Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Salt Lake City and Denver are often compared on this website, whether the comparison is good or not is not for me to say.
The two cities seem to have a Seattle/Portland relationship where the cities are more alike than different but the smaller one clearly gets overshadowed by the larger.
Just wondering what are some things Salt Lake City offers that Denver can't match.
Salt Lake City has much better access to great skiing than Denver. From downtown Salt Lake City you are basically a quick 30 minute drive (or even a bus ride on public transit) away from world-class skiing. Snowbird is probably my favorite ski area in the entire US and Alta, Brighton, Solitude are great as well. From Denver you're not far from good skiing, but the closest areas to the metro area, Eldora and Echo are small hills. Summit County isn't that far away, but with weekend traffic the time to get there can be about the same time or longer as it takes me to get Mt. Hood from Portland. And honestly, I find the skiing (and snow) in Utah to be superior to the majority of Colorado resorts, especially for an expert skier/snowboarder like myself.
I also like the fact that SLC stretches right up the edge of the Wasatch..I find the scenery more spectacular than the high plains location of Denver with the Rockies off in the distance. Despite Denver's reputation as the hub of the Rocky Mountains, it's really situated on the edge of the Rockies in the Great Plains. Salt Lake City feels more like a real mountain city--and the Wasatch is much less crowded as well.
I also like the neighborhoods of Salt Lake City around downtown on the foothills of the Wasatch--like the nice Victorian homes in the Avenues District. Everything feels pretty convenient and close together. Denver feels more spread out. Acutally the comparison between Portland and Seattle isn't that far off.
People tend to forget that the mountains next to salt lake are A LOT SHORTER than what is next to Denver! Like 3/4 of a mile shorter! 10,000 versus 14,000 makes a big difference! Takes a bit of land to work your way up that hi! Also the whole distance to a ski resort thing is old! If it was such a big deal, than Denver would not BLOW AWAY any other city or state in the US in number of skier visits. I should say Colorado , not Denver. When I lived in Littleton (West side of Metro, I was only about an hour away. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things! Can you take a train to any ski resort in utah? Nope! Denver is more spread out because it is a much larger city! And as far as downtown areas, slc has nothing along the lines of parkhill, LoDo, Cap Hill, or PRV. But slc is def growing in the right way as a city! Great transit!
Salt Lake City has less crime than Denver, a lot less traffic, a lot less graffiti. Denver has mountains on one side, SLC is surrounded by mountains on all sides except on the NW corner where there's an inland sea (also something Denver doesn't have).
Downtown SLC is very safe and very easy to navigate. Big, wide avenues with very little traffic. And while Denver's new airport is larger, it's waaayyyy outside of town. SLC's airport is just a couple of minutes west of downtown.
Salt Lake City has fewer professional sports than Denver but has a major NCAA program just a few blocks east of downtown (the University of Utah). Denver's major NCAA programs are in other cities.
To the question of what advantages SLC has over Denver...
1. Cost of living is less in SLC
2. The mountains, (as pointed out above are not as high, but much closer to the metro)
3. The weather is not as extreme (fewer storms, less wild swings in hi/lo)
4. More family-friendly.
5. More conservative (you make your own judgement on whether that is an advantage)
The big difference to me is size. Denver is nearly twice the size of Salt Lake City, they have more pro sports and generally more things to do and see and there seems to be a lot more to do in the Mountains near Denver vs SLC. I like SLC, it's just a bit on the small and conservative side for my taste. Everybody should do a bobsled at park city once before they die though .
The mountains around SLC are beautiful but one thing to remember is that those beautiful mountains and the narrow valley the city is in harbor some of the dirtiest air in the United States especially during winter time.
People tend to forget that the mountains next to salt lake are A LOT SHORTER than what is next to Denver! Like 3/4 of a mile shorter! 10,000 versus 14,000 makes a big difference! Takes a bit of land to work your way up that hi! Also the whole distance to a ski resort thing is old! If it was such a big deal, than Denver would not BLOW AWAY any other city or state in the US in number of skier visits. I should say Colorado , not Denver. When I lived in Littleton (West side of Metro, I was only about an hour away. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things! Can you take a train to any ski resort in utah? Nope! Denver is more spread out because it is a much larger city! And as far as downtown areas, slc has nothing along the lines of parkhill, LoDo, Cap Hill, or PRV. But slc is def growing in the right way as a city! Great transit!
Utah has over 300 peaks above 10,000 - highest being 13,500 (Snowbird itself peaks around 11,500)... Highest Mountains in Utah
Further, keep in mind SLC's elevation is about 1000 ft lower than the mile high, thus look at the net.
Do you ski? If so, you wouldn't discredit the proximity of the SLC resorts. Also, keep in mind we average 100" more snow. Once again, skiers recognize this fact.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
