Historic Hot Spots

• The world's first transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory, where the Central pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met on May 10, 1869. The location is now known as Golden Spike National Historic Site.

• The town of Beaver has a designated national Historic District with over 30 significant buildings from log cabins to unique basalt rock houses.

• Castle Gate is located in Price Canyon, just a short distance from the central Utah town of Helper. It was here in 1897 that Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch stole $8,000 from the Pleasant Valley Coal Company payroll. Many consider this to be their most daring robbery ever.

• Topaz War Relocation Center, eight miles west of Delta, housed over 10,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

• In Garden City, a historic marker designates a portion of the first Oregon Trail. Well marked wagon ruts and stories of Indians and Settlers indicate that the first wagon migration to “Oregon” followed the Southwesterly shores of Bear Lake.

National Parks & Monuments

Arches National Park

This desert landscape, accentuated by 2,000 natural stone arches, stands silent against the alpine backdrop of the La Sal Mountains.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Not really a canyon, the Bryce amphitheater is characterized by its thousands of pillars, columns, windows and hoodoos, all delicately carved by millions of years of erosion by wind and sand.

Canyonlands National Park

View thousands of feet down to the Colorado and Green Rivers or thousands of feet up to the redrock pinnacles, cliffs and spires in Utah's largest and most diverse national park.

Capital Reef National Park

Capital Reef comprises 378 square miles of colorful canyons, ridges, buttes and monoliths. About 75 miles of the long up-thrust called the Waterpocket Fold, extending like a rugged spine from Thousand Lake Plateau southward to Lake Powell, is preserved within the park boundary.

Zion National Park

Named by early Mormon pioneers, “Zion” means the “promised land,” which is the perfect way to describe Zion's peaceful yet dramatic landscape of sculptured canyons and soaring cliffs.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Cedar Breaks, situated at an elevation of 10,000 feet, is a spectacular sandstone amphitheater that will amaze any visitor.

Natural Bridges National Monument

Features three natural river-carved bridges connected by a nine-mile drive round trip.

Dinosaur National Monument

Dinosaur National Monument is the largest quarry of Jurassic Period dinosaur bones ever discovered, at more than 200,000 acres and 350 million tons of discovered fossils.

Rainbow Bridge National Monument

Lake Powell is surrounded by canyons, inlets and coves all sheltering Indian ruins and other natural wonders. It is also home to Rainbow Bridge National Monument, the largest natural bridge in the world and a site considered sacred to the native peoples of the Navajo Nation.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Proclaimed a National Monument by President Clinton in 1996, this 1.7 million acre park is larger than the state of Delaware! A land of bold plateaus and multi-hued cliffs, the Grand Staircase was the last place in the Continental U.S. to be mapped.

Timpanogos Cave National Monument

The northern slope of Mount Timpanogos is comprised of three limestone caverns connected by man-made tunnels. Stalactites, stalagmites, dripstone and flowstone litter the caves making a spectacle well worth the 1.5-mile hike to get there.

Hovenweep National Monument

Built by pre-Puebloan Indians over 1,500 years ago, the ruins at Hovenweep spread over a 20-mile expanse of mesa tops and canyons.

Eat & Drink

• There are over 7,000 restaurants in Utah.

• Since 1986, the number of breweries in Utah has grown from zero to 18.

• Utah wineries produce both fruit and grape wines.

• In 2007, High West Distillery & Saloon in Park City became Utah's first legal distillery since 1870.

• You must be 21 to purchase or consume alcoholic beverages in Utah. Alcoholic beverages (wine, liquor, and beer) are available two ways in Utah: by the drink, or packaged by the bottle.

• Mixed drinks and wine may be ordered with food in most restaurants from noon to 1:00 a.m., and beer may be ordered from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Patrons may be served at their tables or in waiting areas.

• Taverns and beer establishments sell beer from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. This includes a variety of venues: taverns, lounges, cabarets, nightclubs, cafes, bowling centers, golf courses, etc. Beer may be purchased without ordering food and is sold on draft and in bottles and cans. Beer sales "to go" are also allowed, but not in open containers.

• Packaged beer is also available at supermarkets, grocery and convenience stores. The maximum alcohol content is 4 percent by volume, or 3.2 percent by weight for draft beer sold in taverns, beer establishments and packaged in retail stores.

• Packaged liquor, wine, and heavy beer "to go" are sold at state liquor stores throughout Utah. Additionally, some of the finest wines in the world are sold at three wine stores in Salt Lake City.

• State liquor stores are closed on Sundays.

Getting to Utah

Plane

Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) is the westernmost hub for Delta Air Lines, which offers nonstop service from 109 different destinations, most in the western United States, but also from medium-sized cities in the central U.S. and the large cities on the east coast. Nonstop service is also available from Paris-De Gaulle.

American Airlines, Continental, United, US Airways, and low cost airlines Southwest and JetBlue also serve Salt Lake City.

Cedar City (CDC) in central Utah is served with prop service to Salt Lake City, and St. George (SGU) in southern Utah has prop service to Salt Lake City and Los Angeles.

Canyonlands Field (CNY) (serving the Moab area) has service to Ely, Nevada (ELY) and Denver on Great Lakes Airlines.

Car

Take I-15 from Southern California and Las Vegas. It also enters from Idaho to the north, eventually connecting to Canada.

 I-80 connects west to Reno and northern California. The route begins in San Francisco. It also connects from Wyoming near Evanston, providing the quickest route from Denver to Salt Lake City.

 I-70 heads straight west from Denver, entering Utah near Grand Junction and providing quick access to the incredible desert terrain of southern Utah, although not to any of the urban centers.

Train

Amtrak runs the California Zephyr from Emeryville to Chicago, stopping in Green River, Helper, Provo and Salt Lake City