Park City: Ski, Dine & Explore in Utah’s Alps

Park City shines with the nation’s largest alpine resort and a hopping after-slopes scene

written by James Sinks

When life sends clouds—as Pacific Northwest winters are known to do—seek silver linings.

Try looking eastward.

An abundance of escapist luster awaits in the craggy, silver-laden Wasatch Back Range in Utah, and in its centerpiece nineteenth century mine town of Park City.

Navigate silver (and gold) Olympic medalists’ terrain. Celebrate the silver screen. Admire local-fashioned sterling jewelry. Lunch at the Silver Star Café. And happily embrace the truism that not all that glitters need be gold.

Long a hunting territory of Indigenous Ute tribes, the Wasatch region of the Rocky Mountains wasn’t initially enticing to westward-bound settlers in the 1860s, especially when compared to the fast-growing religious enclave founded by Brigham Young at nearby Great Salt Lake.

But then prospectors struck silver. For the following century, mines churned out precious ore and millions to sustain the Park City economy. Then in the 1960s, after a downturn tarnished the mineral industry, the largest remaining silver company diversified into the ski business, opening lifts on what was then known as Treasure Mountain.

Today, the city that silver built is renowned as an easy-to-reach X X international ski and all-season hot spot—it’s just 35 miles from J J the Salt Lake City airport, after a less-than-two-hour direct flight from Portland, Eugene, Medford or Redmond.

A list-topper among the nation’s best resort towns including in 2021 by Travel + Leisure, Park City touts dozens of hotels, motels and luxury lodges, plus 150 restaurants that cater to a smorgasbord of culinary tastes such as The Viking Yurt, a slopeside Norwegian restaurant where dinner guests arrive by sleigh.

Year-round, visitors dive into upscale spas, fly-fishing and a geothermal-heated water-filled crater. In cool weather, you can book a high-speed bobsled run at nearby Utah Olympic Park, part of the 2002 and upcoming 2034 games.

Utah Olympic Park offers thrilling bobsled rides for visitors.
(photo: Visit Park City)

But hands down, the biggest lure comes from the clouds, with powder routinely blanketing more than 45 miles of cross-country routes and more than 430 downhill runs. The abundant feathery snow is courtesy of a stratospheric intersection overhead where Canadian cold air careens into Pacific moisture, dumping almost 24 feet annually.

How good are the conditions? The state of Utah—yes, a little biased—claims on license plates it’s the “Greatest Snow on Earth.”

Also from the superlative department, the centerpiece Park City Mountain Resort is the nation’s largest ski area, with some 7,300 acres of terrain reached via forty-three different lifts including one from downtown. Next door is the 2,000-acre ski-only Deer Valley Resort. Each has summits above 9,500 feet and more than 3,000 feet of vertical drop.

Letting rip at Park City Mountain Resort.
(photo: Visit Park City)

The alpine resorts don’t just rely on sprawling acreage to ensure ample elbow (and ski pole) room: Each sets daily limits, so it’s wise to buy tickets in advance. Three-day, fullprice adult lift passes are $855 at Park City and $870 at Deer Valley, but advance weekday rates are less.

Locals are loathe to pick favorites, but intermediate-rated King Con at Park City Mountain—wide, long and with sweeping valley and city views—makes several top-ten lists. Wannabe history moguls also can ski to old mine buildings on a free, guided Silver to Slopes tour.

To warm up, stretch with hot yoga at PC Yoga Collective, where drop-in classes are just $15. For a bit more silver, you can relax and recover at one of several local health spas, including the Forbes’ five-star-rated Spa at Stein Eriksen Lodge.

Want a bucket-list watery experience? Homestead Crater is a 90-plus-degree mineral spring in a natural limestone dome where you can take a dip or stand-up paddleboard. Reservations are required.

Soaking, standup paddling and other variations at Homestead Crater’s hot springs inside a limestone dome.
(photo: Visit Park City)

After nightfall, burrow into a coat and browse Park City’s Old West downtown district, where forty-seven mining-era buildings are listed in the National Historic Register and the modern après-ski scene includes saloons, patios and saloons with patios. For singing while drinking, there’s a standing-room dueling piano show at The Spur Bar & Grill.

Find artisan small plates including a lusty beet salad at Handle; flavorful healthy fare like a “Buddha Bowl of Goodness” at Harvest; tapas and tempranillo at 710 Bodega; and steak, buffalo short rib and salmon at Purple Sage.

For weekend brunch, Western-themed Silver Star Café serves up banana bread french toast and a shrimp and avocado Benedict, both of them gluten free.

Also downtown are two glass-protected Banksy spray-painted pieces, one of a cameraman holding a flower on the exterior wall of the Java Cow coffeehouse.

A half block away, the circa-1926 Egyptian Theatre is a live music venue and one of several hosts for the annual international Sundance Film Festival, which has been bringing Hollywood stars and indie films to town since the early 1980s. A notoriously tough ticket, the Robert Redford-founded extravaganza runs from January 23 to February 2, and will finish its local run in 2026 before relocating in 2027.

Downtown Park City’s Egyptian Theatre, one venue where the famed Sundance Film Festival is held.
(photo: Ross Downard/Visit Park City)

Finally, among the many galleries standing shoulder-to-shoulder on Main Street are artisans who lean into the region’s prodigious metallic heritage. At Woodbury Jewelers, owner Taylor Breeze caters to silver-seeking clientele with hand-designed pieces including snowflakes and a silhouette of Park City’s famous mountain skyline.

“These mountains are made of silver ore,” he said, “and when you are out on Main Street, you are surrounded by them.”