Park City is Utah’s famous mountain town and home of the 2nd largest ski resort in the country. Traveling with young kid’s makes it hard to hit the slopes every day, so we set out to explore everything Park City had to offer. I hope you find this list of activities useful when planning your next snow-globed-inspired family vacation.
I have an entire bucket list of “Winter Wonderlands” to knock off in my lifetime and my goal is to get to one each winter. Living in Florida, we obviously get no interaction with snow or snow activities, ever. Cutting out a week of each year to visit a snow riddled city is high priority for my family, and I mean just a week, because that’s about all these Floridians can handle.
Park City, Utah has been high on my list after seeing pictures on Instagram and Pinterest of the picture-perfect snow town, but when I mentioned it was our vacation destination, the only thing people would say is about how much fun skiing we’d have. Well, I have three kids, six years and under, so skiing wasn’t high on my list of activities and it surely wasn’t something we could do everyday.
Park City Mountain Resortis the country’s 2nd largest ski resort. The ski slopes are surrounded by hotels and homes with a village in the middle with restaurants, shops, fire pits, and events. If you’re looking to stay “in the middle of it all” this is the place you’ll want to stay! Ski lessons are available for all ages starting at three. They offer private, group, or family lessons with a half or full day option.
Gorgoza Park is the ultimate tubing park, plus super kid-friendly! Along with the 8 tubing lanes for big kids (adults!), they have a mini tubing hill for the babies and a small play area called Fort Frosty. Junior snowmobiling (for ages 6-12 years) is available and looked so fun. Rockwell fell asleep on the tube carousel and they suggested I leave him there since he looked extra comfy. He went around on that thing (asleep) for an entire hour, no joke! We took turns being on “Rock Watch” and tubing down the hills. Warming huts and snack bar also included for when you need a little break from the frost.
Utah Olympic park — We happen to be here the week of Winter Olympic trials, which was an incredible experience. We met the families of the athletes and heard stories about their journey to the olympics. This is also a training facility for a lot of Olympic bound, so I hear you can experience incredible athletes year-round.
The free museum was a small thrill for the kids and included a few virtual reality experiences they enjoyed.
For older kids (16 years+) the bobsled experience will probably rock your world, although Its super short and costs big, you barrel down the 2002 Winter Olympic track. Check out their website for everything Utah Olympic Park has to offer.
Jordanelle State Park– This Park is hopping during the summer with boaters and fishers, but was almost deserted when we explored in December. The views were absolutely breathtaking and a great place to get out and talk a little walk. Everything was so quiet, calm, and gorgeous!
Main Street is where a lot of the restaurants, bars, and shops are, making it busy around the clock. We came to the area for lunch and dinner a hand full of times, walked around, spotted some famous Banksy graffiti, and even got ice cream (never too cold for ice cream) at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Here you’ll find the popular places like High West Whiskey Distillery & Saloon (reservations recommended), The Spur Bar & Grill (21+), and Riverhorse on Main.
Ice Castles – An experience that looks like it came straight out of the movie, Frozen.Ice Castles is a weather permitting experience, so hours and dates are constantly changing. The experience opened the day before we left Utah, and tickets were sold out almost immediately. This is a MUST DO if available. Ice Castles are located in various states and this Midway location is only a 25 minute drive from Park City. I hear Elsa herself makes appearances! (Source)
Rancho Luna Lobos –A dog sledding experience with rescue doggies (oh my heart) and thrilling rides?! At Luna Lobos you get to meet the dogs, harness them up, and let them take you on a ride. This is a year-round experience since they offer “safari” rides when there’s no snow on the ground. A bunch of happy doggies pulling me on a sled is seriously what dreams are made of. 🙂
Red Pine Adventuresoffers both winter and summer fun. During the winter you can experience amazing Rocky Mountain views during their guided snowmobiling tours, or snowshoeing, a much slower experience to stop and smell the pine cones. Summer activities include horseback riding through the mountain. Snowmobiling is available to everyone 5 years and up.
Montage Deer Valley is the hotels of swanky hotels in Park City. If you aren’t staying there, I recommend going for a bite to eat at Daly’s Pub & Rec and a game of bowling. If you don’t have kids with you, then try something more up-scale like Apex or Yama Sushi. This place is a celebrity hang out, an almost guarantee you’ll bump into someone famous. We sat next to Kobe Bryant at Daly’s!
Salt Lake City is a short 40 minute drive from Park City and a big city to explore! We did quite a bit walking around downtown of SLC and just like any other city it has it’s good and bad parts. Stay around Temple Square and City Creek for gorgeous buildings and mountain views. For food in SLC, visit Red Iguana (on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives) or Antica Sicilia where they make your pasta in a huge wheel of cheese!
As far as Park City eats go,there are a lot of great restaurants around downtown Park City, or “Main Street”. Some restaurants/bars are 21+ all day long, as we tried to go to one or lunch with the whole family and was denied. 🙂 Otherwise, lots options for both adults and kids. Hit up Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert to-go and stroll around the streets to take it all in!
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