by Aleister Pinkbelly

Created on: September 13, 2008   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

If you like your family and would actually enjoy spending an extended period of time with them on holiday in a winter wonderland, you can't go wrong with gorgeous Park City, Utah.

Tucked away in the Snyderville Basin just 32 miles from Salt Lake City, the small town of Park City attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year (not all at once) with its variety of family activities, world class skiing, festivals, and ambience charming enough to have inspired one woman to justifiably describe as resembling something inside a snow globe she once spent so long staring wistfully at in a Manhattan gift shop that the store's owner was compelled to employ his broom to dispatch her back onto Canal Street.

Despite the 64 distinctive Victorian buildings, restaurants, bars and shops that line Main Street, the United States Ski Team and Australian Freestyle Ski Team don't call Park City their home for the peach cobbler. Boasting three of the country's most prestigious ski resorts - Deer Valley, The Canyons, and Park City Mountain - skiers of all ages and skill levels, from toddler to codger and amateur to certifiably insane, are sure to enjoy themselves as they swoosh or cartwheel down one of the snow packed mountains that surround Park City before heading to beautiful Miner's Hospital - a state-of-the-art, centrally located healthcare facility that offers comprehensive medical services, or just straight back to their cabin.

Speaking of lodgings, Park City is brimming with options in this department. Being a true tourist town, there is a literal plethora of condominiums, cabins, inns, lodges, and chateaus available in the area eager to become your family's new cozy home away from home for the holidays and serve as the backdrop for the hard drive's worth of photos documenting every snowball fight waged and demented snowman built you're sure to accumulate.

Truly, whether you decide to give Park City a try for its excellent skiing, serene natural beauty, charming small winter town style, or perhaps the annual Winterfest Celebration of the anniversary of the 2002 Olympic Games, complete with a freestyle ski competition, sled dog race and various other activities and events for the entire family (January 29th - February 8th), don't be surprised if you end up coming back again and again.

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