Get all the details from our ski trip to Deer Valley, Utah for spring break. From where to stay, eat and ski to how to make the most of your experience.
Deer Valley is Exceptional!
We had the best Spring Break skiing in Deer Valley, Utah this year! This was our first time skiing in Deer Valley and we quickly fell in love with the slopes, the food and the people. From great ski runs to amazing service to exceptional dining and entertainment experiences, we thoroughly enjoyed every moment and will cherish the memories for years to come.
Lodging
We loved staying at Stein Eriksen Lodge! The accommodations, amenities and service were all top-notch. It was ski in/ski out and located mid-mountain with several great lifts just out the back doors. The convenience of this place was amazing!
We were spoiled by the ski valet service where they stored all of our ski gear in lockers right by the entrance to the ski slopes. They kept our boots warming and would help us put them on and take them off each time we went skiing. They would also carry our skis and poles out to the snow and have them all set up for us to just slip our boots into and take off skiing. And when we returned for the day, they would carry our skis in and put them away in our lockers. It certainly made for an easy and elevated skiing experience.
We stayed in a suite with a full kitchen and plenty of space for all 6 of us to spend quality time together playing games and watching movies as well as pockets of space to relax on our own. We had a hot tub that overlooked the mountain which was so nice to relax in after a long day of skiing. And we had two fireplaces that they would come light for us each evening and bring s’mores kits for us to enjoy at the end of each day.
Stein Eriksen Lodge had some amazing amenities that kept us all well-entertained and well-fed when we weren’t skiing. They have two big heated pools, a gorgeous spa and fitness center, an entertainment center with lots of fun games and arcades, a legit movie theater with nightly movies and popcorn service, a daily hot chocolate bar, complimentary breakfast buffet, shuttle service to nearby restaurants and shops, a lovely lounge and so much more.
Skiing
We skied Deer Valley Resort for 5 full days and loved it! It had just snowed the day before we arrived and began snowing again the day we left so we had fresh snow when we got there followed by 5 days of skiing in the sunshine with temps in the 30’s. It was my absolute favorite skiing weather! The clear views of Deer Valley and nearby Park City were amazing. Brandon likes skiing in the snow, so he missed that, but really enjoyed the ease of skiing in the warm sunshine.
This was our first time skiing Deer Valley so we hired a ski instructor for the first day to show us around and give us any tips for improving our skills. It was so nice because he took us on almost every ski lift and ski run to really familiarize us with the mountain. The kids have become great skiers over the years so we can all comfortably ski the blues and then the boys would venture off on a few blacks as they became more comfortable with the mountain.
We kept hearing that Deer Valley is not a “skiers mountain” and now we understand what they meant. They meant that the hard-core skiers are not flocking to Deer Valley to get their skiing fix. It’s more of a mountain for recreational and resort skiing, for those of us who enjoy a challenge, but also have the option to easily cruise down the mountain.
There are plenty of great green and blue runs for every level of skier and a few challenging blacks for those up for the challenge. Also, lots of opportunities to take a break with amazing dining and après ski options at every turn. Also, Deer Valley doesn’t even allow snowboarders which was pretty refreshing.
No offense to snowboarders, but it was nice not to have to weave around them as they sit resting in the middle of a run. 😉 We had been skiing Big Sky the past 4 years and that is definitely a “skiers mountain”. When skiing Big Sky, you can feel the seriousness from the moment you get in line at the main lifts and you can see the seriousness as you look up and see skiers on several of the advanced triple black runs and wide expansive bowls.
All that to say, we loved skiing Deer Valley. It was beautiful and well-groomed with plenty of great runs to keep us excited and challenged the entire trip.
The Food!
The dining in Deer Valley certainly lived up to all the amazing things we had heard about it! Everything was fresh and fabulously prepared. I was definitely inspired by several of the dishes and treats we enjoyed and can’t wait to start developing recreation recipes now that we’re home. I’m excited to create recipes for: the Power Bars that we snacked on from First Tracks Kaffee at the Stein; the Zucchini Muffins and Sticky Toffee Muffins we enjoyed at the breakfast buffet each morning; the Sticky Bun Donuts we had for dessert at The Goldener Hirsch Restaurant; big, thin, chewy, crunchy around the edges Snickerdoodle Cookies that were perfect for dipping into rich hot chocolate at Cushing’s Cabin; and a Ginger Margarita that I sipped on while playing cards in the St. Regis Bar.
I highly recommend getting reservations for any restaurants that take reservations. Most of the nicer lunch restaurants don’t take reservations so be prepared to put your name on the list and wait just a bit. Since we ate such big breakfasts, we would wait to eat lunch around 1:30pm when the peak lunch crowds were finishing up so we never had to wait too long for a table. Most restaurants do take dinner reservations.
We ate our breakfast buffet each morning in Glitretind (in the Stein Eriksen Lodge) where we had their famous Sunday Brunch. We loved the breakfast buffet each morning where we enjoyed plates of fresh-baked pastries, chocolate chip pancakes, their famous maple bacon (it reminded me so much of my Maple Brown Sugar Bacon recipe), French toast, smoked salmon bagels, avocado toast, big bowls of warm oatmeal, and all the other breakfast classics to fuel us for a full day of skiing.
For Stein’s Famous Sunday Brunch, we booked our reservation at 1:30pm so we could get in several hours of skiing before stuffing ourselves. The buffet had everything you would expect a great brunch buffet to have, but it was overcrowded with long lines for each station and they were very slow to replenish most of the food so we found it to be very overwhelming and unimpressive. Not worth the time or money. We did give them our feedback and they were very appreciative so hopefully it was just a bad day for the brunch buffet 😉
The kids ate lunch and snacks most days at Champions Club (located in Stein Eriksen Lodge) while they played games in the connecting entertainment center. They could order all the kid-food classics like chicken tenders, hot dogs, Bavarian soft pretzels, pizzas and milkshakes. The servers were so patient with all the kids playing and ordering their food. All the food was great, especially their burger that had crispy onions and aged white cheddar melted on it along with amazing hand-cut, crispy fries.
The après ski menu at Troll Hallen Lounge (located in Stein Eriksen Lodge) was our favorite with their famous fondue, cheese fries, Bavarian soft pretzel and charcuterie board. All enjoyed with reenergizing cocktails, like an Espresso Martini or Norwegian Toddy! Yum!
We enjoyed dinner at the Goldener Hirsch Restaurant the first night we arrived and it really set the bar high for all the other amazing food we would be eating throughout the week! This was such a quaint restaurant with a Bavarian influence to it. It truly felt like we were eating at a restaurant in Europe. The food was beautifully prepared and presented.
We started with the fondue and really enjoyed the experience of sharing it as a family. Brandon and I then shared the Pumpkin Sage Gnocchi and the Lamb Shank for our main course. The dessert here was certainly a highlight of the trip!
We got the Warm Glazed Donut Stack which tasted like sticky bun donuts with ice cream on top. It was too tasty to be true and I will definitely be recreating a version of it soon…so stay tuned! Oh and I forgot to mention the cocktails which were so inventive and enjoyable! I got the In The Clouds and Brandon got the Symphony No. 92…highly recommend both!
Brandon and I discovered patio lunching at Brasserie 7452 (located at the St. Regis Deer Valley) a few days into our trip and there was no going anywhere else after that. We loved it so much and went back every day for lunch the rest of the trip!
The kids would ski back to the Champions Club while we skied over to the St. Regis for a late lunch. It was a win win for all! We’d get a table on the patio in the warm sunshine and play cards while people-watching and grazing on the most amazing truffle fries with a garlic hollandaise followed by a big Caesar Salad and a fabulous Black Truffle Pizza all while sipping on a crisp Arneis. It was just so lovely and we will crave the daily enjoyment until we get to enjoy it again next year!
We loved our dinner experience at Fireside Dining! There are 4 fireplaces with a different course at each fireplace. We started with their famous raclette cheese served melting straight from the fireplace along with an accompaniment bar of meats, vegetables, fruits and spreads to enjoy with it. We loved taking our time from course to course where we enjoyed hearty stews simmering fireside along with prime rib and leg of lamb carved fireside. They had a beautiful selection of salads and sides to accompany the main courses. For a sweet finish to the feast, we loved the fondue dessert bar where we enjoyed three different fondues (dark chocolate, salted caramel and white chocolate grand marnier) along with housemade ice creams and all the dippers and toppings like strawberries, pound cake, brownies, cookies and more! Such a delicious and memorable experience!
Stein Alpenglobes (located on the patios at the Stein Eriksen Lodge) was such a fun experience! We rented one of the “snow globes” for an outdoor dinner mountainside. The globe was heated and we could play our own music. So cute and cozy! The menu options came from the Glitretind and Troll Hallen dinner menus. We loved their Sourdough and Spreads along with the Lobster Caviar, Swedish Meatballs and Mashers, Farmer Jones Red Greens to start with. And then we had the Parisienne Gnocchi and Rocky Mountain Elk Tenderloin for our main courses. For dessert, we loved their famous Sticky Toffee Pudding and Smorgasbord Sundae. This was certainly a highlight meal of the trip!
Since the weather was so nice and sunny outside, we never really needed to take a break from skiing to warm up…just to eat! So on the last day of skiing we finally ventured into Cushing’s Cabin and discovered the amazing selection of huge cookies and hot chocolate with marshmallows and a mountain of whipped cream on top! Boy, were we missing out all week. This place is a gem at the top of Flagstaff Mountain. They also have lots of tables, a great assortment of food and drinks, water and bathrooms. We’ll definitely be regulars here when we return next year!
More Fun
We went into nearby Park City Main Street one evening just to walk around and grab a drink, but since we had been on a ski trip to Park City several years ago and had already experienced a lot that Park City has to offer, we decided to spend most of our trip in Deer Valley. If you have never been to Park City and are staying in Deer Valley, it’s certainly worth venturing the short drive into the Main Street area where they have a great selection of shops and restaurants. We loved eating at Riverhorse on Main and Davanza’s the year we skied Park City!
Horse-Drawn Sleigh Ride (located near the Montage Deer Valley) – following dinner at Fireside Dining, we went on a little horse-drawn sleigh ride in the snow. It was so beautiful with clear skies, a full moon shining on the mountain, and twinkling lights in the trees. You can book the sleigh ride when you make dinner reservations or through your server if there’s availability.
I hope you enjoyed reading all about our trip to Deer Valley, Utah. We absolutely fell in love with the people, food and skiing experience there.
xoxo,
