UTAH (USA)

Write a review or view peoples experiences in Utah	Hotels	Flights	Car Hire/Rental	Tickets & Attractions in Utah

Bryce Canyon	Salt Lake City
Monument Valley	Zion

With the biggest, most beautiful and most pristine landscapes in North America, Utah has something for everyone: from brilliantly colored canyons, across endless desert plains, to thickly wooded and snow-covered mountains. This unmatched range of terrain, almost all of which is public land, makes Utah the place to come for outdoor pursuits , whether your tastes run to hiking, off-track mountain biking, whitewater rafting or skiing.

A land of extremes, Utah holds a special appeal for outdoor enthusiasts, encompassing a wide variety of landscapes and fascinating geological formations that offer unlimited opportunities for outdoor recreation. Most of the state is situated on a plateau above 4,000ft (1,219m), but the elevations rise and fall spectacularly across snow-covered mountains and deep river canyons. The most significant sights and attractions have been formed by the dramatic forces of nature, creating ruggedly beautiful, multicoloured canyons, eroded rock sculptures, red desert plains, forested mountains and snow-capped peaks. Southern Utah has five breathtaking national parks, including Zion and Bryce Canyon, which draw the most visitors, but the lesser-known parks are just as spectacular.

The Anglo settlement of Utah began with the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake area in 1847, led by Brigham Young. Today more than 70 percent of the population belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, congregants of which are known as the Mormons. The Mormon heritage defines the state's modern culture and many perceive Utah as a region stuck in a time warp due to the strong church influence, emphasis on family values, and a notoriously strict attitude regarding the drinking of alcohol. But the people are friendly and unpretentious, the crime rate is low and there are many beautiful places of interest to visit.

Salt Lake City is a modern metropolis regarded as one of the top business environments in the country, as well as being the spiritual hub of the Mormon religion, home to the sacred Temple and the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Its proximity to the Wasatch Mountains makes it a popular base for winter and summer outdoor recreation, and nearby resorts like Park City, Sundance and Snowbird offer superb powder snow and Olympic-class skiing.

Southern Utah has more national parks than anywhere else in the US; in fact it has often been suggested that the entire area should become one vast national park. The most accessible parts - such as Zion and Bryce Canyon - are by far the most visited, but lesser-known parks like Arches and Canyonlands are every bit as dramatic. Huge tracts of this empty desert, in which beautiful pre-Columbian pictographs and Ancestral Puebloan ruins lie hidden, are all but unexplored; seeing them in safety requires a good degree of advance planning and self-sufficiency.

In the northeast of the state, the Uinta Mountains remain uncrossed by road and form one of the most extensive wilderness areas in the US outside Alaska, while Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur preserve more desert splendor. Though the northwest is predominantly flat and dry, the granite mountains of the Wasatch Front tower over state capital Salt Lake City - a surprisingly attractive and enjoyable stopover - while Alta, Snowbird and the resorts around Park City offer some of the best skiing in North America.

It's nearly impossible to get anywhere in Utah without your own car . Amtrak and Greyhound serve Salt Lake City and a few provincial towns, but practically nowhere else. However, a couple of firms offer bus tours of the national parks, and if you're feeling adventurous, southern Utah also has an unbeatable range of mountain biking, river rafting, even hot-air ballooning opportunities.