The Mormon's had it right when they picked Salt Lake City to be their "holy-land". Although the city itself is mostly flat (it is in the valley), there are towering mountains on both sides of the city (see picture of SLC downtown above). It is a beautiful sight! It adds a character to the city that few cities can match. Being right between 2 mountains also has the advantage that skiing is close by. At the top of the mountain (only a 30 minute drive from downtown SLC) is Park City,Utah. Downtown Park City looks just like an old mining town. It is very quaint and a great place to get away. Park City is also surrounded by ski slopes (in fact, one of the ski slopes ends right in the middle of downtown!). If you visit Salt Lake City, I would strongly suggest heading up the mountain to Park City. It is definitely worth the trip!!!
When I am in Salt Lake City, I always stay downtown. It is convenient to everything in the city and the hotels are reasonably priced as well. If you drive around downtown, you will see the HUGE Mormon temple. A good chuck of the downtown area is owned by the Mormon church and they seem to continually invest in the area to make it nice. I have been in SLC around Christmas time in the past, and boy those Mormons know how to decorate! Lights everywhere!
Although the Mormon Church dominates Utah, Salt Lake City actually has a lot of non-Mormons as well. I think it is something like 50/50 in Salt Lake City itself....whereas the rest of the state is like 99.9% Mormon. The one thing you will notice is that Mormon guy are HOT! I am not sure why (I have been told it is because of their ancestry), but you will notice a lot of VERY hot guys in Salt Lake City....and they are usually Mormon as well.
There also seems to be a lot of gay guys in SLC as well....although a lot of them are Mormon and closeted. If you are in the mood to workout, I would definitely recommend the 24-Hour Fitness in Sugar House. Sugar House is a young trendy area of SLC and filled with hotties! The 24-Hour Fitness there is known locally as the "gay" gym....although by NYC/LA/SF standards it is more of a mixed (straight/gay) gym. But, regardless if they are gay or straight, there are a lot of very HOT guys at that gym. Although I never shower at that gym, there are always hot guys coming into the locker room from the pool at the gym in just a towel....so I have a feeling the showers are a sight to be seen! Nothing better than a hot shower scene!!!!
The Mormon Church also has the largest ancestry database in the world. There are a few places you can go in both Salt Lake City and Park City to find out about your ancestors. I was told the Mormon Church provides this search for free, but I did not check it out while there (although I did see one of their ancestry stores when I was in Park City).
