Be A Tourist

Salt Lake City Attractions, Tours, and Landmarks

Big Cottonwood Canyon Scenic Drive
Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd, Uintah-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Salt Lake City, UT 84121

Ranked #1 top tourist destination in Salt Lake City on TripAdvisor.com. Located in the Wasactch Mountains, this wilderness region offers a limitless range of recreation for outdoor enthusiasts. Big Cottonwood Canyon is a quick 25 minutes away from Salt Lake International Airport (22 miles), and is home to two world-class ski resorts (Solitude & Brighton), legendary rock climbing routes, epic back country skiing access, hiking and mountain biking trails, and picnic areas straight out of an outdoor magazine. So come take a drive through this ancient canyon created by both glacier and stream erosion. Pack a picnic and maybe your hiking boots to stretch your legs. 

Natural History Museum of Utah
301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108

As the Utah state museum of natural history, this top attraction provides an introduction to the science in Utah's remarkable landscape! With engaging exhibits and over 5,000 artifacts on display, the Museum features Utah's paleontology discoveries, fascinating gems and minerals found world-wide, preserved artifacts from Utah's prehistoric peoples, and stories told by the five Native nations that lie within the state's boundaries. Journey to the top of a three-story indoor Canyon. Wander through Utah's dinosaurs and animal life. Interact with earthquakes, erosion, and the museum's Digital Globe to discover how the earth's surface and the Great Salt Lake have changed over time. Enjoy breath-taking views from the unique observatory deck. Hike the Bonneville Shoreline trail. Experience natural history as only Utah can reveal it. Enjoy beverages, lunch or a snack at the Museum Cafe. Shop the Museum Store for unique jewelry and gift items influenced by nature's design. Visitors with young kids will enjoy the Backyard, an intimate, discovery-based environment that invites preschool visitors to experience natural history first hand!

Temple Square
50 W North Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84150-9709

You’ll be immersed in 35 acres of enchantment in the heart of Salt Lake City. Whether it’s the rich history, the gorgeous gardens and architecture, or the vivid art and culture that pulls you in, you’ll be sure to have an unforgettable experience.

Also part of Temple Square is the world-famous Tabernacle Choir and the Tabernacle Organ. For more than a century, The Tabernacle Choir has given voice to the hopes, joys, trials, and triumphs of people around the world. This 360-member chorus of men and women, all volunteers, has performed at World’s Fairs and expositions, at inaugurations of U.S. presidents, in acclaimed concert halls from Australia and Europe to Asia and the Middle East, on television broadcasts, and now on YouTube and Facebook. The choir has even been referred to as "America's Choir," as a result of their high standard of popular choral music.

Red Butte Garden
300 S Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108-1214

The Garden offers something for everyone from children who want to explore to adults looking for landscape and planting ideas. You might enjoy taking a class, packing a picnic, attending a concert or hiking. Red Butte Garden is open year-round with plant interest and events during every season. Red Butte Garden, a part of the University of Utah, is a non-profit organization located in Salt Lake City, Utah. With 100 acres including display and natural gardens, walking paths and natural areas with hiking trails, Red Butte Garden is the largest botanical garden in the Intermountain West. See the new four-acre garden highlighting water thrift beautiful plants: see, grow, save H2o.

City Creek Center

50 S Main St, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-4500

City Creek Center is Utah's premier shopping and dining destination offering 110 stores and restaurants, including Nordstrom, Macy's, Tiffany & Co., Free People, Anthropologie, Salomon, Fabletics, Coach, Athleta, Michael Kors, The Cheesecake Factory and more. Visitor amenities include a real-time flight monitor from Salt Lake City International Airport, real-time weather updates, bus/TRAX route information, local event and attraction information, gift cards, complimentary wheelchairs, special shopping packages available with partnering hotels and much more. If you are visiting City Creek Center from more than 50 miles away enjoy special savings for out-of-town visitors. Pick up the center's Passport to Shopping booklet with a special collection of savings and offers from select retailers and restaurants. Stop by the Customer Service desk, located on level one of the East block just outside the Macy's South entrance, and speak to a Customer Service representative for complete details.

Tracy Aviary
589 E. 1300 S., Salt Lake City, UT 84105-1111

Tracy Aviary is committed to inspiring curiosity and caring for birds and nature through education and conservation. As the largest and oldest of only two free-standing aviaries in the nation and accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Tracy Aviary has grown and evolved over our 79-year history to become a cultural landmark, public garden, and leader in environmental education and conservation.

Ensign Peak Nature Park & Memorial Garden
1002 N Ensign Vista Dr, Salt Lake City, UT 84103

Many visitors frequent Ensign Peak Nature Park for hiking and biking. It connects Ensign Peak to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and is one of the most popular entryways into the valley foothills, making the area particularly vulnerable to erosion and trail widening. If you visit Ensign Peak Nature Park, please stay on designated trails and keep dogs leashed. The area provides critical habitat and range for a number of animals and birds. It also connects to Stansbury Shoreline Preserve along Sandhurst Drive.

Clark Planetarium

110 S 400 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1145

For more than 50 years, Clark Planetarium, formerly known as Hansen Planetarium, has been Salt Lake’s go-to destination for visitors of all ages who want to discover and learn about space and science. We engage audiences inside our walls and across the State of Utah in the creative process that is science through educational outreach, hands-on exhibits, on-site programming and our IMAX and dome theatres.

Hogle Zoo
2600 E Sunnyside Ave, Salt Lake City, UT 84108-1454

Utah’s Hogle Zoo is a Utah treasure. Located at the mouth of Emigration Canyon since 1931, the Zoo is spread out over 42 acres. Its natural hillside terrain and meandering tree-covered pathways enhance your visit as you discover the wonders of the natural world. Up-close Wildlife Connections will give visitors one-of-a-kind animals experiences where participants will have the opportunity to interact with and feed some popular animals. 100% of funds raised will go directly to helping save wildlife and their habitats.

Hogle Zoo has something for everyone! With hundreds of animals representing hundreds of different species, the splendor of the splendor of the animal kingdom is yours to behold. African Savanna, will be sure to delight with giraffes, zebras and ostriches, all roaming the savanna while lions watch nearby. All this and our new Zoofari Express train takes you right through the middle of it all. Other exhibits not to miss – Rocky Shores, featuring polar bear, sea lions, seals, grizzly bears, river otters and bald eagles, Asian Highlands, a re-creation of a Himalayan village featuring five endangered Asian cat species, and Elephant Encounter — where the Serengeti meets Salt Lake City — and spotlights African elephants and white rhinos.

Great Salt Lake State Park
13312 West 1075 S, Magna, UT 84044

The Great Salt Lake is one of the most asked-about tourist destinations in Utah. A remnant of the massive ancient Lake Bonneville, the lake is now landlocked and its waters are salty. It is the largest lake between the Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean, and is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere.

The Great Salt Lake and its islands provide outstanding scenery and recreational opportunities in northern Utah. Sunsets over the lake can be breathtaking. Amazing red, orange, lavender and magenta hues slowly dissolve in the evening sky. The lake's turquoise waters attract sailors, its white sand beaches are popular with swimmers and sunbathers, and craggy outcroppings on Antelope Island and some shoreline areas draw hikers and mountain bikers.