The author enjoying the snow with her son in Park City, Utah. Amanda Baseler I moved to Park City, Utah, from Tennessee in late 2008 for work and ended up staying for 12 years. Over that time, I saw Park City grow from a quiet mountain town to a bustling, popular destination.
From skiing to spas and local eateries, here are some of my favorite places and things to do. I moved to Park City, Utah, from Tennessee, in late 2008 and ended up staying for 12 years. The author with her husband and two dogs during winter at their mountain home outside of Park City.
Amanda BaselerWhen I moved to Park City for a three-month internship, I didn’t know much about where I was going or what the town was going to be like, only that I was moving west and was eager to discover what Utah had to offer. I was more than pleasantly surprised when I first arrived. My first winter felt like it was out of a movie, filled with lots of skiing, hanging at local resort bars, walking down quiet streets as the snow fell, experiencing the Sundance Film Festival, World Cup ski events, and more.
I decided to stay after that first winter for the summer, then the next winter. I met my husband at the ski resort, we married in Park City, bought a cabin in the mountains, and settled in for the next several years. A new job recently moved us to another mountain town, but my love for Park City will always run deep.
I’m excited to share some of the best things for you to do to experience winter in the mountains, just as I have. I like to stop for coffee or lunch at two of my go-to eateries on Park Ave, the city’s main drag. Rob Hammer/Getty ImagesI’m a morning person, and especially in the winter, I need my cup of coffee to start the day or boost my energy around noon.
While I don’t love waking before the sun, I do love when I can have a cup of coffee and can watch the snow fall with the soft glow of lights and the sunrise. For a fresh cup, I always stop by Lucky Ones Coffee, located in the Park City Library on Park Ave. Not only do they brew a great cup of coffee, but they operate by an important mission.
Lucky Ones was opened to employ and support people with disabilities in the community, and on their website proudly identifies as “a place for everyone. ” I’ve found it’s a warm and welcoming place to sit, enjoy a hot drink and a snack, and feel connected to the town. Another favorite place of mine when I’m in the area, especially for lunch, is Harvest Park City.
Just up the street from Lucky Ones, the restaurant space is in a small, old building on the corner of Park Ave and Main. I love visiting Harvest because their Australian-style menu has fresh and locally-sourced ingredients and I can choose from a light to hearty meal depending on what I’m craving. I think their food presentation is also beautiful to look at.
I often will get my lunch to-go, usually the savory toast or the acai bowl, but have also found the dine-in experience to be relaxing and cozy. It’s the perfect stop, in my opinion, before heading up Main Street to do some shopping. I go to Park City Mountain or Deer Valley Resort to get my fill of skiing.
The author with her young son who is learning to ski. Amanda BaselerPart of what makes Park City special, in my opinion, is the abundance of skiing and outdoor recreation. Each ski resort in town has qualities that make their experience unique.
For me, I always had a ski pass to Park City Mountain since both my and my husband’s jobs provided us with passes there. The resort feels like home to me because it’s where I became a skier and where I met my husband and many of my closest friends. Park City also holds the impressive title of the largest ski area in the United States, making it also one of the busiest in my experience.
My favorite routine is to grab a to-go cup of coffee and a muffin at one of the several coffee shops at the base area and enjoy my coffee on the lift. If you ski and want to avoid the crowds, I recommend giving neighboring Deer Valley Resort a try. I’ve found that Deer Valley pays close attention to the details to provide a unique skiing experience, like limiting the amount of skiers each day on the mountain, providing excellent customer service, and maintaining beautiful corduroy — otherwise known as a perfectly groomed run.
While it’s not a small resort, I think that Deer Valley keeps an idyllic small-resort feel. Plus, they have the best turkey chili I’ve ever eaten. Deer Valley will always have a soft spot in my heart, too, since off the Empire lift at the top of the Daly Chutes, my husband asked me to marry him.
Unfortunately for snowboarders, Deer Valley is a ski-only resort. Sometimes, if I want to get a taste of Deer Valley without making my way up to the resort, I’ll make a stop at the Deer Valley Cafe, located just downhill of the resort towards town. It’s a market-style cafe that overlooks the Deer Valley Ponds, and I think is a great choice for a delicious breakfast or lunch, or coffee and dessert.
If you decide to ski Park City or Deer Valley, I’d recommend relying on the local bus system to get around. With limited parking available and a new reservation system at one of Park City’s biggest lots, finding a parking spot can be challenging, in my experience, especially during the winter high season due to the volume of visitors and limited space. Park City Transit is a free bus system that picks up skiers all over town and drops you almost right on the snow at various resorts.
Woodward Park City is an action sports hub just outside of town that I think offers great fun for the whole family, including kids. The author’s niece using the magic carpet at Woodward Park City. Erin Monez/Amanda BaselerWhen my niece, who also lives in Park City, turned two, I started taking her over to Woodward Park City.
It’s a year-round action sports training ground located just outside of town that I think offers a ton of fun for the whole family. They have skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, bmx bikes, mountain biking, and more, and I’ve found it’s just as fun to be a spectator while you’re there. We’d go for their toddler hour, which gave the littlest adventure seekers a chance to play on the trampolines, foam pits, and mats without having to watch out for the big kids or adults.
There are on-site dining options ranging from grab-and-go snacks and entrees to a cafe that has food, coffee, beer, and specialty cocktails. Outside, they have a ski lift and a magic carpet, which is similar to an uphill moving sidewalk that’s designed for beginner skiers, which is where my niece is now learning to ski. They also claim to have Utah’s longest snow-tubing lanes in the state.
This is the only tubing hill in Park City, so I recommend making reservations in advance if you plan to visit Woodward. I like to head out of town for winter trails to cross-country ski, snowshoe, hike, or fat tire bike at Round Valley. The author fat-tire biking in Round Valley.
Steph Meyer/Amanda baselerI love to ski and while that is my primary winter activity, I also enjoy getting out on winter trails to cross-country ski, snowshoe, hike, or fat tire bike. In addition to the thousands of acres of downhill skiing in town, there are also hundreds of miles of winter-accessible trails inside and outside of Park City. If you’re looking to get outside of town a bit, I recommend heading over to the Round Valley trail system in Quinn’s Junction.
Round Valley has 15 different trails that are maintained by the Mountain Trails Foundation, which is a non-profit that designs, builds, and maintains over 400 miles of trail in Park City. I think Round Valley offers something for everyone. There are short and long loops for skiers, ungroomed sections for snowshoeing, classic ski tracks, fat-tire biking trails, and a tire swing.
Another aspect of Round Valley that I love is being able to ski or bike past several special horses, whose pastures border the trail system. These horses are part of the National Ability Center’s adaptive riding program, which is one of dozens of activities that are offered by the local non-profit for people with disabilities. This is where I completed my internship when I first moved to Utah and remained on their team until our move to Colorado.
The National Ability Center, or NAC, gives affordable lessons for people with any disability in both winter and summer sports, and also has adaptive equipment rentals. If you or someone in your family has a disability of any kind and needs adaptive equipment or instruction to get out and recreate, I highly recommend the NAC. If you need standard cross country ski gear, fat-tire bike, or snowshoe rentals, stop by White Pine Touring, another local company I like that can also set you up with a guide or lessons.
Apres-ski is a beloved tradition in Park City, and I like to enjoy mine at a local wine bar or buy a bottle to take home. The author’s favorite place to stop for apres-ski in Park City is Old Town Cellars. Shutterstock/Sean PavoneApres-ski, which is a post-skiing get-together where you enjoy drinks and food, could be called a secondary activity in Park City, with no shortage of great bars and restaurants within easy distance from the mountain.
I’m more inclined to pick up a bottle of wine on the way home these days than to go out to a bar, and my favorite place to grab a bottle is from Old Town Cellars — they’re even open on Sundays when state-run liquor stores are closed. Known by locals simply as OTC, it’s a local winery and wine bar, located right on Main Street in Old Town Park City. With several wines and local brews on tap, and order-ahead charcuterie and snack boards, I think OTC is a perfect balance of class and casual.
I’ve found it has a local, intimate feel, and you can show up for a drink straight off the mountain. Their wines have names like Townie Rose and Mountain Town Red, which are my two favorites, and labels with images of the mountain range, skis, and more that reflect the town’s mountain lifestyle. For a night out full of small-town charm, I like to see a concert or show at The Egyptian Theatre.
The Egyptian Theatre in Park City has been around since the 1920s. Shutterstock/Michael GordonOne of my favorite concerts that I’ve ever been to in Park City was at The Egyptian Theatre at the top of Main Street. The Egyptian Theatre has been a Park City staple since the 1920s and after several updates and remodels, it’s a thriving home to the arts in town.
Each year, The Egyptian announces the Sundance Film Festival on its marquee and shows films there during the festival, along with other local venues. Throughout the rest of the year, it hosts a variety of well-known musicians, plays, musicals, and local comedy acts. I think the theatre makes for a unique and fun night out after a busy day of winter sports.
My favorite experience here was when my husband and I got tickets to see The Steeldrivers, a Nashville-based bluegrass band that country star Chris Stapleton was in before he went solo. We grabbed dinner at The Spur Bar & Grill before walking up the street to the show. The theater is small, so any seat will give you a close-up experience.
Another one of my treasured memories from Park City was a staycation with some girlfriends at the Stein Erikson Lodge in Deer Valley. The author and friends on their staycation at Deer Valley and Stein Erikson Lodge. Amanda BaselerOne of my favorite memories from the 12 years I lived in Park City was a staycation with some girlfriends at the Stein Erikson Lodge in Deer Valley.
Named after the Olympic skier, Stein Erikson, the lodge is decorated to honor its namesake’s Norwegian heritage and I think is unlike any other place in Park City, even taking top honors in 2022 from the World Ski Awards as the best ski hotel in the US. While this 5-star resort may seem over the top, with rooms during high season starting at around $600 a night and larger suites at around $2,000, there are plenty of ways to experience Stein Erikson for less, like just visiting to dine in for apres-ski, making reservations for brunch that overlooks the Deer Valley runs, or booking an appointment at their spa for a massage, haircut, or beauty treatment. When I visited here with my friends, we took the weekend to treat ourselves and celebrate a birthday.
We skied, ate, played games by the large stone fireplace in our suite, and experienced firsthand their famous Sunday brunch at their Glitretind Restaurant which offers everything from fresh-baked pastries to a full carving station, crab, salmon, fruit, and more in their luxurious, yet intimate, dining area that overlooks the slopes of Deer Valley. Staying at Steins to me felt like getting away on a little European vacation. Regardless of where you end up in Park City, with its plethora of shops, restaurants, history, lodging, and recreation, I guarantee it will leave you wanting to come back for more.
Read more from Insider’s guide to ski season: → I ski in the US every winter. Here’s how I pick the right ski resort for my budget, plus 13 tips that will help save money. → 12 beginner mistakes new skiers make and how to avoid them, according to a lifelong skier→ I’ve been skiing for 20 years.
Here are 9 items I always pack when I go on ski trips. → I’m an advanced skier who’s shredded mountains all over the Northeast. These 9 resorts are my favorites in the region for all budgets and ability levels.
→ I’ve been skiing across the Western US for over a decade. I think these 9 ski resorts are the best in the region. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/park-city-utah-what-to-do-skiing-apres-ski-activities-2022-12
