Park City

Park City is a mountain town with no coast anywhere near it, so beaches play no part in a stay. In high summer, people swim and paddleboard at Jordanelle Reservoir, a short drive down the valley, where there are sandy swimming areas, picnic lawns and mountain views. The water is cool and the season is short. Hotel pools and hot tubs are where most visitors actually get in the water.

For a town this size, Park City eats well. Wealthy ski crowds support a cluster of polished restaurants along historic Main Street and at the resort bases, serving modern American mountain cooking: elk, bison, trout, steaks and seasonal produce. Après-ski is a ritual of its own, with slopeside decks, whiskey and local craft beer.

The range is narrow, though. There is no regional cuisine to discover and little street food, and many cheaper meals come from the strip of chains at Kimball Junction. Utah's liquor rules shape drinking in small ways, but visitors rarely notice them in a resort town. For more variety, Salt Lake City's restaurants are a drive down the canyon.

Park City grew up as a silver-mining town, and its best sight is the town itself. Historic Main Street climbs the hill past restored wooden storefronts, and old mine headframes and tramway towers still stand on the slopes above. The Park City Museum, housed in the old city hall, tells the mining story well, down to the old jail cells in the basement.

The Utah Olympic Park, built for the 2002 Winter Games, has ski and Olympic museums beside its working jumps. Beyond those, there is little to see. Visitors come for the mountains, and an afternoon covers the heritage.

Evenings in Park City start early, on slopeside decks as the lifts close. After that, most of the action moves to Main Street, where a short run of saloons, cocktail bars and a few places with DJs or bands fill up on winter weekends. It is friendly and can be rowdy at the height of ski season, but it is small and it winds down well before the small hours. In summer and the shoulder seasons, the town goes to bed early. Anyone wanting a real night out drives to Salt Lake City.

This is the reason to come. Park City sits in the Wasatch Mountains at about 2,100m, with two big ski areas rising directly from town. Park City Mountain is among the largest ski areas in North America, and Deer Valley is known for groomed runs. Utah's famously dry, light powder falls all winter, and the steep terrain of Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude is within an hour over the ridge.

In summer, the town turns into a mountain-biking and hiking base, with hundreds of kilometres of singletrack leaving straight from the streets and lifts running bikes uphill. There is fly fishing on the Provo and Weber rivers, kayaking on the reservoirs, and wildflowers and aspen gold on the high ridges in autumn.

Salt Lake City is the main outing, about 40 minutes down the canyon by car. It has Temple Square, the domed State Capitol, good museums and a proper city's worth of restaurants. Closer in, the Heber Valley has a heritage steam railway, and Midway is a farming town built with Swiss-style chalets.

Ogden, about an hour north, has a restored railroad-era street and a grand old station. Provo and the canyon road past Sundance make a scenic half day. The list thins quickly after that, and much of what lies within reach is landscape rather than towns to explore.

Park City is easy with children. Both ski areas run well-organised ski schools and gentle learning areas, the town is safe and clean, and the free buses mean no wrangling car seats to the slopes. At the Utah Olympic Park, younger children can ride the alpine coaster, try the ziplines and ropes courses and watch freestyle skiers flip into a splash pool, while the bobsled rides are for teenagers only. In the warm months, the resort bases add mountain coasters, alpine slides, climbing walls and easy bike trails.

There is no zoo, aquarium or theme park in town. Salt Lake City has those within an hour. Altitude can tire young children for the first day or two, and winter costs add up quickly for a family.

Within town, Park City works well without a car. A network of free buses links Old Town and Main Street with both ski bases, the outlying lodging areas and Kimball Junction, and Main Street itself is walkable, if steep. Many hotels run their own shuttles, and parking at the resorts and in Old Town is limited and awkward, which is another reason to leave the car behind.

Getting here and going further afield is harder. There is no rail. The airport is about 40 minutes away by shuttle, and the canyon road can be slow in snowstorms. Excursions into the valleys or other ski areas are far easier with a car.

Shopping here is resort shopping. Main Street is lined with art galleries, Western-wear and cowboy-boot shops, outdoor gear stores, jewellers and upscale ski fashion, which makes for pleasant browsing between meals. Kimball Junction at the edge of town has an outlet centre and the usual chain stores. There are few local crafts and no market to speak of, and serious shopping means Salt Lake City.

Park City is an expensive place to stay, above all in ski season. Slopeside lodging, lift tickets, ski school and dinners on Main Street all sit at the top of the North American resort market, and the Christmas and New Year weeks are steeper still. The free buses help, and summer and autumn bring prices down considerably. Visitors on a budget often stay in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley and drive up for the day.

The Egyptian Theatre on Main Street, a 1920s playhouse, has year-round comedy, plays, cabaret and small concerts, and the Eccles Center hosts touring shows. Summer is the best season. The Utah Symphony plays outdoor concerts on the lawns at Deer Valley, and free evening concerts are held in parks and plazas around town. Outside summer, the programme is thin, and opera, ballet and major theatre mean a trip to Salt Lake City.

Unwinding here is about resort spas and hot tubs after a day on the mountain. The grand ski lodges at Deer Valley and the Canyons base run large, polished spas with massages aimed at sore legs, and outdoor hot pools under the snow are part of nearly every stay. About 25 minutes away in Midway, the Homestead Crater is a geothermal spring inside a beehive-shaped limestone dome, where you can swim or snorkel in water at about 35°C.

There is no public bathing tradition. Off-season weeks, quiet aspen trails and slow mornings are what make the town restful.