Smell the Flowers in Red Butte Garden - Review 2025

For a quieter, peaceful thing to do in Salt Lake City, head to Red Butte Garden for panoramic views of the valley, mountain ranges, and the Great Salt Lake. In the spring and summer, 500,000 colorful, vibrant flowers bloom throughout the botanical garden and arboretum housed on the University of Utah’s campus.

Here, you can wander through 100 acres of diverse plant collections along pathways and flowing fountains in themed gardens at the largest botanical garden in the Western United States.

Red Butte Garden has over 21 acres of developed gardens and five miles of hiking trails winding through an extensive nature area. Each of the eleven themed gardens is devoted to a specific type of plant or ecosystem, such as a Herb Garden, a Children’s Garden, a Medicinal Garden, a Water Pavilion Garden, a Rose Garden, and so many more. And during the summer months, you can enjoy outdoor concerts in the amphitheater.

In addition to the bountiful flowering gardens, there are plenty of educational lectures and kid-friendly activities. Some of the kid programs include a Garden Adventure, where they connect with plants and learn about the beauty of nature, and Em’s Apothecary, where you can learn how to use plants to make herbal concoctions. You can also sign up for horticulture classes, bird watching, art exhibits, and summer camps.