Soak inside Homestead Crater
700 N Homestead Dr · About 30 dollars an hour · Year round
Nothing else in Utah is quite this. A fifty five foot mound of tufa with more than sixty five feet of mineral water inside it, held at ninety five or ninety six degrees all year, reached through a hundred and ten foot tunnel driven straight into the side of the dome. The only natural light comes down through the hole in the top, which was the original way in before 1996.
Sessions are sold in hour blocks and you get roughly forty minutes of that in the water. Life vests are required for everybody, including strong swimmers, because the floor drops away fast. The crater page covers the geology, the four things you can do in there and the booking mechanics.
Pick the activity before you pick the time
Soaking, snorkelling, scuba and paddleboard yoga run on different schedules and different price sheets, and the dome is small enough that everything is slotted. Soak and swim opens at half past ten on weekdays and half past nine at weekends and runs to half past nine at night. Diving starts later, at noon on weekdays and ten at weekends, and finishes at eight. Decide which one you want first, then find the slot.
The altitude and the water temperature stack
Ninety six degrees is warmer than most hot tubs feel because you are in it for forty minutes rather than ten, and you are doing it at about 5,600 feet in air that pulls moisture out of you. Drink water before and after, come out if you feel light headed, and treat a long soak as something that takes a bit out of you rather than as a rest stop before a drive.
The details
Getting there
Homestead Drive runs off the northwest side of town and the crater sits on the resort grounds at 700 North Homestead Drive. Park at the resort and walk to the tunnel mouth, which is a short, level approach rather than a climb.
Before you go
- Book a slot. The dome holds few people at once and entry is timed rather than open.
- Life vests are required for all water entry, and they are provided.
- Intro diving starts at age 10. Certified divers bring their own paperwork.
- The changing rooms are small. Arrive in a swimsuit if you can.
- Ring 435-654-1102 to confirm hours before driving up, especially in a holiday week.
Take a two hour tubing session at Soldier Hollow
2002 Soldier Hollow Ln · 25 to 40 dollars · Winter into March
Seven lanes, twelve hundred feet each, on the same hillside that ran Olympic biathlon in 2002. It is the longest lift served tubing in Utah by a distance, and the lift is now a conveyor rather than the old rope tow, which cut the queue at the bottom considerably.
Sessions are two hours and start on the hour, and the lanes run under lights after dark, which is genuinely better than daylight. There is a cafe at the base, so a session and food is a whole evening rather than an hour of standing in a car park.
Weekday, weekend and holiday are three different prices
A weekday session runs about twenty five dollars, a weekend session about thirty, and a holiday session about forty, with March priced back down to the weekday rate as the snow softens. The difference is worth planning around if the trip is flexible, because the hill is also emptier on a Tuesday and two hours goes further when nobody is queueing.
This is a working competition venue in the middle of a season
Soldier Hollow hosts national and international Nordic racing, and race weeks change what is open to the public and where you can park. The tubing hill is separate from the trail system, but the access road and the day lodge are shared. Check the events calendar before a February Saturday rather than after.
The details
Getting there
From Midway take the road southwest toward Wasatch Mountain State Park and follow the Soldier Hollow signs to the day lodge on Soldier Hollow Lane. Parking is at the venue and the tubing base is a short walk from it.
Before you go
- Book ahead in a holiday week. Sessions sell out and the hill turns walk ups away.
- Sessions start on the hour. Arriving fifteen minutes in costs you fifteen minutes.
- Night lanes run under lights and are colder than the afternoon by a wide margin.
- Tubes are provided. Sleds and personal tubes are not permitted on the lanes.
- Ring 435-654-2002 for current hours, which move with the snow and the race calendar.
Walk Swiss Days the Friday and Saturday before Labor Day
Midway Town Square · Free to walk in · 4 and 5 September 2026
A town of six thousand hosting one of the largest festivals in the state is an odd arithmetic, and the weekend feels like it. More than a hundred and eighty juried artisans fill an open air market around Town Square from eight in the morning until eight at night on both days, with a breakfast and a 10K from seven on the Saturday and a parade at ten.
It began in 1947 as Harvest Days, established by Joseph B. and Pauline S. Erwin, and took on the Swiss framing later, which fits a valley whose immigration through the 1860s and 1870s was heavily Swiss. The Swiss Days page has the settlement story behind it.
Take the shuttle and give up on parking near the square
The city runs a parking shuttle for the weekend and it is the correct answer rather than the fallback. Streets around Town Square are the venue, not the car park, and the residential grid beyond them fills early with people who had the same idea you did. Park where the shuttle is and spend the walk you saved on the market instead.
Dogs are not allowed, and that rule is enforced
Swiss Days is explicitly not a dog friendly event. Certified service animals are the only exception, and the reason is crowd density rather than sentiment: an eight hour market in a small square with a parade through it is not somewhere an animal has a good time. Plan for that before you load the car.
The details
Getting there
Everything happens in and around Midway Town Square in the centre of town. Follow the signed shuttle parking rather than driving toward the square, because the streets immediately around it are closed or full.
Before you go
- The market runs 8:00 to 20:00 on both the Friday and the Saturday.
- Breakfast and the 10K start at 7:00 on the Saturday, the parade at 10:00.
- No dogs, other than certified service animals.
- Vendors are juried, so this is craft rather than a general trade fair.
- Accommodation in the valley books out for the weekend well in advance.
Play one of the four state park golf courses
Wasatch Mountain State Park · About 82 dollars with a cart · Spring to autumn
Four eighteen hole courses inside one state park is a strange amount of public golf for a valley this size. Wasatch Mountain Golf Course at 975 West Golf Course Drive runs the Lake and Mountain courses, the older pair, with the Lake laid out on gentler ground among ponds and the Mountain climbing into the terrain behind it.
Soldier Hollow runs the other two, Gold and Silver, opened in July 2004 to a Gene Bates design and named for the medals. Gold is the championship layout at 7,598 yards from the back tees at par 72; Silver plays wider and shorter. The state park page puts all four side by side.
Residency changes the price more than the day of the week does
The posted eighteen hole rate with a cart runs about eighty two dollars for a non resident whichever day you play. A Utah resident pays about seventy two Monday to Thursday and seventy seven at the weekend, and a resident over sixty five pays about sixty seven midweek. If you are moving here, the resident rate and the player pass are a real part of the maths.
Book the mountain courses early in the day in high summer
These are mountain layouts at around 5,900 feet, which means afternoon thunderstorms build over the Wasatch through late summer and a round that starts at two can end in a shelter. Morning tee times are cooler, quieter and less likely to be interrupted, and the light on the Lake course before nine is the best of the day.
The details
Getting there
Golf Course Drive runs northwest out of Midway into the park for the Lake and Mountain courses. Soldier Hollow is reached on the southwest side of town off Soldier Hollow Lane, at the same entrance as the Nordic centre.
Before you go
- The posted rate includes a cart. The Mountain course effectively requires one.
- Driving range buckets run about 7 or 14 dollars.
- Player pass holders play far cheaper. Ask at the shop if you will be here often.
- Tee times move earlier in shoulder season as daylight shortens.
- The park day use fee is separate from the green fee. Check which one you have paid.
Ride the Dutch Hollow singletrack
Off River Road · 10 dollars a car · Early May to mid November
More than twenty miles of interconnected singletrack in the oak and maple hills on the northeast side of town, mostly green and blue with a few black segments, and laid out in short pieces of one and a half to three miles that you assemble into whatever ride you want. The trailhead sits at 5,750 feet and the highest singletrack tops out near 6,800.
Named runs include Cottontail, Sage and Aqueduct at the easy end, then Boneyard, 1000 Turns, Enchanted Forest, The Barrel, Prospector and Phosphate. The bigger backcountry riding above all this, the Mid Mountain and ridge routes, is Park City's subject and is written up from that side.
The dirt is the thing to check before you drive
Dutch Hollow's soil is a soft red clay that turns to glue within hours of rain and holds it for a day or more. Riding it wet wrecks the tread and coats the bike, and the local etiquette is simply to go elsewhere. If there has been weather in the previous twenty four hours, ring ahead or pick a different afternoon.
The signage names the next trail, not the one you are on
This catches almost everybody the first time. Junction signs at Dutch Hollow point at what lies ahead rather than labelling the trail underneath you, so a rider following a name off a map can end up convinced they took a wrong turn when they did not. Download the map before you lose signal and treat the signs as directions rather than confirmation.
The details
Getting there
From the middle of Midway take River Road toward the northeast edge of town and turn at the Dutchman Hollow sign. The main trailhead has limited parking and there is more space a short way back down the gravel.
Before you go
- Self pay envelopes want exact cash and a pen. Bring both.
- Horses use these trails. Yield, and speak so the horse knows you are a person.
- Trailhead 5,750 feet, high point near 6,800. It is a climb whichever loop you pick.
- Do not ride it wet. The clay holds moisture and the damage lasts all season.
- There is no water and no shade on the lower loops. Carry more than you think.
Go up Memorial Hill for the monument and the valley
Off River Road at the roundabout · Free · Road closed to cars in winter
A spiral road climbs the hill on the east side of Midway to a monument dedicated on Armistice Day in 1928, designed by the Salt Lake City architect Leigh Block Turner. More than two thousand four hundred names of local people who served in United States military conflicts are cut into black basalt set in columns of native travertine, running from the War of 1812 to recent deployments.
The bronze at the top is called The Final Salute and shows the boots, helmet and rifle of a fallen soldier. The land came to the county from the pioneer Jesse Hughes McCarrell and later Elijah Watkins, and it is the best free view of the valley floor from any point you can drive to.
The road is shut to vehicles for most of the winter
Snow closes the spiral road to cars roughly from October to May, and it is not plowed for driving. The paved walking path stays available to people on foot in reasonable conditions, so a winter visit is a walk up rather than a drive up. That also makes it one of the quieter places in the valley between November and April.
Read the columns rather than only the view
It is easy to drive up, photograph the valley and leave. The point of the hill is the names, and the travertine they are set into is the same local stone the town is built from, which ties the monument to the ground it stands on. Fifteen minutes reading the columns is what separates this from any other overlook.
The details
Getting there
Take River Road to the roundabout on the east side of Midway and turn onto Memorial Hill Drive. The road spirals up the hill; the paved walking path is the alternative and the only option once the gate goes on.
Before you go
- Check whether the road is open before driving up between October and May.
- There are no facilities at the top. Nothing is staffed and nothing is plumbed.
- It is exposed. Wind on the hilltop is stronger than in town most days.
- Sunset from the top is the best hour, and it is also the busiest.
- This is a memorial before it is a viewpoint. Read the columns.
Watch the sheepdog championship over Memorial Day weekend
Soldier Hollow · Ticketed · 22 to 25 May 2026
The Soldier Hollow Classic is Memorial Day weekend, not Labor Day, and getting that wrong is the single most common mistake made about Midway's calendar. Preliminary trials run Friday to Sunday from around eight in the morning and the championship round is on the Monday.
More than three hundred Rambouillet sheep are worked across open, unfenced hillside, which is what makes the trial hard: nothing funnels the sheep except the dog and the handler's whistle, and a run can come apart in seconds. Around it runs a festival with sheep shearing, agility and working dog demonstrations.
Arrive early and bring your own shade
The trial field is a hillside with the crowd on the slope above it, and there is very little natural shade. Late May at 5,900 feet can be genuinely hot in the middle of the day and cold by five. Bring a chair, a hat and a jacket, and get in early enough to sit where you can actually read the sheep rather than only the dog.
Watch the whistles, not the dogs
The handler stands at the post and works the dog by whistle across several hundred yards, and once you start listening for the commands rather than watching the animals the whole thing changes shape. Commentators explain the course, so a first timer who pays attention to the calling will understand what went wrong on a bad run and why the crowd groans before the dog does.
The details
Getting there
Same approach as the Nordic centre: southwest out of Midway toward Wasatch Mountain State Park and follow the Soldier Hollow signs. Event parking is directed on site and fills from mid morning.
Before you go
- Preliminary trials run Friday to Sunday, the championship round on Monday.
- There is almost no shade on the spectator slope. Bring your own.
- Dogs of your own are a bad idea at a working sheepdog trial. Check the rules first.
- Late May weather here swings hard between afternoon and evening.
- Confirm the schedule with the organisers; the running order moves with the entry list.
Read the town out of its own rock, on foot
Town Square and the streets around it · Free · Year round
An hour on foot around Town Square is the cheapest thing on this list and it explains more than any of the others. Start at the Town Hall, dedicated in June 1941 and still the Recreation Center on its own paperwork, and look at what it is made of before you look at the shape of it.
The shape is worth a minute too. Rustic timber lintels, brackets under the gable ends, half timbering and a roof pitched hard enough to shed a hundred inches of snow, which reads as part Arts and Crafts and part Tudor Revival and not much like anything else in the county. Around it stand older houses in the same stone, among them the Bonner houses and the William Watkins Coleman house.
The stone is the same stuff the crater is made of
Pot rock is tufa, the calcium carbonate the geothermal springs leave behind as the water cools and gives up carbon dioxide. The mounds it built are the reason one of the two original settlements was called Mound City. So the town hall, the mounds in the fields and the dome you can swim inside are all the same process at different scales, which is not a connection most towns can make.
Look from the street and leave it there
The Town Hall is a working civic building with events in it, and everything around it is somebody's house. There is no tour, no ticket and no interpretive centre, and the correct way to do this is a slow walk on the public footpath with your eyes up. Newer subdivisions in town are built to design guidelines that push toward the same Swiss influenced look, which is worth noticing as a contrast.
The details
Getting there
Park once near Town Square in the centre of Midway and walk. The historic core is small enough that the whole circuit is a few blocks in any direction.
Before you go
- The Town Hall is a working venue. Check whether an event is on before expecting to look inside.
- The historic houses are private homes. Photograph from the public footpath.
- Winter light is short here and the streets are narrow. Mornings are easier.
- Pair it with Swiss Days if you want the square at full volume, or avoid that weekend if you do not.
- The same walk is the best way to see how new construction is being asked to match the old.
Drive Pine Canyon Road up toward Guardsman Pass
From Wasatch Mountain State Park · Park day use · Late spring to autumn
Pine Canyon Road climbs out of Wasatch Mountain State Park above Midway and connects the valley floor to the Guardsman Pass road at the top of the Wasatch Back. It is a Wasatch County road rather than a UDOT route, it is not plowed, and it closes with the snow every year. In 2026 the county opened it on 11 May.
It is the best aspen drive from this side of the valley in late September and early October, and it is a completely different approach from the paved run up out of Park City. The trails and the alpine lakes at the top of the pass belong to the Park City hiking page, which covers them properly.
Know what your vehicle is doing before you commit
Sections of this are unpaved mountain road with loose surface and drop offs, and a low clearance car is not the right tool on a bad year. There is no fuel, no service and patchy signal once you are above the park. Turn round early rather than late, and do not attempt it in the shoulder weeks when the gate has only just come off.
The Midway side and the Park City side are different drives
From Park City the climb to Guardsman is paved state highway with a well known summit and a busy trailhead at the top. From Midway you are on a county road out of a state park, quieter and rougher, and you meet the same ridge from underneath. Both are worth doing; they are not substitutes for each other.
The details
Getting there
Enter Wasatch Mountain State Park northwest of Midway and follow the Pine Canyon signs upward. The road leaves the developed part of the park quickly and climbs toward the Guardsman Pass junction on the ridge.
Before you go
- This is a county road, so state road condition pages will not tell you about it.
- It closes with the snow and reopens when the county clears it, usually in May.
- No fuel, no services and unreliable signal above the park boundary.
- Aspen colour peaks late September into early October in most years.
- Cyclists and hikers use it too. It is narrow in places and sight lines are short.
Honest about the neighbours
What Midway owns, and what belongs to the town up the hill.
This valley is small and its towns share a lot. The left column is what a Midway address genuinely has out its own door. The right is what a twenty to thirty minute drive reaches, all of it written up on the companion for the town that owns it.
| Midway's own | Twenty to thirty minutes away | |
|---|---|---|
| Snow sport | Nordic trails, a biathlon range and seven tubing lanes at Soldier Hollow | Lift served alpine at Park City and Deer Valley |
| Trails | Over 20 miles of Dutch Hollow singletrack from a valley floor trailhead | The ridge and Mid Mountain network above Park City |
| Water | A geothermal dome you can swim inside, year round | Jordanelle and Deer Creek reservoirs, from Heber's side |
| Golf | Four eighteen hole state park courses inside the park | Private and resort clubs over the rise |
| Main street | A pot rock town hall and a square that fills twice a year | A historic mining Main Street with a full retail season |
| Rail and museums | None in town | The Heber Valley Railroad and the Utah Olympic Park |
Neither column is a complaint. People pick Midway for the valley floor, the lot and the quiet and then use the right hand column deliberately, which is a different proposition from wanting the right hand column at the end of the drive.
Before you go
What to book, what to check, and what you can just turn up to.
Half of this list runs on timed slots and the other half runs on weather. Sorting which is which before you leave saves the drive back up the valley.
Book a slot
- A crater session, which is timed to the hour and capped by how many people the dome holds
- A tubing session, which starts on the hour and sells out in holiday weeks
- A tee time on any of the four state park courses in high summer
- Accommodation anywhere in the valley for the Swiss Days weekend or Memorial Day weekend
Check before you drive
- Whether Pine Canyon Road is open, which the county decides and state road pages do not cover
- Whether Memorial Hill is open to vehicles, which it usually is not between October and May
- Whether it rained in the last day, if the plan is Dutch Hollow
- The Soldier Hollow race calendar, if the plan is a winter Saturday at the venue
- The current Ice Castles position, because it has not run at Soldier Hollow since early 2025
Just turn up
- The walk around Town Square and the pot rock buildings, in daylight, at no cost
- Memorial Hill on foot, in reasonable conditions, in any month
- Swiss Days itself, which is free to walk into once you have parked at the shuttle
- Dutch Hollow, once you have put the day use fee in the envelope
Do not go looking for hot pots on private ground. There are several dozen active hot pots scattered across this corner of Wasatch County and most of them sit on farm ground, in pastures and behind houses. They are unfenced holes of hot water in a soft, undercut rock, they have no lifeguard and no rescue, and they are not attractions. The crater at 700 North Homestead Drive is the one that is set up for people to be in. Use that one.
What this list leaves out, and why
- Ice Castles. It built at Soldier Hollow for several winters and it is the first thing many people associate with Midway, but the company announced on 1 October 2025 that it was pausing its Utah location to rework its build process, and no return has been announced. Ranking an attraction that has not run since early 2025 would be dishonest.
- Deer Creek and Jordanelle. Both reservoirs are close and both are genuinely good, and both are approached and written up from Heber City's side of the valley rather than borrowed here.
- The Heber Valley Railroad. It runs out of Heber City three miles east, and it belongs to that town's guide.
- Alpine skiing. Park City and Deer Valley are about eighteen miles north and the companion for that town covers the resorts, the passes and the traffic. Midway's own snow sport is Nordic.
- The Mirror Lake Highway and the Uintas. That country is reached through Kamas and is that town's subject entirely. Nothing in the Uintas is a Midway drive.
