travelUnited States

72 Hours In Park City Utah

This post contains affiliate links. We may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.

We are still talking about how awesome our time in Dear Valley/Park City was and today I am sharing how to spend 72 hours in in the Park City area. Thanks again to Montage Deer Valley for hosting us on this wonderful adventure!

20150825_182649

We have found that 72 hours to be a good amount of time to spend in each city we visit.

Of course we would love to spend more time, but with everyone’s schedule that seems to be a good compromise. We have a good amount of time to explore, but we aren’t away for too long. It also makes it possible to take more adventures each month since we can break up our 8+ days of travel into at least two trips.

Planning this trip was really easy.

We’ve heard amazing things about Deer Valley and more specifically the Montage Resort so we knew where we wanted to stay. The resort is about 45 very easy to drive miles from the Salt Lake City airport and there are direct flights from many different cities, including our home airport of San Diego. We could have stayed at the resort the whole time and filled our days with tons of fun… but because we were only 10 minutes from Park City we decided to venture down that way too. 

This is just a sampling of what you can do and see in Park City over 72 hours:

day 3 4

After we checked in to the Montage Resort we headed down to historic Main Street. 

There is shopping, dining, museums, art galleries and more. Start at one end of the street and walk all the way down, then switch sides. If you get tired there are buses that run up and down the street and they are free to ride. They are funded from the revenue from when the Olympics were in town.

20150822_131606

Take a tour of Main Street while you are there. The Park City Museum has guided history tours and evening ghost tours. We took the guided ghost tour (don’t laugh) and we loved it. The girls all enjoyed it too. It wasn’t scary, more educational and spoke of different historical events that happened in the town. Our guide made it really fun. I’ve learned that the girls absorb more about history from these types of experiences than just reading about them so we try to include them whenever possible.
20150823_195450

Go see the BANKSY artwork on Main Street. 

It’s well preserved (after it was vandalized last year) and really fun to see.

20150822_121059

See the Egyptian Theater.

This is the premier destination during the Sundance Film Festival and really fun to see during the off season. It hosts numerous live performances throughout the year too!
20150824_173349

Spend an afternoon in the Park City Museum.

This was one of the best museums we’ve ever been to. From the perspective of a five year old to teens and then to us adults, we all really enjoyed it. Emmy loved the hands on activities and learning all about the mines and the miners that worked in them.

They had exhibits that showed what a general store would look like at the turn of the century and an interactive mine shaft that showed how it worked… and how dangerous it was.

Pete and I found the area about the great fire of June 1898 very interesting (and sad). Having experienced wild fires here in San Diego we couldn’t even imagine the destruction to the lives of these hard working people with this fire and it was a good history and humanity lesson for us. 

day 3 2day 3 3

The museum has been many things in the past including the fire station and the jail. You can tour the jail in the basement and it is still in it’s original condition after surviving the fires that brought down much of the original city.

It appears that the girls did not enjoy the jail… but Pete did?

day3 4

The museum has a very robust gift shop and the girls all brought home rocks!

day 3 1

After a day spent on Main Street we were hungry.

Thankfully there are many fine dining options. We even found some vegan options! To pick our meals we just noted different restaurants (after checking out their menus because they change often and with the season) and then went back when it was time to eat.

20151024_130440

Early morning hikes are a must!

Pete and the girls did a couple on their own and I joined them on some too. The beautiful trees and  the smell of the forest were something I’ll never forget. We were advised to steer clear of any Moose we might run into… and thankfully we didn’t have any close encounters on our hikes. 

6

However, on our first night I Was sitting out on this balcony and it was just about completely dark outside when I noticed something moving right below me… it was a HUGE Moose. There wasn’t enough light to take a picture of it but it was a magical moment. I whispered to Emmy and Ashley to come and onto the balcony and they too were able to see it before it meandered around the side and out of sight! 

20150822_110450 (1)

No trip to the mountains is complete without s’mores. Make sure you have one or two or three!

20150822_202657

Bring your cameras!

Emmy wore one to record us going on slides and the chair lift for a scenic experience. Different activities are open at different times of the year. From skiing (of course) to sledding, roller coasters, slides, climbing, bike riding and more!

20150823_114405 20150823_121019

Back at the Montage resort we played ping-pong in the sports store and then did archery! They offered many other activities too so plan some time to enjoy the resort.
day 3 7 day3

Thanks for reading! Have you been to Park City? What was your favorite thing to do?

Heather Reese
the authorHeather Reese
Heather Delaney Reese is the storyteller and photographer behind the lifestyle and family travel blog, It's a Lovely Life®! For the past decade, she has vacationed over 150 days a year with her family. She is a vegan, and loves being by the water, spending time with her children, husband, 2 Shih Tzus and Cat.

62 Comments

Comments are closed.