Rough Draft: 3 Day Itinerary for Salt Lake City

January 2021

Rough Draft: Salt Lake City, Utah

Due to the COVID quarantine, I am creating rough draft, “off the shelf” travel itineraries for when travel resumes normal operations so we do not waste any time getting out and exploring!

I recall getting an email last fall from Practical Wanderlust for their new blog post “The Ultimate Salt Lake City Brewery Guide” and being very surprised that this city has a vibrant brew culture. Sounds to me like the ultimate Beer Christmas destination! This could definitely be contender for our annual Beer Christmas tradition with Boston turned San Diego Sunshine friends.

In fact, Salt Lake City has been dubbed one of the most “hipster” cities as the number of food trucks, microbreweries, vegan restaurants, thrifts stores, and tattoo parlors – another surprise to me!

We have always blocked the first weekend in April for Beer Christmas and with this trip canceled in 2020, we are looking forward to resuming the tradition in 2021, no matter what time of year. With no tentative plan, at least we can have an “off the shelf” trip ready thanks – bright side!

What is there to do?

Downtown Salt Lake City

• Explore land marks – Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Public Library, Red Butte Garden, and lots of street art and murals
• Visit museums – Clark Planetarium, Museum of Fine Arts, Natural History Museum, The Leonardo
• Shop local – City Creek Center, King’s English Bookshop, Saturday Farmer’s Market, and lots of thrifts shopping
• Ensign Peak Trail is a quick 1 mile there and back trail just outside the city that gives a scenic overlook of the downtown area
• Looking for a longer, more intense hike? Try the Grandeur Peak (Face) Trail at 4.4 miles hard round trip or The Living Room Trail at 2.3 miles moderate round trip
• And don’t worry, there is an entire section for food and … Beer Christmas

Beer Tour! (This is Beer Christmas after all)

• I have many breweries on this itinerary – fear not, the goal is not to hit all of these necessarily (though maybe? I will leave that up to the group as I am the DD for Beer Christmas life) but to have lots of options. If you have any favorites let us know! 

Have extra time for a day trip? Explore these options:

• Bonneville Salt Flats (under 2 hour drive) – flattest place on earth famous for use as a speedway and unique landscape.
• Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island (under 1 hour drive) – Antelope State Park with trails, beaches at the lake, and a dark sky reserve!
• Park City (under 1 hour drive) – there are tons of hiking trail in this area such as Twine Lakes, Lake Blanche, Donut Falls, White Pine Lake, Red Pine Lake, and plenty of ski resorts.

Where to eat?

There is also an impressive food scene from this “hipster” city full of a wide variety of options. Along with the brew scene, there are tons of coffee shops and roasters, which I know will be a big plus for Kevin. Here are the spots I have marked for consideration:

Flights are also looking fantastic to Salt Lake City so once COVID quarantine is over, this feels like a very reasonable trip to add to the list. While much of the downtown area is walkable, having a car gives added flexibility to explore some of the areas around the city. With three day weekends, I always like to sneak in on Thursday night to get the full day in Friday.

If you have been to Salt Lake City, let me know what I missed and what your favorites are!

Don’t forget to check out all DESKRIB itineraries here!