SLC Airport Parking

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Guide to Salt Lake City Airport

Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) is a combined military and civil airfield about eight miles (12.9 kilometers) from Downtown Salt Lake City in Utah. The property includes the Utah Air National Guard base and the Roland R Wright Air National Guard Base. Just over 20 million people travel through SLC every year on commercial flights, putting it just outside the 20 busiest airports in the country.

The airport is one of the largest American hubs for Delta Air Lines and their carrier SkyWest; between them, they provide for almost 75 per cent of the passenger traffic at the airport. Along with destinations across North America and Europe, the most popular routes are domestic flights to Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Atlanta.

SLC Airport ranks highly for efficiency with an exceptionally low number of flight cancelations and more on-time departures and arrivals than any other major airport in the country. It contributes over $5 billion and 100,000 jobs to the local economy and is focused on the future with a range of ambitious expansion plans rolling out over the next decade.

Location of Salt Lake City Airport

SLC Airport is based on the outskirts of the city, immediately next to the I-215 and I-80, which also represent the two primary road routes into Salt Lake City from the wider regions. The I-80 is the quickest way to the airport from the city center and also for travelers coming from Nevada or Wyoming. The I-215 diverges from the I-15, which runs north to south from Idaho and through Utah towards Las Vegas.

Public transport is provided by Utah Transit Authority (UTA), with the TRAX light rail Green Line leaving for SLC Airport every 15-20 minutes stopping at Terminal 1. It stops at several points in the city with a journey time from the airport to the city center of around 20 minutes. UTA also provides bus services that reach the airport in 30 minutes from the city center, but mostly run in the late afternoon.

History of Salt Lake City Airport

Air travel has a long history at Salt Lake, with an airfield first established at Basque Flats consisting of little more than a landing strip in 1911. It hosted the Great International Aviation Carnival to bring the wonders of seaplanes and the Wright Brothers to the general public, but was largely used for training flights and air mail services over the next decade.

In 1925, Western Air Express, a private company carrying air mail, decided to offer tickets to people to fly the same route, which signaled the beginning of passenger flights at the airport. Through the late 1920s, expansion projects added a runway, which was followed by a terminal in the early 1930s as the name changed to Salt Lake City Municipal Airport.

Little changed until jets arrived in the 1960s and flights began to reach international destinations, the first of which was Canada on Western Airlines, which brought around the modern name we know today, Salt Lake City International. In the 1970s and 1980s, airline deregulation came into force and Western chose the airport as a hub; a second terminal was built specifically for them, as a range of expansions took place on the runways, terminals and airport parking services.

The continued gradual development of adding concourses, parking lots, access roads and hangars has kept the airport ahead of the curve and it is now one of the best-rated in the USA for scheduling and on-time flights. As passenger numbers have moved beyond 20 million a year, a range of plans have been laid out to further expand and add a new terminal, ensuring SLC Airport remains as one of the most efficient in the USA.

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Airport facilities

A major expansion plan that includes an entirely new terminal is due to add a multitude of extra food, drink and shopping concessions to SLC.

Customer services assistants are available at information desks in the terminal buildings to answer questions or provide directions. If you need help with accessibility, such as a wheelchair, it is best to speak to your airline first, but for all other advance inquiries you can call (+1) 801-575-2400.

• Short-term parking

• Long-term parking

• Covered parking garage

• Economy parking lot

• Bicycle parking

• Parking reservations system

• Cell phone lot

• Vehicle location, jump starts, tire inflation and fuel assistance

• Global Entry and TSA PreCheck

• Free airport shuttle buses

• Hotel shuttles

• Airline lounge

• Shopping

  • Duty free

  • Apparel and accessories

  • Cosmetics

  • Technology and gadgets

  • Books and newsstands

  • Gifts and souvenirs

• Drinks

  • Coffee shops

  • Juice stands

  • Bars

  • Wine bars

• Food

  • Fast food

  • Snacks, delis and sandwiches

  • Bakeries, candy, desserts and yogurt

  • Food markets

  • Healthy and vegetarian food

  • American, Italian, Asian, Mexican, European and Southern cuisine

• Art program

• Spa

• Children's play area

• Infant care rooms

• Pet relief areas

• Information desks

• Currency exchange

• ATMs

• Skycap bag service

• WiFi

• Disabled access

• Lost and found

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Salt Lake City Airport hotel and parking

Hotels close to SLC International Airport, including Comfort Inn, Ramada, Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn, provide passengers with an off-site parking option that can work out extremely good value and convenient, too, if you want to break up your journey to or from the airport.

If you have a late arrival or early departure and would prefer getting some rest before continuing with your journey, hotel and parking packages at these hotels offer up to a week of free parking in the hotel lot if you stay just one night at the hotel. The package also includes shuttle bus transfers from the hotel to the airport terminals.

Ramada Salt Lake City Airport and Holiday Inn Salt Lake City Airport West are great choices offering restaurants, bars, business and fitness centers, free breakfasts and room service, with a wide range of room rates available.

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Top things to do in Salt Lake City Airport

See the art program

SLC Airport has been collecting art since 1977 and has a wide range of works on display, focused on the local area with paintings and photographs by regional artists.

The collection is exhibited to enable easy self-tours, with QR codes next to each piece for access to detailed information on the artist and subject.

Work from more than 70 artists is featured in seven primary display locations throughout the various terminal and concourse spaces. Searching out all the artwork also encourages some light exercise and gives you a look at most of the airport interiors.

Relax in the spa

The XpresSpa is a familiar sight in airports for regular travelers. It offers a range of massage and beauty treatments designed to be provided quickly for passengers on the move, but there are some luxury options, too. Massages vary from a 15-minute hand or neck massage to a wide range of manicures, pedicures, facials and other beauty treatments, so you can stop by for a quick de-stress before your flight or while away a couple of hours on a layover.

XpresSpa concessions can be found in Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 and you can also pick up a range of spa products and accessories to take away with you.

Tuck into some memorable food

Salt Lake City Airport restaurants offer a superb range of choice from fast foods to gourmet markets, as well as dishes from local restaurants to cuisine from all around the world.

Some notable options include Vivace Cucina Toscana for stunning fresh Italian food from the Downtown restaurant and Salt Lake Pizza and Pasta for another great local Italian choice.

The UFood Grill serves up plenty of healthy, vegetarian and gluten-free food, whilst Squatters Pub Brewery and Millcreek Coffee Roasters provide the perfect craft beer or caffeine hit after your meal.

Some other flavors at the airport include Greek Souvlaki, Cat Cora's cocktails and tapas and Cafe Rio's Mexican food, so you’re not short of choice, that’s for sure.

Shop for any forgotten essentials

The retail facilities at SLC present a great opportunity to get anything you forgot to pack or didn't have time to buy beforehand.

An excellent selection of apparel and accessories is available at No Boundaries and Radio Road, vacation reading material can be picked up at Simply Books or Sam Weller Book Works and gadgets and various tech at Brookstone and InMotion.

Wait in comfort in an airline lounge

A Delta Sky Club lounge is located in Terminal 2 at Salt Lake City Airport to provide some respite from the busy concourses.

Day memberships are available even if you're not a Delta Sky Club member, so you’ve got full access to the facilities and benefits. The SLC lounge includes free snacks and drinks, travel assistance, TV, WiFi and complimentary newspapers and magazines.

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Top things to do near Salt Lake City Airport

Temple Square

Covering an impressive 10 acres (four hectares) of central Salt Lake City, the Temple Square complex is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and located about eight miles (12.9 kilometers) from SLC Airport. Identified by Mormon pioneers when they arrived at the site in 1847, the Square has been the home of the church ever since.

Mixing stunning architecture with beautiful grounds, the guided tours are a great opportunity to learn about the LDS Church and the role it played in founding and building Salt Lake City.

There are special concerts and other events held in the grounds throughout the year, with 100,000 lights bringing it to festive life every Christmas. An extensive museum, libraries, visitor centers and temples make up the rest of the complex.

Big Cottonwood Canyon

One of Salt Lake City's most accessible and striking areas of natural beauty is about 22 miles (35.4 kilometers) from SLC Airport and it goes by the name of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

It offers hiking, biking, camping, climbing, fishing, skiing and snowboarding with beautiful views of the canyon and surrounding mountains. Popular trails are dotted throughout the canyon that take you to the mountain lakes or through native plants and wildlife.

The ski runs are some of the best in the world, with deep powder on the slopes of the four major ski resorts, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton and Alta. Even if you don’t ski, it’s a scenic and majestic mountain drive that will easily kill a few hours and leave you wanting more.

Natural History Museum of Utah

With natural history exhibits focused on the ecology of the region, the Natural History Museum of Utah has a collection of over 1.3 million artefacts representing the geological, cultural and biological diversity of living systems.

Permanent exhibitions at the museum, which is located 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) from Salt Lake City Airport, include the Great Salt Lake, human settlement, geology and the future of Utah. There’s even a fascinating collection of dinosaur fossils that area sure to leave the kids’ jaws on the floor.

Vivint Smart Home Arena

Home to the National Basketball Association’s (NBA's) Utah Jazz, the Vivint Smart Home Arena is a 20,000-seat indoor arena that hosts a range of sporting events, including arena football, WNBA games and Winter Olympic skating events.

The Arena, which is just seven miles (11.3 kilometers) from SLC International Airport, delivers an amazing atmosphere on game days and great views even in the “nosebleed” seats.

It’s a popular venue for major touring musicians like Katy Perry, Neil Young and Janet Jackson, as well as events like the GameTyrant Expo, so there's almost always something to experience there.

Leonardo Museum

The Leonardo honors the work of Leonardo Da Vinci through a diverse range of interactive exhibits dedicated to his wide range of passions, including art, engineering, science, architecture and music.

The unique museum, which is just eight miles (12.9 kilometers) from SLC Airport, features exhibits on perception and innovation, as well as an art studio, workshop and science lab with puzzles, experiments and projects to get involved in and educate yourself.

With a tasty bistro restaurant and special events including family festivals and after-dark nights for adults, this is a great visit for all ages that really gives you an appreciation of Da Vinci's genius in the most engaging way imaginable.

Salt Lake City Public Library

It’s one of the most amazing pieces of modern architecture in Salt Lake City and it’s only about eight miles (12.9 kilometers) from SLC International Airport.

The Public Library’s collection includes half a million books and remarkable architectural features, including a five-story curved-glass wall, a landscaped plaza and a roof-top garden. The entire building is filled with natural light from the expansive windows and skylights to create a soft and welcoming environment, even amongst so much concrete and glass.

Even if the books don't interest you, the walk to the roof is a wonderful way through the gorgeous light and architecture, which is topped off with the plantings in the roof garden

The Great Salt Lake

Giving the city its name, the great Salt Lake is the largest in the Western Hemisphere, covering an area of up to 3,300 square miles (8,547 square milometers). Minerals deposited naturally in the lake have given it a high level of salinity, which turns any swim into a float. The warm and shallow waters are also a magnet to millions of native birds and home a healthy population of shrimp.

The visitor center covers the geology and history of the lake, but the real attractions are the stunning vistas, especially if you can catch sunset. It’s just 15 miles (24.1 kilometers) from SLC Airport.

Clark Planetarium

The Clark Planetarium includes a 190-seat dome delivering no-glasses 3D images at 4K resolution supported with a 13,000-watt 5.1 surround sound system.

It produces its own films about the universe, which are screened at other domes worldwide, and occasionally hosts music performances from artists like Led Zeppelin.

An IMAX Theater is also on-site and is surrounded by special exhibits featuring kinetic sculpture, computer animation, video streams from Hubble and artefacts like meteorites, all of which form part of a regularly rotated and expanded set of displays.

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Which terminal?

There are three terminal buildings at Salt Lake City Airport and nine carriers. Each one operates domestic flights from either Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 and all international flights, most of which are provided by Delta, Air Canada and KLM, go through the International Terminal.

Information desks around the airport can help you with most questions and inquiries about airport services or directions, whilst you can also pay for a Skycap service to help you with getting your baggage through the airport to your departure gate.

For advance inquiries, particularly those relating to special assistance, it is best to contact your airline in the first instance. Customer services at Salt Lake City Airport can be contacted on (+1) 801-575-2400 for all other questions. Or simply visit the Salt Lake City airport website for more information on the airlines flying from the terminal.

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How to get to Salt Lake City Airport

Car

SLC International Airport is simple to reach by road, thanks to its location on the edge of the city next to the I-215 and I-80 interstate roads, which are the primary road routes into Salt Lake City from the rest of the USA.

From the city center or from anywhere east or west of the city, taking the I-80 takes you directly to the airport. From north or south of Salt Lake City, follow the I-15; it splits into the I-215 going through Salt Lake City, which is the exit to take for the airport.

Other road transport options include taxis, private hire shuttles and services like Uber, all of which have their prices regulated to stay within certain fare limits and prevent over-priced airport transfers. You can find a list of current providers running to and from the airport on the Salt Lake City Airport Website.

Bus

A limited local bus service is provided by UTA, with patchily scheduled services running from State Street in the city center to the airport. It’s typical that one bus runs early morning, another around midday and several more at 4-6pm as a commuter service. The bus takes about 30 minutes to reach the airport from the city center and you can check the most up-to-date timetables on the UTA Website.

Greyhound buses stop at Salt Lake Central Station (as do Amtrak national rail services), where you can get a bus to the airport or make use of the TRAX network taking the Blue Line to Temple Square Station then switching to the Green Line for the airport.

Train

UTA's TRAX light rail network is the quickest and most convenient public transport option to Salt Lake City Airport, with the Green Line running from city center locations like Temple Square and Gallivan Plaza to the TRAX station at the airport next to Terminal 1. Trains run every 15-20 minutes, taking around 20 minutes to reach the airport.

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Useful tips

Avoid the busy check-in times

SLC has a great track record for efficiency, but morning at the airport are usually the busiest time. An extra security checkpoint is opened at peak times to speed things up. One workaround, though, if you encounter long lines in Terminal 2, is to head for the security checkpoint in the International Terminal next door. This terminal is usually much quieter and connects with Terminal 2 post-security, so you can easily get to your departure gate.

Ask for the window seat

Flying in or out of Salt Lake City offers stunning views of the Wasatch Range mountains, so it's well worth taking a window seat and hoping for clear weather.

Free transfer and tour

The LDS Church in Salt Lake City offers a unique and free airport layover tour, which can double as a transfer service to take you into Salt Lake City. Intended to attract more visitors to enjoy Temple Square, you're provided with a free tour on arrival, but can then either head into the city or take the church bus back to the airport; it’s a great way to experience some history of the city and get a free ride into town.

Sleep over airside

SLC Airport is open 24 hours, so if you have an overnight layover and don't want to head to one of the many local hotels, you can sleep in the terminals. If you decide to do this, it's strongly recommend that you sleep post-security airside where the 24-hour food and drink options are; it’s also more comfortable for sleeping, with plenty of benches and carpeted areas.

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How much to park at Salt Lake City airport?

Parking at Salt Lake City can vary, so it is always recommended you get an accurate quote using the Looking4 quote form above. Using this form allows you to check the availability for the car park you would like for the dates you require.

How much is parking at Salt Lake City airport?

Dependent on your travel dates, parking at Salt Lake City airport can vary. This is usually caused by time of year and often depends on whether you are travelling during the peak travel season. Demand and service can also have an effect on what parking options are available at the airport.

To get the best parking lot prices, we recommend simply inputting your details into the quote form above to generate a more accurate quote for what you need.

Where to park at Salt Lake City airport?

There are a few different options for parking lots at Salt Lake City airport. These include Premium reserved parking, daily garage parking, hourly garage parking, walking E lot and long term economy parking. The only parking option that includes a free shuttle to the terminal is long term economy parking.

Simply input your travel dates above and Looking4 can generate a price appropriate to your parking lot needs for your next vacation.