Park City has become a major ski destination due to its proximity to Salt Lake City and its Champagne powder snow. Maybe you don't want to ski every day, or maybe there's a non-skier in your group. Fortunately for you, there are plenty of fun winter activities to do in Park City, Utah besides skiing, from snow sports to shopping and spas.
This guide will show you the best of the best and give you enough information to find the rest. We've also included a handy interactive map with every location we mention in this guide and more!
Downtown Park City
Morning, noon or night, downtown Park City is a delight. It's a historic mining town with a serious skateboarding problem, or at least an obsession. Park City Mountain Resort is America's largest ski resort, with 17 slopes, 14 dips, 300 runs and 22 miles of lifts. Deer Valley is not far behind, with plans to expand to 37 ski lifts serving 238 ski runs. Downtown Park City is landlocked between steep mountains and giant ski resorts.
Parking in Park City isn't fun, but walking the historic streets, quaint shops and boutique galleries is quite the opposite, and is a perfect way for non-skiers to spend a winter's day. Fortunately, you won't have any problems getting to Main Street between the hotel buses and the free Park City Trolley.
Massage/spa
Park City has you covered if you think the best snow day is a spa day. In town you'll find The Spa at Hotel Park City, TripAdvisor's #1 rated wellness activity in Park City. There's also Alpen + Hyde at the historic Treasure Mountain Inn right on Main Street.
Hotels in each Deer Valley base area have five-star spas: Stein Eriksen Lodge, Montage Deer Valley, and Remede Spa at the St. Regis. Canyon Village has a range of spas, including RockResorts Spa at The Grand Summit, Serenity Spa by Westgate, and Spa Pendry Park City. We love skiing for two days and taking a day off to recover is the perfect time to schedule a spa treatment to get ready for another great day of skiing.
Park City Restaurant
Dining in Park City is a culinary experience that goes beyond just putting food in your belly. The restaurants are diverse, thematic and of high quality.
In downtown, you'll find favorite restaurants like Riverhorse on Main and Tupelo Park City serving European and American classics with regionally sourced beef, fish, wild game, and lamb.
In winter, Deer Valley offers an extensive seafood buffet and chops, as well as fireside dining, which transforms the Empire Lodge into a European Alpine-inspired restaurant.
You can also find dinners mixed with entertainment, such as the Snowed Inn Sleigh Company, which serves Western-style dining and live music accompanied by sleigh rides into the mountains. If you're looking for a more contemporary experience, Prime Steakhouse & Piano Bar offers great food and live music.
Sleigh ride
I don't know why, but hurtling through the snow in a one-horse sleigh makes me think I'm going to laugh the whole way. Of course, you have a lot of options. Some of our favorites are:
Dog carts
I was medically unable to ski for 15 years and felt like I had lost a part of my soul. Snowboarding felt so much like skiing that I was crying tears of joy at the end of my trip. The pure joy and liveliness of these powerful puppies added to the feeling.
North Forty Escapes is a 10,000-acre private ranch at 10,000+ feet elevation, with miles of trails winding through forests and pristine fields. Your Park City dog sledding adventure can be one hour-long trip or split between two trips, which is ideal if you have a lot of young children.
Dog sledding options include:
Snowboarding
If you want to go faster and farther, attach a motor to this sled and go snowboarding. North Forty Escapes offers a two-hour guided tour that includes track time and the popular free play in the meadow.
Park City snowboarding tour operators include:
Cross country skiing
If gliding silently through serene landscapes is your style, you'll love Park City's 40-plus miles of cross-country skiing trails. If you don't bring your own skis, you can rent them from a local store or even book a guided tour.
Popular trails include:
Riding fat tire bikes
The problem with cross-country skiing as a break from downhill skiing is that you're still skiing. Riding fat tire bikes allows you to hit trails and other muscle groups at the same time. While you're at the store, be sure to ask them about trails that are closed to bikes, like White Pine, and other trails that aren't groomed per se but can be ridden, like the Glenwild Trail Network.
Some of the best places to rent fat tire bikes in Park City are:
Snowshoeing
If you get tired of slipping on the snow, you can always go snowshoeing. It's like hiking, but the boots keep you floating on the snow. You don't need a prepared path, just a path and a desire to move forward.
Some of the best places to go snowshoeing in Park City are:
- Gamble Oak Loop: A 4.1-mile loop starting in Park City
- East Connector 224: 3.8 mile trail from Willow Creek to Swaner Nature Preserve
- McLeod Creek Trail: Traverse from Matt Knoop Park to Willow Creek and beyond
- Round Valley Loop: A 4.5 mile loop with many options available
Utah Olympic Park
Utah Olympic Park is home to two fantastic museums, the Eccles 2002 Winter Olympics Museum and the Alf Engen Ski Museum. Eccles tempers the passion and pomp of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. You can see an actual gold medal and even hold the Olympic torch. The Alf Engen Ski Museum honors the region's skiing traditions and shows you why Utah has the best snow on Earth. What's more? Both of these museums are free!
Snowboarding
Utah Olympic Park has one of only four zipline tracks in North America. A professional driver can take you to the track at speeds of up to 70 mph, where you'll experience 5G turns! As you can see, you can still go fast and have fun without skis!!
pipes
If you're not cold enough to snowboard, or even if you are, tubes are totally tubular. Park City has several public sledding and tubing hills, but you'll need to bring your own equipment and walk up the hill. Why not enjoy a game of tubing at Woodward Park City?
Woodward Park City offers two magic carpets to take you to the expanded tubing lanes down the longest tubing trails in Utah.
skiing
There are five disciplines for snowboarding at the Olympic Games and five categories for alpine skiing. A lazy writer could use this as evidence that snowboarding is no less popular than skiing. Perhaps this is why Park City has two major ski resorts and two ice rinks. Makes you wonder… If you find yourself asking (or singing) what Brian Boitano would do, it's that he'll go snowboarding every time.
The sad truth about snowboarding is that the ice is better indoors, but the scenery is better outside. You have both options available in Park City. Park City Ice Rink is an indoor rink at the Park City Sports Complex. The Resort Center Ice Skating Rink is an outdoor skating rink located in the center of the Mountain Village base area.
After skiing
Don't let the name fool you. You can go skiing, sledding or any other winter sport. If you wear your technical gear, no one will know the difference! You can shoot snow around all your powder operations and champagne snow in Utah. You can also joke about skiers making two runs in a white puffy jacket before returning to the lodge to wait for après ski. Then again, you can always do that, lol! Each base area has some après-ski activities, as well as downtown Park City.
Some of our favorite après-ski spots are:
Wrapping up Park City activities for non-skiers
As you can see, Park City has a lot to offer skiers and non-skiers alike. Whether you want to relax and enjoy your wonderful accommodations, seek active adventures, or delicious cuisine, you're sure to find something fun to do in Park City in the winter, even without sliding down the mountain on a plank or two.
Hello! We are Jane and Ed Coleman also known as Coleman Concierge. In short, we are a 10th generation couple from Huntsville sharing our stories of amazing adventures through transformative and experiential activity-based travel.
