Downtown Salt Lake City is livelier than it used to be.
City Creek Center, a 23-acre mall-and-housing redevelopment project (retractable roof, trout pond, completed in 2013) is a big part of that, as is the Greenbike sharing program, also begun in 2013.
A loosening of liquor laws hasn’t hurt, either. As I found on a three-night visit in November with my wife and daughter, there are at least seven craft breweries downtown. Granted, this might not be enough to deter you from that snowboarding-skiing vacation up the hill in Park City. But after the slopes, you could allow yourself a downtown overnight and a few hours of playtime — and you might be pleasantly surprised.
The tab: $417 (excluding taxes and fees) for three nights at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center; $61 for light dinners at Squatters Pub; $9.95 per adult for admission to the Leonardo museum.
Round-trip airfare from Los Angeles International Airport about $188, including taxes and fees.
• The bed: Hilton Salt Lake City Center (255 South West Temple; 801-328-2000, www.lat.ms/1SKLU1i). There are no surprises in this big, boxy building (except perhaps the tasty steaks at Spencer’s restaurant). But in hotels, predictability isn’t such a bad thing. These rooms are an easy walk to the Salt Palace Convention Center, City Creek Center and the historic buildings of Temple Square. That includes the domed Mormon Tabernacle, a 19th century marvel (updated in the 2000s) in which the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (www.mormontabernaclechoir.org) performs and rehearses. Most Thursday nights from 8 to 9:30, you can wander into the Tabernacle (as I did) and eavesdrop on the rehearsing choir, the orchestra, the organ and the exhortations of conductor Mack Wilberg as he troubleshoots his way through a score. On the night I visited, the oak pews held perhaps 200 listeners in a space that seats 3,500.
