It’s also home to one of the country’s best aquariums, the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, which features multiple exhibit halls hosting not just marine life but flora and fauna from around the world. The facility is involved in multiple species conservation efforts, including maintaining a reserve population of the western toad and housing a bonded pair of Asian small‑clawed otter named Kai and Emmie. I took my 4-year-old daughter in October and it was nearly impossible to get her out of the place – and as someone often skeptical of zoos and other places that keep animals in enclosures, it was encouraging to see the LLPA’s conservation efforts front and center.
There’s plenty on the calendar for Salt Lake City in 2026 that adds to its year-round draws. It’s co-hosting the final Sundance Film Festival in Utah from January 22 to February 1 before the festival heads to Boulder, Colorado in 2027. The city also just welcomed the NHL’s Utah Mammoth after the franchise relocated from Phoenix and rebranded itself. Salt Lake City International Airport will gain 11 new gates in 2026, welcomed daily flights to Seoul, the city’s first daily nonstop connection to Asia, in 2025.
Of course, many visitors base themselves here to explore the Wasatch Mountains — head 15 minutes up Emigration Canyon to Emigration Brewing Co., where the pan-seared crab cakes and Neapolitan pizzas steal the show from the beer. Downtown SLC is home to a collection of great hotels, including the iconic Grand America and the recently remodeled Hyatt Regency, which is connected to the Salt Palace Convention Center. 