The Best Fun Things to Do in Salt Lake City, Utah

Head a few hours south of Salt Lake City to see over 2,000 natural sandstone structures at Arches National Park. Covering over 76,500 acres (31,000ha), the park is home to huge rocks and orange-hued bridges, fins and pinnacles. Hike or drive through this other-worldly landscape, formed over 65 million years ago, to see highlights like the Landscape Arch, Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch. If you’re short on time, the Windows Section of the park has some of the most staggering formations.

Around 80 percent of Zion National Park is a designated wilderness, perfect for hiking. Picture a vast landscape of red cliffs, high-altitude forests, plunging canyons and the gushing Virgin River. Famous trails include the Zion Narrows wading hike, Observation Point and the Emerald Pools. Zion is also known to have some of the best canyoneering in the country and is famous for its deep slot canyons. Spend a day swimming, rappelling and scrambling through this rocky wonderland.

The world’s first national park, Yellowstone, is a land of volcanic wonders. Since the park covers over 2.2 million acres (890,300ha) across three states, it’s best to focus on the highlights. Start with Yellowstone Caldera, site of a super volcano that erupted over 640,000 years ago. Its magmatic energy continues to power geothermal wonders like the famous cone geyser, Old Faithful. Then there’s Grand Prismatic spring, Yellowstone’s most photographed feature, with its steaming aqua pool encircled by bands of yellow, orange and green.