Salt Lake City

The city was founded in 1847 by settlers led by Brigham Young and was originally called Great Salt Lake City; the word “Great” was dropped in 1868. The settlement was laid out as a grid from the start, which is why the street pattern is so regular and why the numbering works the way it does. Most American cities grew and were then organised. This one was organised and then grew.

The 2002 Winter Olympics are the other date the city measures itself by. Salt Lake City was selected in 1995 to host them, and the record is not uncomplicated — the games “were plagued with controversy,” including a bid scandal that surfaced in 1998. The venues from that year are still in use in the mountains around the city, which is a more durable legacy than the headlines.

The lake the city is named for is in serious difficulty. Drought and water diversion have taken the Great Salt Lake to record-low levels, and the problem is not only scenic: the receding lake has exposed arsenic which may become airborne, subjecting people in the area to poisonous dust. A visitor should know that the lake is a live environmental emergency rather than a photograph, and that what is visible from the shore now is a long way from what the maps show.

Temple Square is the anchor, and it is free and open to the public, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily, including during the current renovation. It is also the origin of the street grid, so standing at its south-east corner puts you at the zero point of every address in the valley.

Red Iguana has been run by the Cardenas family for more than four decades, with the original at 736 W North Temple Street — on the grid's own west axis — and a second at 866 W South Temple Street. Its own site puts the matter simply: “Red Iguana is famous for our moles,” and lists eight of them, including negro, amarillo, poblano, verde, coloradito, red pipian, mango and almendras, with a sampler if you cannot choose. Both city locations run 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It is consistently busy; the second location exists because the first one could not keep up.

24 breweries within 10 miles of Salt Lake City, 9 of them brewpubs with a kitchen.

Brewpub locations from Open Brewery DB (MIT)

*Fees subject to change, please check stateparks.utah.gov for updated information.

18 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Salt Lake City in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.

• Bridal Veil FallsUtahabout 35 mi
• BYU Museum of PaleontologyUtahabout 35 mi
• Monte L. Bean Life Science MuseumUtahabout 35 mi
• Utah Lake State ParkUtahabout 35 mi
• Nebo Loop National Scenic BywayUtahabout 65 mi
• SalinaUtahabout 120 mi
• Black Rock Desert volcanic field (Ice Springs lava flows and Tabernacle Hill)Utahabout 130 mi
• Territorial Statehouse State Park MuseumUtahabout 130 mi
• Eagle Canyon view areaUtahabout 140 mi
• Ghost Rocks view areaUtahabout 140 mi
• Cove FortUtahabout 150 mi
• Fremont Indian State Park and MuseumUtahabout 150 mi
• Green River State ParkUtahabout 150 mi
• John Wesley Powell River History MuseumUtahabout 150 mi
• Spotted Wolf Canyon view areaUtahabout 150 mi
• Goblin Valley State ParkUtahabout 160 mi
• Sego Canyon Rock Art Interpretive SiteUtahabout 170 mi
• BeaverUtahabout 180 mi

• Gilgal Sculpture GardenFolk art / sculpture gardenSalt Lake Cityabout 1 mile away

  Cost to see it

  Free

  When you can see it

  Only while it is open, and we did not find its hours published

  Nearest road

  I-15 / I-80

  Sphinx with Joseph Smith's face and other odd stone works

  • Fine for most children, but look it over before you let them loose

  Read on the page we checked

These are things you can go and look at, not a recommendation of any of them. Oddities move, get sold and quietly disappear more than anything else we list, so check anything you are driving a long way for. Where this list says we did not find a price or opening times published, that is exactly what we mean. A blank is not “free” and not “always open”. Some sit on private land and can only be seen from the road — please do not go onto anyone’s property. Every entry links the page we read it off.

Learn the grid first. Addresses are distances from the south-east corner of Temple Square; once that clicks, finding anything in the valley becomes arithmetic rather than navigation.

Two interstates cross here, which makes Salt Lake City one of the easiest major stops in the Mountain West to reach from any direction.

Altitude and dryness. The valley floor sits above 4,300 feet and the canyons climb steeply from it.

Winter means canyon traction laws. When the beacons outside the canyons are flashing, vehicles in Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon are required to have at least 5/32 inch of tread, with M+S or snow tyres on all wheels for AWD and 4WD vehicles and 3PMSF snow tyres on all wheels for 2WD vehicles; chains and other traction devices are also accepted. UDOT places enforcement and turnaround checkpoints at the canyon entrances, while also noting that law enforcement cannot guarantee strict enforcement at all times.

One public campground within 25 miles of Salt Lake City, and it takes reservations. Public campgrounds run by federal agencies. State-park and private campgrounds are not included.

*Fees subject to change, please check milb.com for updated information.

Temple Square

Hours

Open 7:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m. daily

Admission

Free and open to the public during the renovation

Temple tours

Timed-entry tickets required; book at least two weeks ahead via the Temple Square app or online

Salt Lake Temple

Under renovation, with a Salt Lake Temple Celebration planned for 2027

Also here

Temple Square Visitors' Center; the Tabernacle Choir's live Sunday broadcast Music and the Spoken Word at the Salt Lake Tabernacle

Link

templesquare.org

We checked reservations, opening hours, fees, seasonal opening and operating status on 2026-10-12. These change without notice — confirm with templesquare.org, thetabernaclechoir.org, nps.gov and rediguana.com the week you travel.

Straight-line distance from Salt Lake City, not drive time.

• Salt Lake City International (SLC) — 5 miles
• Ogden Hinckley (OGD) — 31 miles
• Provo Municipal (PVU) — 38 miles