8 Prettiest Small Towns In Utah
Utah has very distinct regions with diverse scenery. The southern part of the six-sided state is famous for its red rock formations, while the northern portion is all about alpine beauty. Midway stands out for its Swiss heritage, its four-season mountain setting, and easy access to Wasatch Mountain State Park. Cannonville makes an equally memorable stop thanks to its location on Scenic Byway 12 and its proximity to the vividly colored spires of Kodachrome Basin State Park. However you choose to spend your time, these eight small towns in Utah are big on natural beauty.
Alta
Once a bustling mining town, Alta is now a mountain resort town with stunning vistas. It’s located east of Salt Lake City, at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, where it receives an average of 500 inches of The Greatest Snow on Earth® each year thanks to a weather phenomenon called orographic lift. Pine trees dusted with fresh snowflakes add to the powder-perfect appeal of Alta and Snowbird’s ski slopes. Make no mistake, however: This is a year-round destination with unsurpassed activities. Albion Basin is well known for its beautiful blooms in the summer, while hiking to Cecret Lake is the perfect spot for wildlife watching. Leaf peepers love driving to Alta in the fall.
Blanding
Blanding is the epitome of an antonym — Granding would be a more appropriate name. The scenic small town is located in the Four Corners region. Though the city itself is a mere 2.4 square miles, its voluminous outskirts don the same red-rock terrain as many of the state, tribal, and national parks in the area. First-time visitors driving, hiking, and/or biking through the Valley of Gods near Blanding often feel like they’ve already been here before. Its sandstone monoliths are recognizable to fans of the HBO series Westworld or the BBC’s Doctor Who.
Speaking of Hollywood entertainment, the Dinosaur Museum in Blanding houses a quirky collection of movie memorabilia from films such as King Kong and Jurassic Park alongside proper paleontological exhibits. Keep the historic perspective of the town alive with a walk through the remnants of an ancient village at Edge of the Cedars State Park, where you can also descend a wooden ladder into a restored kiva.
Cannonville
Any town located on Scenic Byway 12 is picturesque, but Cannonville is especially beautiful. The ranching community borders Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Kodachrome Basin State Park lies just south of town. By day, the striated sandstone cliffs and 67 monolithic stone spires are saturated in shades of red and orange set against a cerulean sky. Kodak gave the park official permission to use the name after National Geographic photographers informally nicknamed the area “Kodachrome Flat” because of the film they were using to capture the colors. There are several hiking and horseback riding trails within the state park, as well as a disc golf course with jaw-dropping views from every tee mat and basket. By night, stay in a floor-to-ceiling glass dome at Clear Sky Resorts in Cannonville to experience the area’s natural beauty from a different perspective. Stargaze from the comfort of your bed, under a vast sky without any light pollution.
Ivins
Once you’ve spent a weekend in this scenic town in southern Utah, you’ll want to make it a repeat performance. Literally. Catch a Broadway-caliber show at Tuacahn Center for the Arts, an outdoor amphitheatre surrounded by vermillion cliffs jutting 1,500 feet above the desert floor. Spend the night at Red Mountain Resort, a luxurious oasis located on the doorstep of Snow Canyon State Park. Wake up and hike through the dark rock of a lava flow field into a canyon carpeted with red dirt punctuated by green shrubs to the 200-foot arch in the state park’s Johnson Canyon, or borrow a bike and ride to Kayenta Art Village on the opposite side of Ivins. It is filled with art galleries, quaint eateries, and small retail shops. Golfers will love the stunning views from the greens artfully carved into lava rock on Black Desert Golf Course. It was named the #1 course in Utah by Golfweek and hosts both the PGA and LPGA tours.
Logan
Located in northern Utah, Logan is the home of Utah State University. But it’s more than a college town; it's an agricultural and recreational hub. The fertile valley at the base of the Wellsville Mountains and the Bear River Mountains is full of farms and forests, wide open spaces and picturesque places. This historic Logan Tabernacle was built at Center and Main Street in the late 1800s by Latter-day Saint pioneers. Take a moment to admire its eclectic architecture and meticulously manicured grounds before heading up the Logan Canyon Scenic Byway. It cuts through a national forest with countless opportunities for outdoor recreation. The Wind Cave trail is a popular choice in the summer, but even more so in the autumn when the foliage on the mountainside surrounding the limestone formation turns crimson red and tiger orange. Tony Grove Lake is another popular place to play in the warmer months. When the snow starts to fly, Beaver Mountain Ski Area in Logan Canyon is a must; it bills itself as the oldest continuously owned family ski resort in the United States.
Midway
Midway is located on the back side of the Wasatch Mountains. It transforms with each of Utah’s four seasons. It’s verdant in the spring and summer, incredibly colorful and vibrant in the fall, and a white wonderland in the winter. This lovely little town is the kind of place where cheesy Christmas movies are made, and homage is paid to its Swiss heritage. Visitors flock to Midway every year for its Swiss Days celebration. There is a traditional parade, Swiss-German food booths, handmade goods for sale, and lots of people dressed in edelweiss shirts and lederhosen.
The Zermatt Resort charms guests with its Swiss-inspired architecture and pastries from its European bakery throughout the year. And it’s a short 3-minute drive from Zermatt to Wasatch Mountain State Park. Here you’ll find Soldier Hollow, a cross-country ski venue utilized during the 2002 Winter Olympics, and Wasatch Mountain Golf Course, which earned 4.5 out of 5 stars from Golf Digest. There is also a network of mountain biking, hiking, and snowmobiling trails in the Midway area. Before you head home, be sure to peruse the ornaments at Kringle’s year-round Christmas store and dine in an Alpenglobe at Café Galleria, both of which were featured in Hallmark’s Mistletoe Mixup (one of those aforementioned movies).
Moab
With two national parks as neighbors and a river with world-class rapids running through town, to say Moab is scenic is an understatement. Rafters, mountain bikers, climbers, and hikers all have Moab on their bucket lists. It’s a smorgasbord of recreation and rugged beauty. Perhaps the prettiest part of Moab is Potash Road, a 17-mile Scenic Byway just north of its city limits. The towering red cliffs are often reflected in the Colorado River below, its banks lined with native willows, cottonwoods, and sumacs. Petroglyphs are carved into the face of the cliffs in one place, a roadside rock climbing route dubbed Wall Street on another vertical section. Corona Arch trail and Poison Spider trail are located along Potash Road as well, and the scenery along each is spectacular. In the spring, yellow flowers grow out of the red sandstone near Corona Arch. The paved section of Potash Road ends at the boundary of Canyonlands National Park.
Park City
Once a silver mining town that gained gold-medal glory, Park City has long been known for its valuable alloys. On a bluebird day, the snowy slopes of the Wasatch Mountains sparkle like diamonds at Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain. When the snow melts, the same slopes become a mountain biker’s mecca. Singletracks are lined with red Indian paintbrush, purple lupine, and yellow mule’s ear in the summer. Aspen leaves transform from green to gold in the autumn. But this is a multi-carat mountain town, with many other jewels besides the mountains. From rooftop bars to street-level museums and subterranean jail cells, there’s plenty to see and do on Park City’s historic Main Street year-round.
Free museums at Utah Olympic Park are another must while visiting Park City. The collection of ski fashion from the ‘70s and ‘80s in the Alf Engen Ski Museum might have more neon than Las Vegas. Black-and-white ski photography takes you back to the ‘30s, as does one of Utah’s original ski lift Chairs. Modern gems at the Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum range from the small spikes on luge gloves to skeleton cleats and larger puppets from the Opening Ceremonies. Though it comes with a price tag, riding the bobsled (on one of only two tracks in the United States) while you’re at Utah Olympic Park is a bucket-list must.
Keep Utah Beautiful
Whether you’re drawn to the cinematic scenery around Blanding, the lava flows, and red-rock canyons near Ivins, or the deep powder and alpine trails in Alta, Utah’s landscapes reward careful exploration. From desert arches and scenic byways to mountain lakes and historic main streets, these small towns highlight the state’s remarkable geographic variety. Wherever your travels take you, remember to recreate responsibly and help protect Utah’s fragile ecosystems so future visitors can enjoy the same natural beauty.
