Southern Utah has more national parks than anywhere else in the US; in fact it has often been suggested that the entire area should become one vast national park. The most accessible parts - such as Zion and Bryce Canyon - are by far the most visited, but lesser-known parks like Arches and Canyonlands are every bit as dramatic. Huge tracts of this empty desert, in which beautiful pre-Columbian pictographs and Ancestral Puebloan ruins lie hidden, are all but unexplored; seeing them in safety requires a good degree of advance planning and self-sufficiency.

In the northeast of the state, the Uinta Mountains remain uncrossed by road and form one of the most extensive wilderness areas in the US outside Alaska, while Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur preserve more desert splendor. Though the northwest is predominantly flat and dry, the granite mountains of the Wasatch Front tower over state capital Salt Lake City - a surprisingly attractive and enjoyable stopover - while Alta, Snowbird and the resorts around Park City offer some of the best skiing in North America.

Led by Brigham Young, Utah's earliest Anglo settlers - the Mormons - arrived in the Salt Lake area in 1847, and set about the massive irrigation projects that made their agrarian way of life possible. At first they provoked great suspicion and hostility back east; Congress turned down their first petition for statehood in 1850, in part because of the religious significance of the proposed name, Deseret , a Mormon word meaning "honeybee" (the state symbol is still a beehive, to denote industry). The Republican convention of 1856 railed against slavery and polygamy in equal measure - had the South not intervened, civil war with the Mormons was a real possibility. Relations eased when the Mormon church realized in 1890 that it had better drop polygamy on its own terms before being forced to do so. Statehood followed in 1896, and a century on, seventy percent of Utah's two-million-strong population are Mormons. The Mormon influence is responsible for the layout of Utah's towns, where residential streets are as wide as interstates, and all are numbered block-by-block according to the same logical if ponderous system.

Despite Brigham Young's early opposition to the search for mineral wealth, Mormon businessmen became renowned as fiercely pro-mining and anti-conservation. Only since the early 1980s - once the uranium bonanza was definitely over - has tourism been appreciated as a major industry, and former mining towns such as Moab developed facilities for wide-eyed travelers smitten by the lure of the desert. Increased tourism has also led to a relaxation of Utah's notoriously arcane drinking laws ; In most towns, at least one restaurant will be licensed to sell beer, wine and mixed drinks to diners, and it may also be licensed to sell beer in its bar or lounge. Beer is also sold in a few other locations, but to drink stronger liquor you'll have to become a member of a " private club "; most sell temporary membership for a token fee. Take-out bottled drinks, including beer, can only be purchased in State Liquor Stores.

Bambara   Hotel Monaco , 15 W 200 South tel 801/363-5454. Chic, post-Deco and pricey downtown restaurant, with a fabulous menu ranging from buffalo carpaccio or crab cakes to lamb sirloin on du Puy lentils.

Lamb's Restaurant 169 S Main St tel 801/364-7166. Great breakfasts, best eaten at the long shiny counter, and excellent-value set meals throughout the day. Closed Sun.

Market Street Grill 48 Market St tel 801/322-4668. As close as Salt Lake City comes to a New York City bar and grill. Fresh seafood, especially oysters, plus steaks in all shapes and sizes. $8 lunch specials, full dinners $15-30.

Martine's 22 E 100 South tel 801/363-9328. Formal, dimly-lit but high-class Southwestern restaurant, in central location facing the ZCMI mall; most menu items can be served as "tapa" (appetizer) or entree. Closed Sun.

Oasis Café 151 S 500 East tel 801/322-0404. Classy but inexpensive café, serving very good food (dinner entrees $13-20) with plenty of appealing vegetarian options. Live acoustic music or jazz in the evening.

Orbit Café 540 W 200 South tel 801/322-2808. Large, (post)modern diner, which serves tasty sandwiches and ethnic specials for lunch, and then fancier late-night meals (until 4am Fri & Sat).

Rio Grande Café 270 S Rio Grande tel 801/364-3302. Spirited and stylish Mexican cantina in the old Denver and Rio Grande railroad station, still used by Amtrak, three blocks west of downtown.

Ruth's Diner 2100 Emigration Canyon Rd tel 801/582-5807. Good-value indoor and patio dining, often accompanied by live music, set in and around old railroad carriages in a narrow canyon just three miles east of town. Wide selection of fresh dishes, great salads and Utah's best breakfasts. For more sophisticated and expensive fare, Ruth's sister restaurant, the Santa Fe , is next door.

Park City's visitor center , 528 Main St (May & Oct daily noon-5pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun noon-6pm; tel 435/649-6100 or 1-800/453-1360, ), doubles as an enjoyable museum of town history, and stands above the town's original jailhouse. Lewis Bros Stages (tel 435/649-2256 or 1-877/491-8111) runs scheduled shuttles from downtown Salt Lake City ($25) and the airport (up to $50), and mountain bikes can be rented from White Pine Touring, 363 Main St (daily 10am-7pm; tel 801/649-8710).