jent103

I'll be in Salt Lake City at the end of July for a work conference. I have one day to sightsee, half of which will be with a tour set up by the conference, but the tour doesn't actually go to the lake. Is it worth seeing? If so, is there an easy way to get there without renting a car?

Also - any recommendations for getting from the airport to our downtown hotel? We're staying at the Hampton Inn at 425 South 300 West. It looks like the light rail system will work?

Thanks as always!

GrannyJoan

There isn't much to see as far as the Great Salt Lake and would advise skipping. If you are flying in, just look out the window and you will see it.

- Granny Joan

Scarlett

We stayed in a La Quinta a couple of years ago, we could see the Lake from the hotel. I was disappointed in how unattractive it looked..I would skip it.But the drive through Utah towards Oregon was breathtaking, those rock formations!!

BarbaraS

No the lake is not worth a visit. You cannot take light rail from the airport, but you can use it free to get around downtown Salt Lake. The Super Shuttle is only $8 from the airport to your hotel. If you let us know what the tour covers, we can give you suggestions to fill the other half day. Avoid Pioneer Park, which is near your hotel, especially at night. The only exception would be Saturday morning, when there is a fun farmers market there.

NorthwestMale

I love SLC... and have found myself driving out to the lake itself a few times... never seeing very much to make me thankful for having done so.

The "Morton" salt factory is there (to little surprise of those who think about it) and you used to be able to buy some salt water taffy around. The salt flies hovering over and near the water were amusing once.

Sadly enough I think I've hit the highlights.

However, I recommend taking your conference tour and then ad-libing for your other half a day in/around what you saw.

The Great Salt Lake is a tourist destination of old that has really lost most of its following and just about all of its tourist traps.

You don't need to go out there.

The airport in SLC is pretty close to downtown... and many hotels have a shuttle.

SLC is reasonably compact in terms of downtown... oh, and I would definitely walk up to the Capitol buildings at night for a nice view of the valley below.

Enjoy!

jent103

Wow. Glad to know I won't be missing much by not going to the lake! Other suggestions would be fantastic - both for things to do and restaurants, etc downtown. The day we have free is a Sunday, and the tour is from 1-4 that afternoon. According to our program, it covers: Temple Square and the downtown area, Union Pacific Depot, Olympic Legacy Plaza, the "Avenues", the U of Utah, riding past Fort Douglas, This Is the Place Heritage Park, and Olympic Cauldron Park. So, anything else to do on a Sunday morning (besides sleep in, which is tempting) would be great.

Also - through the conference, we have the choice of getting tickets to a Bees baseball game or Real Salt Lake soccer game Saturday night. Any input besides "which sport do you prefer"? I'm leaning towards soccer, but those tickets are twice the price of the baseball game, so if it's not that great I'd love to know.

BarbaraS

Sunday morning you might enjoy seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform - http://www.musicandthespokenword.com/calendar/

or brunch at The Grand America http://www.grandamerica.com/brunch.html
or Little America http://www.littleamerica.com/slc/d1.html

I haven't been to a soccer game, but I love the Bees ballpark, it has a beautiful view of the mountains. You can get to it using light rail.

jent103

Thanks for those links, Barbara! I thought going to the Tabernacle would be great, but wasn't sure if they had services or even if you could go if you're not Mormon.

Scarlett

You can go to the Mormon Tabernacle and listen to music but non-Mormons are not allowed in the actual Mormon Temple..
It is an amazing building, I hope you get to go ~

Dotty6

Hi, we only had a one night stay in Salt Lake City but thoroughly enjoyed looking around Temple Square. The buildings are absolutely fabulous. The Tabernacle Choir were touring and there was no Sunday broadcast while we were there. However we did get to look inside and heard a short recording - the actual performance must be awesome!

We had dinner at Lamb's restaurant, which was a short walk up from Temple Square. It was excellent and very good value.

Hope you enjoy your stay.

jent103

Thanks for that recommendation, Dotty! I actually leave this Friday, so any other downtown restaurant recommendations would be greatly appreciated (under $15-20 for entree at the most).

Also, in rereading, I know Barbara said to stay away from Pioneer Park - is downtown and the area around our hotel generally safe? Or should we be worried?

Dotty6

Hi jent103 - just a postcript to my earlier posting. Lamb's restaurant is at 169 South Main. The entrees were about $17-19 if I remember correctly, but this included a starter as well as main. We had the most delicious seafood cocktail to start, the best we have ever eaten!

Can't help with the area I am afraid. We stayed at City Creek motel, which was about a mile or so from Temple Square. We were actually offered a lift by a lady driving a horse & carriage as she had no fare at the time and this was fun as she explained such a lot about the buildings etc, all for the price of a tip!! We walked back from downtown about 10 pm at night and certainly didn't feel threatened at all.

There is also a film showing (approx 1 1/2 hours) on the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, which was very interesting. This was in the Legacy Theatre of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The film runs several times during the day. We had just missed one showing but returned at 9 pm after we had finished dinner. It is a beautiful theatre and it is free!

BarbaraS

Pioneer Park is the site of a nice Farmer's Market every Saturday morning. I think they kick out the homeless for the day. I wouldn't be too concerned about it during the day, but would avoid that area at night. I think Salt Lake is generally a very safe city, at least I don't have much concern walking downtown.

jent103

Thanks, Barbara. Our hotel is just past Pioneer Park, but I should be with at least one other person when walking back at night.

jent103

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their help! I got back last night. Friday we walked around Temple Square and up to the Capitol, Saturday we went to the Real Salt Lake game, and Sunday we heard the choir, took our conference tour and ate dinner out at Gateway. I did feel a little unsafe on the streets immediately surrounding our hotel, but I think that was due more to the very close proximity of the liquor store than anyone in Pioneer Park (there were almost always people hanging out outside the liquor store). We took Xpress Shuttle to and from the airport, used TRAX to get to the soccer game, and otherwise did lots of walking!

BarbaraS

I'm glad everything worked out. Did you enjoy Salt Lake?

jent103

I did, thanks! I was at the conference most of the time, but I think I got to see a good bit of the city and enjoyed it. It was definitely hot, though!