Strategic Stays: The Best Hotels for
First-Time Sightseers
Radisson Downtown
Salt Lake City
For the visitor looking to sightsee with "utmost convenience," this is the undisputed champion. Recently renovated in 2019, this 15-story hotel offers 381 modern rooms.
The Walkability Radius: It is nearly attached to the north side of the Salt Palace Convention Center, but crucially, it is the side closest to Temple Square (one block away). You are also just half a block from the TRAX light rail station, which provides a direct link to Salt Lake International Airport.
Whether you are walking to the Vivint Arena (home of the Utah Jazz) or heading to City Creek Mall, the Radisson serves as the perfect geometric center for a downtown itinerary.
Hyatt Regency
Salt Lake City
If you prefer glass-and-steel modernity over historic charm, this is your choice. It is a towering 26 stories tall with 700 rooms, making it one of the largest hotels in the city.
Convention & Shopping Access: For convention attendees, it is as close as it gets—it is physically adjoined to the Salt Palace Convention Center. But for leisure travelers, the location is equally strategic. You are located just two blocks from the city's #1 attraction, Temple Square, and only one block from the upscale City Creek Shopping Center.
The Foodie Factor: Beyond the hotel's own amenities, this location puts you in the culinary center of the city. Many of Salt Lake’s best restaurants are within an easy walk of just two blocks in any direction.
Salt Lake Marriott Downtown
at City Creek
Location. It’s really unbeatable. This hotel is ideally placed for everything a visitor could want. Attending a convention? The main entrance to the Salt Palace is directly across the street. Interested in the world-famous Family History Library? It’s less than one block away. Temple Square, the top attraction of Salt Lake City? Also less than one block away.
The hotel is physically attached to the City Creek Center, a $1.5 billion upscale mall occupying 16 acres. It features a creek running through the middle, a retractable glass roof (for climate control in any weather), and a fountain show designed by the same creators of the Bellagio fountains in Vegas.
Because of this connectivity, you can essentially leave your hotel room, walk to the mall, grab dinner, and visit Temple Square without ever really needing a car (or even a coat, depending on the route!).
The Grand America Hotel
This hotel is basically a tourist attraction unto itself. The Grand America is Salt Lake City’s only Five Diamond Hotel, the top rating an ultra-luxury hotel can earn. Built for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games (serving as Olympic headquarters) by a local billionaire oil tycoon, it sits on its own 10-acre city block.
Standing 24 stories tall with 775 rooms, it is the second-largest hotel in Salt Lake City. But it’s not just big—it is opulent. Materials were imported from all over the world, including 300,000 square feet of Italian marble, 200-year-old tapestries, and chandeliers in 700 of the guest rooms.
The View Strategy: Because it sits a half-mile from the downtown skyscrapers, it stands alone. This means the Grand America offers more rooms with excellent, unobstructed mountain views than any other property in the city.
Exact construction costs were never made public, but estimates top $1 billion. It even earned the distinction of having the "Second Best Public Restrooms in America" (the wood for the stalls was imported from Africa!). Even if you don't stay here, walk into the lobby and use the facilities!
Is it worth the price? Rates usually hover between $300–$400 per night. For a Five Diamond hotel, that is actually a steal. When you consider what you would pay for a similar quality hotel in New York or London, this might be the most affordable stay at a billion-dollar hotel you'll ever find.
How to get to your tour departure point (The Radisson):
