11 Most Loved Tourist Attractions In Utah
Utah is loved for its marveling outdoors, distinguished by striking rock formations, arches, vast wilderness, canyons, and salt lakes. Hence, most tourists to this state are always looking forward to exciting and adventurous pursuits in the great outdoors, especially in parks like Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Arches National Parks. However, there are a few historical lures and other attractions beyond the wild landscapes of Utah, like the Natural History Museum, Hogle Zoo, and Thanksgiving Point, which are also favorites for locals and tourists. Visiting this iconic Mormon state of wonders? Find some of its most loved tourist attractions to explore.
Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City
The Natural History Museum of Utah is a fascinating attraction that engulfs visitors with screams of curiosity right from its terrace. This museum highlights the natural history of Utah and its jaw-dropping landscapes through various exhibits, displays, and artifacts. Even the state's dinosaur history and artifacts are represented here. For science enthusiasts and researchers, the museum is a one-stop destination for everything science and its related endeavors.
From botany, ethnography, and invertebrate zoology to mineralogy and paleontology, the museum is a huge bank of knowledge about the world. With nearly 2 million collections of objects, it is, no doubt, one of the most amazing places to visit, not just in Utah but in the US.
Dinosaur National Monument
The Dinosaur National Monument is an iconic point of interest along the border between Colorado and Utah and at the confluence of the Yampa and Green Rivers. This monument is a critical draw in Utah for dinosaur enthusiasts as it houses over 1,500 fossils from the late Jurassic period. These fossils are engraved into the sandstone in a place known as the Dinosaur Quarry within the Uinta Mountains. In addition to the dinosaur bones, the monument preserves petroglyphs left behind by the area’s early people.
Meanwhile, the monument also has hiking trails for visitors to explore the dinosaur landscape and see petroglyphs, while the Green and Yampa Rivers are perfect for rafting adventures. So whether you are an adventurer, a lover of Jurassic-era wonders, or an archaeology enthusiast, this monument has something for you.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
The Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Kanab features a few of the elements of a quintessential Utah landscape; red sandstone cliffs and dunes. However, this park differs remarkably from others due to the pink color of its dunes, which is a wonder and a draw for tourists and locals alike. With red sandstone cliffs towering into the skies and pink dunes at their feet, the scenery is just magical.
Visitors can roam the vast colored dunes to feel like ancient Arabian desert explorers and nomads or ride ATVs to explore the beautiful scenery like Indiana Jones. In addition, sandboarding is one of the most popular and thrilling activities in the park, and rental equipment is available. Notably, the park features the iconic Coral Pink Sand Dunes Beetles, which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Camping and horseback riding are also offered here.
Sand Hollow State Park
Sand Hollow State Park is a beautiful park in Sand Mountain, near the town of Hurricane and around the Sand Hollow Reservoir. The park combines the enchanting scenery of a blue lake and the dramatic red sandstone landscapes of typical Utah to stun visitors. Thus, it stands out as an oasis in a desert and offers a beach-like experience. Tourists can enjoy water sports like boating, kayaking, fishing, paddle boarding, and swimming on the lake.
In addition, miles of gorgeous soft dunes overlap the water and serve as a beach for picnics, strolls, sunset watching, and sunbathing. Visitors to the park can also camp or embark on off-road ATV rides across the expansive dunes.
Thanksgiving Point, Lehi
Thanksgiving Point is a fascinating tourist attraction in Utah that is different from its canyon-like landscapes. This is a farm, garden, and museum complex that features notable and intriguing attractions like the Ashton Gardens, Butterfly Biosphere, and Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life. The 50-acre Ashton Gardens is the park's highlight attraction, featuring the largest man-made waterfall in America and several gardens organized like rooms with grasses and shrubs serving as the partitions.
This museum is also home to Utah’s original corn maze in autumn and a tulip festival in spring. Meanwhile, other attractions like the Museum of Natural Curiosity, Curiosity Farms, and the Carousel make this destination a draw to every visitor in Utah, especially families.
Hogle Zoo, Salt Lake City
Hogle Zoo offers visitors an immersion into the amazing world of wildlife in the Mormon State. Visitors of all ages are welcome to explore the zoo's diversity of animals in various categories, such as Great Apes, African Savannah, Primate Forest, Rocky Shores, and Asian Highlands. Some prominent and rare animals to check out include the Amur tiger, Bornean orangutan, polar bear, white rhinoceros, and western lowland gorilla.
Overall, the zoo is home to 800 different animals from 250 species, a zoo class, a restaurant, and a gift shop to purchase souvenirs. It is the perfect destination to visit with family, have fun, interact with animals, and gain a fresh perspective on life in the animal kingdom.
Dead Horse Point State Park
Dead Horse Point State Park is a destination beautified by large canyon walls rising 2,000 feet above the Colorado River and spreading over a desert landscape as far as the eyes can see. Visitors can capture these charming views from the park's overlook, which is one of the most photographed places in the world.
This main overlook offers scenic views of the Colorado River winding around one of the canyons in a gooseneck shape and views of Canyonlands National Park from 2,000 feet above ground. Visitors can even step down from the overlook and explore the park’s seven miles of trails to come up close to the geological marvels. These trails run along the East and Western Rims of the canyons, with different overlooks to savor views of these natural wonders. Notably, the park is an International Dark Sky Park with incredibly clear night skies.
Zion National Park
Zion National Park is one of Utah's most loved national parks, defined by red rock cliffs, imposing canyon walls, waterfalls, and rivers. The park also holds the reputation as the first national park in the state, and it is a hiker’s haven. Some of the easiest trails are in the Zion Canyon section of the park, which is also the most visited. These include Pa’rus (3.5 miles), Grotto (1 mile), and Riverside (2.2 miles), which follows the Virgin River. Some trails, like Lower and Middle Emerald Pool Trail, lead to gorgeous emerald pools and waterfalls formed by the flowing Virgin River.
Angel’s Landing via West Rim Trail (5.4 miles) is also a popular trail with breathtaking views but not for the fainthearted. For laid-back tourists, the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive courses through the heart of the park to forest trails along the Virgin River while offering some of the park's finest views.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park stands out for its dazzling colors of cream, orange, pink, cinnamon, and red sandstone pillars known as hoodoos. Each pillar is usually adorned in at least three of the colors, arranged horizontally like a color palette or spectrum, making it more picturesque. These spectacles decorate the floors of the park’s landscape like a natural amphitheater, spearing out of the valley and displaying their sun-kissed colors on a hot afternoon.
Various hiking trails crisscross the park to explore and see these charming sandstone pillars, notably the Rim Trail (5.5 miles), which winds past all the park’s scenic overlooks. Thankfully, laid-back tourists can also capture the views on a scenic drive that runs 18 miles through the otherworldly landscape and features several overlooks, including Sunset Point, Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, and Sunrise Point.
Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City
The Great Salt Lake is as popular as Utah, and its reputation as America's Dead Sea sometimes precedes the state. The lake is the largest inland lake west of the Mississippi River, at 75 miles long, 35 miles wide, and 34 feet deep. Naturally, recreational activities are abundant around the lake, such as kayaking, swimming, sunbathing, watching the sunset, picnicking, and sailing and boating from its two marinas.
Enjoy these activities on Antelope Island State Park, one of the lake’s islands, which also offers access to its beaches, hiking and biking trails. Wildlife is also present in the lake, especially in Antelope Island State Park, which features coyotes, bison, antelope, and deer. The lake is also a bird watcher’s paradise as it attracts large numbers of migratory birds. Interestingly, and like the famous Dead Sea on the Jordan-Israel border, visitors can float in the water without sinking due to its high salt content.
Arches National Park
The 76,000-acre Arches National Park embodies the striking landscapes that Utah is known for. The park is famed for its natural arches, numbering over 2,000, the highest in the world. These sandstone arches are simply astonishing and will leave you wondering how dramatic nature can be. They decorate the park in a variety of shapes and sizes, with soft dunes serving as backgrounds and complementing their magnificence. The highlight of all arches is the Delicate Arch, taking the shape of a horseshoe and dominating the sky with its imposing frame.
Other notable attractions in the park include Double Arch, Landscape Arch, Fiery Furnace, Balanced Rock, and Devil's Garden. Many hiking trails lead to these arches, but a more relaxing way to enjoy the views is by taking scenic drives around the park. For those who would still love a good hike, the Landscape Arch (1.8 miles), Broken Arch (1.2 miles), and Delicate Arch (0. 5 miles) trails are worth the trek.
Utah is an incredible destination blessed with incredible landscapes and photo-worthy attractions that leave pleasant memories in the hearts of visitors. From the Great Salt Lake to the world's largest concentration of arches, the Beehive State is packed with hair-raising sights and sounds for every visitor and some of the most loved tourist attractions. History, culture, wildlife, and some green scenery are also in the mix for the relaxed tourists, making Utah a home for just anyone.
