To Plan A Trip

Park City lies just 31 miles from Salt Lake City, so it is easy to get to within a day from anywhere in the country. The ski season begins in late November and lasts until mid-April. It offers countless lodging and dining choices, mainly at resort prices. The finest places to stay include the chateau-style Goldener Hirsch Inn (800-252-3373) and the Scandinavian-themed Stein Eriksen Lodge (800-453-1302), both on the mountain at Deer Valley Resort (800-424-DEER; www.deervalley.com ). In town, the Washington School Inn (800-824-1672) fills an 1889 limestone schoolhouse with thoroughly up-to-date rooms. Most of the best restaurants, including Zoom Roadhouse Grill (435-649-9108), are along Main Street.

Stop in at the Park City Museum and Territorial Jail (801-649-6100), also on Main Street, and pick up a brochure with a walking tour of town—or lead your own by reading the plaques up and down Main. Personalized tours, as well as event planning, are available from Utah Escapades (435-649-9949), run by an energetic and accommodating local woman named Sally Elliott who can personally claim credit for a great deal of the historic preservation both in town and on the slopes. Also, good general information is available from the Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau (800-453-1360; www.parkcityinfo.com ) and the Utah Travel Council (801-538-1030; www.utah.com ).

At Park City Mountain Resort (800-222-PARK; www.parkcitymountain.com ), the historical ski tour leaves daily at 10:00 A.M. and is free; just show up. Deer Valley gives tours at 10:00 A.M. and 1:30 P.M. (9:30 and 1:30 for expert skiers) that are also free but barely historical, though there are mining remnants to see there too. And there’s more skiing at the Canyons (435-649-5400; www.thecanyons.com ). If after these exertions you want to get away from it all, pick up a historical-driving-tour brochure at the museum, head out past the reservoir, through the quiet Utah ranching town of Heber, and drop in on Robert Redford’s beautiful and remote-feeling Sundance Resort, with its own private ski mountain, superb dining, and elegant guest cabins (801-225-4107; www.sundanceresort.com ).