt Lake City

There are two popular ways to get to Salt Lake City aside from driving: Amtrak and flying. Amtrak currently services SLC daily on its California Zephyr route between Chicago and the Bay Area. For those looking for a slower way to travel and to experience the Rockies up close, this is the way to go. The California Zephyr is widely regarded as one of the best Amtrak routes for natural scenery, and with the large Superliner cars providing roomettes, suites, and a dining car, you can get there in comfort. Another less comfortable ground-based option is Greyhound, with nine daily intercity buses to places like Denver and Las Vegas.

The primary method for arriving at Salt Lake City and the one I used is through Salt Lake City International Airport. Located just over 6 kilometers (4 miles) West of downtown and between the city and the Great Salt Lake, SLC is a major transportation hub for the city and surrounding areas, including many of the most popular ski areas in the country, like Alta and Snowbird resorts. As a hub for Delta Air Lines, SLC has significant operations throughout the United States as well as direct flights to Europe and Asia. The airport hosts a variety of passenger amenities and several Delta Sky Club lounges, with a United Club and AmEx Centurion Lounge planned with the airport's current expansion project.

When I arrived at Salt Lake City, I was immediately impressed with how nice the terminal area was. This was thanks in large part to the aforementioned expansion project, which means the oldest terminals currently in service opened in 2020. The long corridors were spotless, with moving walkways and plenty of clean restrooms available for passengers. The Western and Eastern sides of the concourse meet in a large hub containing a food court with plenty of options for travellers to grab a bite to eat before their flight. While my travel partner and I were a bit hungry by this point, we pressed on, following signs for ground transportation out of the airport and to the station for Trax, Salt Lake’s light rail network.

On the Right Trax

Finding the Trax station at SLC was quite easy with the easy-to-follow wayfinding available. The station is located just outside the main terminal building, a short connection for travellers, though the station is open air, meaning travellers have to brace for Utah’s cold, snowy winters to get on the train. Right at the entrance to the station area were a couple of ticket machines where riders could purchase new passes or top off existing ones. While you can buy paper passes for trips, it seemed throughout the day that most riders instead opted to pay their fare by the Transit app. This is a rather nice option to have, especially since it is a major transit wayfinding app integrating payment directly instead of a proprietary first-party app, which has historically provided poor user experiences on other systems. Part of the reason so many passengers may choose to use the app instead of UTA’s FarePay contactless card is due to the limited availability of retailers that sell the passes. It is rather important to get a fare and activate the app, however, as Trax operates as proof-of-payment, and we saw several policies officers board trains throughout our time in the city to perform ticket checks. My travel partner and I bought local day passes at $5 each, a great price compared to some other cities that translate out to a roundtrip on the standard priced fares.

We did not have to wait too long for our train as Trax normally runs trains every 15 minutes, and we soon boarded a well-kept tram into the heart of the city. Trax operates a couple of types of trains, and our Green Line trip into the city was on the newer S70 model from Siemens. The interior of the trains was pretty basic, but UTA keeps them in good condition, providing for a pleasant ride. The stop spacing was a bit tight, as it took us 20 minutes to travel the 10 km (6 mi) into town. However, when we finally reached Temple Square station, we disembarked and started our exploration.

The Vision of a City

As soon as we stepped off the train, we knew we had arrived in Salt Lake City. Across the street from the Temple Square Trax stop we disembarked at was the Salt Lake Assembly Hall of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while on the side of the street we were on was the City Creek Shopping Center, which is owned by the LDS church. Mormons in SLC have their hands in a lot of different enterprises. Not having much of a destination in mind, we began to wander through the shopping center, not intending to make a purchase but to see what was inside. It was a rather nice complex with lots of water features, but the entire plaza felt overbuilt for its level of occupation.

This was a running trend we noticed in the city. The blocks in Salt Lake City are quite long, one of the longest in the world at 200x200m or 660x660ft, and while the buildings fit together as one would expect in a city of its age and size, a lot of storefronts didn’t seem to have much going on inside of them. The city plan is very important to Salt Lake City, as it was said to come in a vision to Mormon leader Brigham Young. The sidewalks were quiet, with few pedestrians walking along them and even fewer cars driving in the wide boulevards between the buildings. Also unique to the sidewalks of SLC are engravings of beehives, a common symbol of the LDS church and Utah more broadly.

Walking south along the Trax route on Main Street, we eventually reached Washington Square, home to the City-County Building and the civic heart of the city. One important thing I noticed during my time in Salt Lake City is that the public areas of the city are looked after with a sense of pride. Parks are well-kept, and buildings are large and imposing looking. This theme extended along another block East to the Salt Lake City Public Library. I love well-designed libraries, and the one in Salt Lake is no exception. The stacks are filled to the brim with books, and there is a large atrium with several stalls inside while a glass roof and walls let in lots of natural light.

By this point in the day we were famished, having walked a fair amount and not eating breakfast despite being up for many hours. We were recommended Cafe Rio, a local Tex-Mex chain, by a Salt Lake City native. The layout and menu is fairly similar to other popular Tex-Mex chains where you order a base item and go down the line to add different toppings like beans and salsas. The burrito I ordered was pretty good, though, as with many of these chains, it runs a fine line between trying to be somewhat authentic and placating local palates.

Mountain Education

After finishing our meals, we climbed aboard a Red Line train Eastbound, the train quickly climbing above the rest of the city. Compared to some of the other mountain cities I’ve visited, like Denver, which are near the mountains but not actually in them, Salt Lake City is surrounded and quickly grows past the flat plateau of the valley, encroaching up the sides of the slopes of the Wasatch Range. Riding the tram to the end of the line at the University of Utah’s Medical Center, we followed a path along to perhaps the most scenically situated parking garage I’ve found to date, enjoying the expansive views of the Oquirrh Mountains rising along the opposite side of the Salt Lake Valley. We had picked a perfect day to visit with warm sunny weather and clear skies leading to a clear view of the scenery surrounding the city. I can understand better now why Brigham Young said that this is the place. From this viewpoint, we also got a great view of the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium, a rebuild of their original stadium for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and the expected site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2034 Winter Olympics. As an interesting personal note, this is the second Olympic Stadium and third major sporting venue I visited within a couple of months, with my Montreal trip visiting Le Stade Olympique and my Madrid trip visiting Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

Wanting to make the most of the beautiful weather, my travel partner and I decided to t traverse the slopes of the university by foot before taking Trax back into town. The campus at the University of Utah is lovely, feeling like most other large US university campuses with two major differences. First, it’s in the mountains, which is not something most other universities can say outside of Utah and Colorado. Second, the campus is built into the side of the mountain, meaning there are tons of stairs and long walks up slopes to get from the dorms to class. Having attended a university built onto the sides of a valley myself, I can attest that it can be quite annoying to have to climb a set of snow-covered stairs to get around between classes. At least it does lead to some fun opportunities, like sledding down the quad. After stopping for a couple of souvenirs at the campus bookstore, we continued our descent to Rice-Eccles Stadium, where we boarded a Westbound Red Line train to head back into town.

Once back down the side of the mountain, we decided it was time to visit the main draw of Salt Lake City for people around the world: the headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS complex in Salt Lake (known as Temple Square) is quite sprawling, hosting a large number of buildings with significant historical and theological importance to the Mormon Church. Temple Square is also the center of the city as it is the point from which streets are numbered in SLC. Perhaps the best known of these buildings is the Salt Lake City Temple, the sixth temple built by the church and still the largest by floor area. First dedicated in 1893 after a 40-year construction period, the Temple began an extensive remodeling project in 2019, which is expected to be completed in 2026 and whereafter the temple will be open for the first time in over a century to non-Mormons and those deemed not temple worthy during an open house period. At the time of our visit, the construction was at its peak, with much of the Temple covered with extensive scaffolding.

Next to the Salt Lake City Temple is the main office building for the church, an imposing structure consisting of a tall central concrete tower and assembly halls on either side with reliefs of the globe carved into the walls. Surrounding the main building of Temple Square are a series of gardens and statues, all expertly maintained by gardeners and kept in pristine condition. It makes sense why the LDS church would want to keep the complex in good condition. Although no official records are kept of the number of annual visitors, it is estimated that over five million visit Temple Square each year, figures similar to Grand Canyon National Park and more than the Seattle Space Needle or Alcatraz Island. Perhaps my favorite statue within Temple Square is Eagle Gate, a large statue of an eagle atop a beehive spanning the width of State Street at South Temple.

With the day stretching later into the afternoon and our flight quickly approaching, my travel partner and I grabbed a Westbound Green Line train from City Center towards the airport. Getting through security was not difficult as the trolley drops you right at the main terminal building just outside arrivals, a level below the departures hall, though signage could be improved as I was unable to find the entrance to TSA PreCheck until I was already past the document check. Our gate was on the opposite end of the A terminal from where we arrived earlier in the day, the newest (at the time of visiting) part of the airport that felt new. There was plenty of natural light from large, picturesque windows overlooking the airfield and the mountains beyond.

Salt Lake City is quite unusual, with key components of good urban design present and lots to see in a city that often time felt empty. Even during the peak periods of the day, we hardly saw others out and about, and the busiest places we saw were the restaurant for lunch off one of the largest stroads in the city and a university campus between classes. The city is, however, beautiful. Between the architecture of the buildings, the history of its founding, and the surrounding Rocky Mountains, there is always something interesting to look at while in Salt Lake City. While I do not have any immediate plans to return (maybe in 2026 when the Temple has its open house), I would recommend a visit to see Salt Lake City if the opportunity arises; its people are welcoming, and there is lots to do within the city and beyond in the Wasatch Range.