Best Hostels in Salt Lake City UT

I rolled into Salt Lake City on a Tuesday afternoon with two days of wiggle room in my budget and zero interest in dropping seventy bucks a night on a hotel room. The city has a decent hostel scene if you know where to look—nothing like Portland or Denver, but solid enough that you can crash without feeling like you're punishing yourself financially. The trick is knowing which places are actually clean, which ones have decent common areas where you'll actually meet other travelers, and which ones are basically motels with bunks shoved into the bedrooms.

Most of Salt Lake's budget options cluster either downtown near the Capitol Theatre and Main Street, or scattered through the residential neighborhoods where rents are lower and the vibe is quieter. Transit is decent if you're willing to walk a bit—UTA's light rail connects downtown to the airport, and buses fan out through the city reasonably well. But honestly, if you're staying in a hostel for two or three nights, you'll probably spend most of your time on foot or bumming rides off other guests.

The Downtown Cluster: Walking Distance to Everything

Salt Lake Hostel sits right on Main Street, a few blocks south of Temple Square, in what used to be an old warehouse building. Dorm beds run around $30–$40 depending on the season and day of week, and private rooms if you want to spend a little more. The place has real hardwood floors, high ceilings, and a common kitchen that actually gets used—I watched people cooking pasta and swapping travel stories at 11 p.m. The bathrooms are shared but clean, and they've got a small courtyard out back. The owners seem to actually care about upkeep.

A block away, The Avenues Backpackers occupies a converted house with a slightly different vibe: smaller, noisier common area, but the dorm beds are a few dollars cheaper and the front desk staff knows the neighborhood restaurants cold. If you're planning to spend an evening actually talking to the other people staying there, this is the better bet. The walk to downtown attractions is maybe ten minutes max from either spot.

South Temple: Quieter, Cheaper, Still Accessible

Head a mile or two south on Main and you're in a different world. South Temple has seen renovation boom in the last few years, and a couple of budget motels have cleaned themselves up accordingly. Motel 6 on South Temple rents basic rooms that aren't exactly charming but are genuinely clean and cheap—single rooms run $35–$45 if you book direct and ask about walk-in rates. No kitchen, no common areas to speak of, but you get a bed and a bathroom and a parking lot if you've rented a car. It's not a hostel experience, more a place to sleep between activities.

Better if you want that middle ground: a small place like the extended-stay properties scattered through the Marmalade District (just west of downtown proper) rent by the night starting around $40–$50 for a room with a microwave and mini-fridge. You won't make friends this way, but you'll save money and have a little more privacy. The bus lines are okay from South Temple, though you're less connected to the night scene.

Budget Motels and Extended-Stay Chains

If the hostel scene just isn't your thing and you want a simple transaction—bed, shower, leave—the Red Roof Inn near the airport runs around $45–$55 per night and honestly delivers what it promises. Clean rooms, no surprises, and you're close to the highway if you're renting a car for day trips to the Wasatch or Antelope Island. Super 8 has a couple of locations around the city with similar pricing and the same no-frills reliability. These places are sterile and you'll feel like a ghost, but for a two-night stand they're perfectly functional.

For longer stays (five nights or more), the extended-stay chains—La Quinta, Studio 6—offer weekly rates that drop the nightly cost closer to $35–$40 and throw in a kitchenette. You're looking at a more residential setup, usually in the suburbs near the highway corridor, so transit gets iffy unless you've got wheels. But if you're settling in for a week and want to cook your own food and have space to breathe, the math works out.

Getting to Know the Layout: Transit and Walking

Salt Lake's light rail (TRAX) runs from the airport straight through downtown, which is convenient if you're arriving or leaving by plane. From the Capitol Hill area where most of the hostels sit, you're maybe a ten-minute walk to the Library/Court House stop. A single ride costs $2.50, all-day pass is $6.50. Buses are more numerous but less predictable—grab an app like Google Maps and plan actual routes before you assume you can just hop on something nearby.

Don't overestimate your patience for transit if you're only staying a couple nights. Downtown Salt Lake is compact enough that you can walk the main attractions—Temple Square, the Beehive House, City Hall, the galleries on Main Street—in an afternoon. Most travelers staying in the hostels just walk everywhere and call it good. The city's relatively safe for solo walking, day or early evening, though like anywhere you avoid poorly lit alleys and dead-end side streets at 2 a.m.

Reputation Check: Cleanliness and Community

I spent time in three of these places and talked to long-term travelers passing through. Salt Lake Hostel gets consistently positive reviews about cleanliness and management responsiveness—if something breaks or gets gross, they actually fix it. The Avenues is a little scrappier but people seem to enjoy the social vibe; it's the kind of place where you'll definitely end up at a bar with other guests. The motel and extended-stay spots are what they are: you get what you see on the website, no personality, but also no surprises.

One pattern I noticed: the hostels fill up fastest on weekends and during ski season (November–March), when park-and-ski travelers need a cheap base. If you're visiting outside those windows, you'll have more options and negotiating power on rate. The budget motels don't really fluctuate much—consistent pricing year-round.

What You're Paying For: Actual Value Breakdown

Here's the real math. A dorm bed at a decent Salt Lake hostel runs $25–$40 per night depending on season and room occupancy. You get a bed, access to a shared kitchen and bathroom, and proximity to downtown. That's competitive with most mid-size American cities and way cheaper than a hotel.

A private room in a hostel or a basic motel room starts around $45–$60, which puts you in a weird zone: you're not saving that much compared to a budget hotel booking, but you also don't get the full hotel amenities. Make sense if you want privacy but can't justify the full hotel price point, or if you're staying longer than three nights and want to negotiate a weekly rate. Extended-stay properties at $35–$45 per night only make sense if you're staying five-plus nights and want kitchen access; otherwise you're just renting a depressing room with a hot plate.

Frequently Asked Questions