Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City is about as far from the sea as an American city gets, so swimming means lakes. The Great Salt Lake is the curiosity: on Antelope Island or at the marina beaches west of the city you can float without effort in water saltier than the ocean, but the shore is muddy, brine flies gather in summer and most people go once for the experience rather than to spend the day.

For real lake swimming, locals drive up to the reservoirs in the Wasatch, such as Jordanelle and Deer Creek near Heber, or Pineview above Ogden, where summer brings paddleboards, boats and sandy patches of shore. Pleasant on a hot July day, but nobody chooses the city for its water.

Eating here is solid rather than memorable. The local specialities are modest and endearing: fry sauce with everything, pastrami piled on burgers, fried scones with honey butter, and the drive-through soda shops that serve 'dirty' sodas mixed with syrups and cream. Beyond that, the best meals tend to come from the Mexican, Pacific Islander, Peruvian and Vietnamese kitchens spread along State Street and through the south and west of the valley.

Downtown and Sugar House have craft breweries, coffee roasters and a handful of ambitious modern restaurants using mountain-state produce. Drinking comes with Utah's particular rules, and wine and cocktail culture is thinner than in most American cities of similar size.

The city's sights are dominated by its founding faith. Temple Square, laid out by the pioneers in 1847, holds the granite Salt Lake Temple, the domed Tabernacle with its famous organ, the Assembly Hall and the vast Conference Center, with gardens and visitor centres open to all. Nearby are the Beehive House, Brigham Young's home, and the Family History Library, which draws genealogists from around the world.

Beyond that, the list is short: the State Capitol on its hill above the city, the Cathedral of the Madeleine with its painted interior, the Natural History Museum of Utah with its dinosaur halls, and This Is The Place Heritage Park. Two days covers it comfortably.

Going out is modest. There is a cluster of bars, breweries and a few dance clubs downtown and around Main Street and the Granary District, plus a long-standing gay bar scene and the neighbourhood pubs of Sugar House. Utah's liquor laws shape the experience, with stronger drinks and late opening more limited than elsewhere in the country, and the city as a whole goes to bed early. Fine for a drink after a day in the mountains; not a place to plan a vacation around nights out.

This is the city's great strength. The Wasatch Range rises abruptly along the eastern edge of town to peaks over 3,000m, and Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons lead in well under an hour to Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude, with Park City's huge ski areas just over the ridge. The dry, deep powder is famous among skiers, and the season runs long.

In summer the same canyons offer alpine lakes, wildflower meadows and serious peak hikes, while the foothill trails above the Avenues and the University start almost at the doorstep. Mountain biking, climbing and fly-fishing are all close. To the west the land changes completely: Antelope Island has bison herds on its grasslands, and the Bonneville Salt Flats spread white to the horizon about ninety minutes away.

Park City is the obvious outing, about forty minutes away over the mountains. It is an old silver-mining town with a steep, characterful Main Street of restored Victorian storefronts, galleries and restaurants, and it is pleasant to wander in any season. Heber and the Swiss-flavoured village of Midway are close by in the next valley. Ogden's historic 25th Street, once a rough railroad strip, makes a good half day. The Golden Spike site, where the first transcontinental railroad was joined in 1869, is a longer drive north.

The list thins quickly after that. Utah's famous national parks, including Arches, Zion and Bryce, are four hours or more away and need an overnight stay, not a day trip.

Few American cities are as oriented around children. Families are large here, restaurants and public spaces expect them, and the city feels clean and safe. There is plenty aimed at kids: Hogle Zoo at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, the Discovery Gateway children's museum, the Clark Planetarium, Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park, and the dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum.

Lagoon, an old-fashioned amusement park with big roller coasters, is about twenty minutes north, and Thanksgiving Point to the south adds gardens and a museum of ancient life. In winter the ski resorts run good children's ski schools. The main drawback is distance: most of this is spread across the valley and easiest by car.

Downtown is laid out on an enormous grid with famously wide streets and long blocks, which makes even short distances feel longer on foot, though Temple Square, the Capitol and the main shopping are within a walkable core. TRAX light rail connects downtown with the airport and the University, and the FrontRunner commuter train runs north to Ogden and south to Provo.

The addresses, counted outward from Temple Square, are easy to navigate once you know the system. But beyond the centre the valley sprawls, and the zoo, the canyons and the other towns are much easier with a car. Ski buses run up the canyons in winter, where traffic and parking can be a trial on powder days.

Shopping is practical rather than a draw. City Creek Center, an open-air downtown mall with a creek running through it, has the department stores and familiar brands, and Trolley Square fills old streetcar barns with shops and restaurants. Smaller independent and vintage shops gather around 9th and 9th and in Sugar House.

The real specialism is outdoor equipment: ski, climbing and camping shops are excellent and many are local. Pioneer and church-related souvenirs round it out, but there is no luxury street or market worth a special trip.

For an American city, Salt Lake City is moderately priced. Hotels downtown and near the airport are reasonable outside major events, casual food is fair, and many of the main sights, including everything on Temple Square, cost nothing to visit. Light rail is inexpensive.

The bill rises with what most visitors actually come for. Ski lift tickets, equipment hire and lodging in the canyons or Park City are expensive, a hire car is close to essential, and restaurant meals carry the usual American tax and tip. A summer hiking trip is much cheaper than a winter ski week.

The signature experience is the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, one of the best-known choirs in the world, whose rehearsals and weekly broadcast performances in the Tabernacle are open to the public, often accompanied by the great organ. Daily organ recitals take place there too.

Beyond that the city supports a fuller arts life than its size suggests: the Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall, Utah Opera, Ballet West, Pioneer Theatre Company and touring Broadway shows at the Eccles Theater. Independent music venues and summer concert series in the canyons add some variety, though the club circuit is small.

There is no bathing tradition in the city itself, but the region has a few geothermal surprises. The most memorable is the Homestead Crater in Midway, about an hour away, where you soak in warm mineral water inside a beehive-shaped limestone dome. Smaller hot springs lie north of the city and in the canyons.

Otherwise relaxation means the spas at the ski resorts and in Park City, best after a day on the slopes, and the city's generally quiet, unhurried pace. It is a calm place to stay, but rest is a side effect here rather than a reason to come.