What Is the Best Time to Travel to Bonneville Salt Flats?
Summer is the best time to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats, but for slightly milder weather, consider going in the fall.
Written by Patrick Price
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
A stark but strangely beautiful wasteland in Utah, the Salt Flats are a haunting and powerful sight. The best time to travel to Bonneville Salt Flats is summer, but for slightly milder weather, consider going in the fall.
To hear someone describe it, you might think that the
Bonneville Salt Flats
in Utah
would be the last place you would want to take a vacation. But if you get past the harsh desolation of the Flats, you’ll be struck by the strange and expansive grandeur of the place.If, on the other hand, you have no real interest in quiet and contemplative experiences, there still might be something in the Flats you’d enjoy. All that empty space is put to good use by automobile enthusiasts from all over. The vast expanse is used for all kinds of car races and max speed tests!
Of course, before you can start planning your trip, you’ll need to know when you want to go. To help you figure that out,
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The best times of year to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats
The vast majority of visitors to the Bonneville Salt Flats come during the peak season in the summer and fall. Peak season begins in late spring and continues into mid-autumn and is hands down the best time of year to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Once the chilly autumn rains—mild as they are—cut the summer fun short, the Flats enter their winter to spring off-season. This will last right up until peak season starts to heat back up in late spring.
Peak season: May to October
The good: warm weather, racing events
The bad: extreme heat, scorching sun
The weather: low 40s to low 100s
Summer and fall are by far the most popular times to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats, and it’s not hard to see why. If you can get past the staggering heat and the blinding sun, summer is the perfect time to take in the austere beauty of the Flats–and maybe grab some jaw-dropping photographs of the otherworldly landscape as well!
This is also the best time to catch a few events at Bonneville. There isn’t much that goes on in The Flats overall. However, you will find car races, test drives, and automobile events of all kinds there. Enjoy some of the area’s most famous events, such as
Bonneville Speed Week
, the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials
, or the famous World of Speed
event, in peak season. Because of the near limitless expanse of flat ground, Bonneville is the perfect place for racing and testing new vehicles. In fact, the speed limit there is a staggering 1,000 mph. Every year, you can see drivers come to the fabled
Bonneville International Speedway
to compete for various speed records. Later on, you could sneak away to the
Great Salt Lake State Park
that lies just about an hour east of The Flats. There you’ll be able to go boating
on the lake, bike
or hike
through the park, or enjoy a casual game of golf! Pro Tip If you decide to go to the Salt Flats, be prepared for little or no cell reception, no restaurants, and no bathrooms outside of your lodgings.
Off-season: November to April
The good: fewer visitors, less brutal sun
The bad: chilly weather, potential wet and dangerous driving conditions
The weather: low 20s to low 60s
From mid-October through April (often into May), Bonneville lies dormant in the off-season.
Along with this change, the Flats themselves transform. Often, the winter and spring rains will coat the Flats with water, which then coalesces into numerous salty puddles that make the ground incredibly slick.
You’re welcome to still wade through the water and take beautiful photographs, but driving off paved surfaces is not recommended.
Patches of earth may look normal but actually have an underground current. If you decide to do some off-roading in the off-season, you'll be in danger of hydroplaning—that is, if you don’t sink first.
Because few visitors are interested in the harsh weather and soggy quagmires that persist through most of the off-season, Bonneville becomes even more empty as winter sets in.
Pro Tip Do not attempt to drive off-road at the Flats if it has rained in the past couple of days. Many drivers get stuck each year.
The cheapest time to travel to Bonneville Salt Flats
The cheapest time to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats is, of course, going to be during the winter off-season. Since very few tourists will be coming through the nearby town of Wendover, hotel rates should be down a good amount.
How to find savings on car and rental insurance
If you’re planning a road trip, the last thing you want is to be worried about your car insurance policy. You want to know that you’re covered—whether you get a flat tire, need a tow, or find yourself in an accident.
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What is the worst time to travel to Bonneville Salt Flats?
Winter is the worst time to travel to the Bonneville Salt Flats. The weather is cold and sometimes rainy. For most of the season, the Flats become a treacherous maze of slick puddles and quagmires for drivers.
