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Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City - Things to Do at Red Butte Garden

Things to Do at Red Butte Garden

Complete Guide to Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City

About Red Butte Garden

Red Butte Garden sprawls across 100 acres on the eastern bench of Salt Lake City, tucked into the foothills where the Wasatch Range starts climbing toward Mount Olympus. You'll find it just above the University of Utah campus, and the elevation gain matters here. The air thins slightly. The light sharpens. On clear days you can see the Great Salt Lake shimmering to the west. Sandstone outcrops glow rust-red behind you. The garden takes its name from those very outcrops. The contrast between cultivated beds and the wild scrubland just beyond the fence line gives Red Butte its particular character. What you'll notice first is the smell, depending on the season: lilac and Russian sage in spring, sun-warmed pine needles in summer, the dry sweetness of crushed leaves in autumn. The garden tends to be quieter than you'd expect for a place this close to downtown. Partly the foothills swallow traffic noise. Partly Salt Lake locals treat it as a contemplative space rather than a tourist stop. Worth noting. This is a working botanical garden affiliated with the University of Utah. You'll see researchers tagging plants alongside families pushing strollers, which gives the place a pleasantly unpolished feel. The Outdoor Concert Series is what puts Red Butte on most regional radars, drawing crowds for summer evenings on the amphitheater lawn. But come on a Tuesday morning in May, and you'll likely have whole sections of the garden to yourself. The only sound: a hummingbird thrumming past your ear toward the Penstemon beds.

What to See & Do

The Water Conservation Garden

Salt Lake sits in a high desert, and this garden makes the case beautifully for what thrives without much watering. Silver-leaved Russian sage, blue-purple Rocky Mountain penstemon, and yarrow in butter-yellow drifts spread across gravelly beds. You'll hear bees working the blooms before you see them. Most striking in late June. Everything peaks at once.

Floral Walk

A meandering quarter-mile path winds through the densest planted section, where roses, peonies, daylilies, and dahlias overlap in waves through the warm months. The scent shifts every twenty feet: sometimes sweet, sometimes peppery, sometimes that green snapped-stem smell after the morning watering. Locals swear by golden hour. The light hits the petals sideways then.

Natural Area Trails

Five miles of hiking trails extend into the foothills above the cultivated garden, threading through scrub oak, sagebrush, and the occasional juniper. The terrain steepens fast. You'll feel the altitude tug at your lungs. Mule deer are common at dawn and dusk, and you might spot a Cooper's hawk riding thermals over the canyon.

Children's Garden

Underrated but charming. This section has stepping stones laid across a shallow stream, a small maze, and beds planted specifically at kid-eye-level with lamb's ear (soft and silvery) and snapdragons that pop when you squeeze them. Parents tend to linger on shaded benches while kids investigate every corner.

The Four Seasons Garden

Designed to give you something worth looking at every month of the year, even January, when the red-twig dogwoods burn against the snow and ornamental grasses rattle in the dry wind. Come for the February witch hazel. The yellow feels almost shocking. It cuts through weeks of muted winter light.

Practical Information

Opening Hours

Generally open daily from 9 AM. Closing times shift seasonally. Summer keeps the gates open until 9 PM. Winter trims the day to mid-afternoon. Last admission is typically half an hour before closing. The garden also closes for major holidays and occasionally for concert setup days, so it's likely worth confirming before a long drive.

Tickets & Pricing

Admission is mid-range for a botanical garden of this scale, with discounted rates for students, seniors, and children. Members of the American Horticultural Society's reciprocal program often get in free, which is a decent deal if you visit gardens elsewhere. Concert tickets are sold separately. They sell out fast. The bigger summer acts go first.

Best Time to Visit

Late May through early July is peak bloom. School groups also crowd the paths mid-morning during that stretch. Come early September for relief. You get cooler temperatures, golden light, and dahlias still going strong, all with fewer crowds. February is lovely if you don't mind the cold. The winter garden has stark beauty. Most visitors miss it.

Suggested Duration

Two hours covers the cultivated beds at a relaxed pace. Add another two if you want to hike the natural area trails or sit through a concert. Photographers and serious plant people routinely spend half a day. They still feel rushed.

Getting There

Red Butte sits at the top of Wakara Way in the University of Utah research park, about 15 minutes from downtown Salt Lake by car. Parking on site is free. It fills up fast on concert nights and spring weekends. The TRAX light rail (red line to University Medical Center) drops you about a mile downhill, walkable on a cool morning but a slog in summer heat, so most visitors who skip the car opt for a rideshare for the final stretch. Cyclists can climb up Foothill Drive. Be warned: the last quarter mile is properly steep.

Things to Do Nearby

Natural History Museum of Utah
A five-minute walk downhill. The copper-clad building looks like it grew out of the foothills. Pairs well with Red Butte for a half-day combo, with strong dinosaur fossils. Plus a thoughtful section on Indigenous Utah.
This Is The Place Heritage Park
A ten-minute drive south. An open-air pioneer village, either charming or kitschy depending on your tolerance. Good for families. The views back toward the valley from the park's monument are honestly the best in the city.
Emigration Canyon
The canyon road starts just east of the garden. It winds up into the mountains. Ruth's Diner sits about three miles up, and has been serving mile-high biscuits since 1930. Makes a solid lunch stop after a morning of plant-spotting.
Bonneville Shoreline Trail
The Red Butte natural area links directly to this trail system, which follows the ancient shoreline of Lake Bonneville along the foothills. Hike for an hour. Or stay all day. Pack more water than you think you need, since the dry air dehydrates you faster than expected.
Fort Douglas Military Museum
Tucked into a corner of the university campus a few minutes from the garden, this small free museum tells the surprisingly tangled story of the Army post that once watched over Salt Lake. Worth twenty minutes if you have them.

Tips & Advice

Concert nights change everything. The lawn fills by 6 PM with blankets, picnic baskets, and bottles of wine, so arrive early or skip those evenings entirely if you came for quiet plant-gazing.
Wear layers regardless of season. The foothills run noticeably cooler than the valley floor, and a sunny 75 degrees downtown can feel like 65 with a breeze up here.
The gift shop near the entrance stocks regionally-appropriate seeds and starts. Better than another magnet if you garden at home.
Photographers, head straight to the upper terraces in the first hour after opening. The light is sharp, the crowds haven't arrived, and you'll often catch deer grazing along the natural area edges.
Bring water and sun protection even on cloudy days. The elevation is around 5,000 feet and UV exposure tends to be stronger than visitors expect.
Check the events calendar before booking. Beyond the famous concerts, the garden hosts plant sales, member nights, and seasonal festivals that can either enhance or completely change your visit.

Tours & Activities at Red Butte Garden

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