Snowboarding Forum - Snowboard Enthusiast Forums banner

Tahoe, Park City, or Vail??

15K views 32 replies 22 participants last post by  COtoUT 
#1 ·
Been to Breckenridge twice and thought it was a good time. Could walk to the lifts and the main town area. Out of Tahoe, Park City, and Vail, which has the best boarding and nightlife scene??
Thanks.
 
#2 ·
For night life, Tahoe South Shore. Unfortunately Heavenly is the only walk to resort right there, and it's rather mediocre by Tahoe standards. Kirkwood is fantastic, Sierra is a fun mountain. If you stay North Shore, you would have a lot more optionsboarding wise, but the night life there isn't nearly as good. It's still fun over there. Nothing is really centralized though unlike the South Shore minus it's drawbacks. Squaw Valley is world class, Alpine and Sugar Bowl, may not quite make the "world class" mark but are no slouches either.

Vail, if you stay in the village or Loinshead puts you right there in terms of nightlife and things to do. The riding at Vail is pretty much all alike. Same 'ol blue Vail.

Park City, don't really know. Supposed to be a good scene there. None of the ski areas are really Utah "showcase resorts" but can be decent enough.
 
#9 ·
Methinks you are trollin. Because Park City has been a blast every time I've gone (once a year past 3 years). 90% of the chicks arn't local anyways so who cares? The only stupid part is I hate how you can only have A shot and A beer drink on you at any time. And they always check people for orders. Stupid..just let me buy 6 shots and walk the fuck away.
 
#11 ·
Yeah...though people hating on Utah liquor laws seem to forget Colorado has pretty much the same laws - only 3.2 beer in grocery stores etc. As well as Kansas, Minnesota, Oklahoma... Also there are counties in this country that you can't even get a drink AT ALL. Coming from California I honestly barely ntocied a difference. Sure it's completely ridiculous, but hey :dunno:
 
#10 ·
Kill said it. Walk-to and Great nightlife are hard to couple. SLT is a blast, but Heavenly is just ok. Park City is also a blast, but the resort is just ok. Vail offers a slight blend of both, but Vail nightlife isn't crazy. I'd go with SLT. Heavenly is fun and you can catch a decent shuttle to Kirkwood for like 15 or 20 bucks.
 
#15 ·
Just got back from Park City two weeks ago. Stayed in North Tahoe last year. Never been to Vail. Where we stayed in Tahoe had pretty much no nightlife as far as I could tell. The admin is right- the South Shore near Heavenly was hopping. Also, the guy complaining about Heavenly- unless you need an endless variety of cliffs I wouldn't listen to him. I thought it was fun. Park City had ONE bar that fit my description of a cool bar- it's called No Name and was pretty awesome. We had dinner at the distillery (High West) but like most things in Park City it's designed to appeal to rich people.

My idea of good night life is trying to find where locals go. No Name seemed to be that place in Park City. I'll tell you something else though that will tell you something about how I feel about local nightlife hangouts- some of my favorite times partying ever at a mountain town was in Glacier (near Mt. Baker, Washington.) We went to a bar called Chair 9 that was packed with people, many of them still in their gear at 8 at night and met so many people and talked about the mountain and boarding and all kinds of stuff. Very friendly and very fun. Plus they have a 30 foot movie screen they play ski porn on the entire time. it was awesome!
 
#18 ·
Yeah wasatchman, the laws have changed in Colorado a ton in the last 20 years. You are showing your age. :)

Liquor sales are 7 days a week now. You can buy what ever on Sundays. Full strength beer still has to be bought at the liquor stores. Grocery stores only have 3.2. But Liquor stores are open on Sundays now. I have no idea why the grocers still carry 3.2. They complain they can't sell it and want to sell full strength beer and wine. Of course the liquor stores fight that change. If I was the grocer I would just dump the 3.2 and use the shelf space for something else. If they did that they would also probably get their wish.

I will say that Utah laws have also gotten a lot better. The state run stores are still lame but at least you can walk into a bar now instead of a social club. Next thing to get rid of is the Zion curtain. That is just stupid.
 
#19 ·
Shit sounds like trying to get alcohol in Vancouver Canada.

Imagine my surprise when 7-Elevens, Costco's and drug stores didn't carry beer? But you can walk around with zip of chronic and nobody bats an eye.

My buddy got married to a chick up there 10 years ago and we were eating dim sum, and her dad and uncles brings over two handfuls of just dried buds wrapped in paper towels to our table. I'm from So Cal, I'm looking around sketch seeing if anyone is watching us lol. Are the cops behind that wall or something wtf?
 
#20 ·
You can get any strength beer in Utah bars and liquor stores. But everything else is spot on.

What pisses me off the most is how they have to scan everyone's ID everytime no exceptions. Even if you know the doorman. Even if you are 60. I don't like the idea that my info is put onto some list of heathens. My ID looks like it got chewed on by a bear so it wont scan sometimes and they will write down my info most of the time. I don't like the idea of shady ass bouncer types having access to my info like that.

Another dumb rule is no daily specials or happy hours. Everything has to be the same price all the time. They say this encourages binge drinking, which of course leads to alcoholism and the wife beating and homelessness.

I don't know if this is still the case but when I first moved here the liquor commission consisted of like 6 out of 7 non drinkers.:icon_scratch:

And then there are 1 am closing times....


However, one thing that makes up for all these dumb rools is how cheap it is to drink in a bar. Ive had nights where I laughed at how cheap my bill was at the end of the night.

But like snowvols said, the snow sucks and the girls are ugly. Go to vail. heard the heated sidewalks are nice.
 
#21 ·
I have never ridden in Cali or Utah so I'm definitely biased, but I will do my best to provide a factual experience having lived in Vail for a few years.

I will agree that the nightlife isn't 'crazy' but fun can surely be had. Usually most of the club-type bars have decent DJ's and there are some good names that come through town as well - so keep an eye out at local venues. Most of the bars are packed by midnight, and a lot of girls out dancing. Good population of south american women, Chileans and Argentinians so if you speak spanish you will have a good time. Otherwise, plenty of tourists in and out so if you have any game you won't have a bad time ;)

Usually every night there are people out doing something, and yes the heated sidewalks are a plus. Other upsides to Vail, the mountain is right there, so if you are staying in the village it's just a few minute walk to any lift or the gondy. If you are out of town a little ways there is a decent in town (free) bus system, unless you are far enough out in the surrounding towns to need the eco bus. In that case it's still like $10 for a full day ticket (endless rides all day)

The mountain can be crowded on the front side, so get up early and head straight for the back bowls and blue sky basin. Some REALLY great riding out there if you know where to look. East Vail chutes are also probably the best example of back country accessible off the mountain. Careful, avalanches slide easily in that area, a local skier just lost his life in that area recently.

Either way, buying a pass to Vail gives you access to Beaver Creek, and keystone/breck/a basin, but you'll most likely stay on the west side of the pass so check out the beav if you feel like taking the (short) bus ride down I-70. Probly 15 minutes? haven't done it in a while.
 
#22 ·
Been to Tahoe twice for a week each time. The nightlife is very good, make some money at the tables, go to the bars and buy some drinks. Plus you can walk everywhere! I mean the second time we didn't ever rent a car. Also, as mentioned, the second time we did a day at Kirkwood. WTF!!! nobody told me it was going to be that awesome! We should of done the whole week there.

I'll be in Vail for the first time next weekend. Can't wait, I'll try to remember to update this when I get back.
 
#30 ·
im headin to park city the first week in march ( with the old lady ). Stayin walkin distance to main street n shit.
Wont be there for a weekend, anywhere got decent live music during the week?
where should i go to grab a beer and a burger?

Whats the herb situation like? got family in salt lake, so that dont really help.....
 
#31 ·
Probably no good live music sorry :/
When it comes to food if you are looking for kick ass food at not resort price there's a place called Reefs Kitchen its more ethnic. Squatters is the shit good place for a burger and some of the best "Utah beer" (if we can even call it beer)
If you are riding at PCMR there's a hot dog stand inside the resort called Cobra Dogs and its pretty good for pretty cheep. Wish I could help more but Salt Lake is too great to leave so I rarely go to park city.
 
#33 ·
Squatter's makes beer 9% and higher (Hop Rising, etc.). I prefer Red Rock's Elphino IPA (9%).

Utah is now brewing some of the strongest beers in the nation-correction, they have been for sometime now. I don't get this "Utah beer" bullshit about us not having "real beer". Everyone that says this shit needs to pull their heads out of asses. If you want weak beers-go to the mid-west or the South.

And PC is like Breckinridge; t-shit shops and fat tourists. PC is like The Gap; everyone dresses the same, listens to the same shit, is the same shit-bland and boring. Salt Lake City and the other canyons are where it's at, in my opinion.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top