Park City was founded in 1869 as a silver-mining town. It claimed the second-largest silver strike ever in the U.S., and by 1900 was home to 10,000 residents and 100 saloons. Most of the prospectors left when the silver market crashed in the Depression though, and by the end of the second World War, Park City was nearly a ghost town.

That's almost hard to believe now, though the city's mining past is obvious in the colorfully restored Victorian clapboard homes that surround Main Street. Park City plays host to approximately a half million visitors each year, though only about 7,500 call it home.

Though people had already been skiing the hills around town for years, resort skiing officially arrived just before Christmas 1963, when the United Park City Mines opened Treasure Mountain with a Gondola, the Prospector Double Chair, and two J-bar tows.

Park City is now home to three world-class winter resorts, Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley and The Canyons,all within five miles of each other and logs over a million skier days a year between the three. Park City and Deer Valley were awarded host venue status for the 2002 Winter Olympics Games, and ever since the area has enjoyed increased popularity along with other Utah winter resorts. Last year, the state enjoyed its busiest ski season in Utah's 65-year skiing history.

Park City boasts over 100 restaurants and bars, dozens of shops and galleries, with all the variety and quality you would expect in a world-class resort town. Grappa is a hot pick for fine Italian dining. Located at the top of Park City's Main Street, with lots of windows and a rich Tuscan interior design, Grappa has won Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence for the last seven years. If, like many seasoned travelers, you're a fan of discovering a little joint that only locals seem to know about, El Chubasco, near Prospector Square, is the spot for great Mexican meals on the cheap - and you're not likely to run into your fellow tourists.

Now that the Olympics are over, The Sundance Film Festival is the place to be if you want to catch Park City's best-known event. For a few weeks each January "The People In Black" (local slang for film industry types) descend on Park City to show, see and talk about the hottest new independent films on the continent, and around the world.

Park City is located just 36 easy miles from Salt Lake City International Airport.






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***The Canyons*"Largest Resort in Utah!"

**** Deer Valley*#1 resort in North America in 2001

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