Visiting the Bonnville Salt Flats Speedway is a top thing to do with your rental car in Utah. The densely packed salt pans are a unique natural feature stretching over 30,000 acres! Famous for it’s Speed Week to break racing records, we had arrived on the white salt reflecting area on an early morning for a little drive with our rental car.
Arriving around 06:30am we planned to see the sunrise across the salt flats but were welcomed with too many clouds. That didn’t stop us from enjoying the views of the Bonneville Salt Flats with the mountain peaks in the background.
Taking the road turning to the official sign and driving area we were greeted with some racing organizers who were not allowing people to drive on the salt flats. A little unexpected but it didn’t stop us from driving a little/walking around on the salt flats and taking some awesome photos. Even without the sun shining it looked so bright. Looking back, might have been a good thing that we didn’t drive on the salt flats since the car was still so clean and shiny!
The sign at the start was full of stickers of racing teams that had visited the area for Speed Week. We spotted a few Dutch ones too, but we knew the salt flats were famous also from programmes like the British Top Gear who had filmed a few episodes there to show off some adventurous cars.
We couldn’t believe how far we could see, and it definitely wasn’t going to be the last place that made us speechless during our US road trip.
If you are ever in this Utah area we would definitely recommended stopping here to see it and experience the salt flats for yourself.
Read more of our USA posts!
Helicopter Tour Above Grand Canyon
Cycling The Golden Gate Bridge, CA
Exploring Bodie: An Abandoned Mining Town
San Francisco 2 Day Itinerary With & Without A Car
Tips for your trip:
- There are no facilities (only at the truck stop before the entrance thats far back)
- Don’t drive to close to the salt crust edges as you may get stuck
- And don’t drive on them at all during flooding
- If your car is super salty after driving on the flats, wash off to avoid corrosion
- Wear correct clothing for the expected weather
*This visit was part of our 2 Week US Road Trip
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Have you visited these before? We’d love to hear your stories and tips for next time!
31 Comments
mayuri patel
17th February 2018 at 9:22 amthis is so useful post and pics are amazing
Ana Ro
17th February 2018 at 9:31 amI had no idea there was such a thing in the US, I only knew about the South America. Thanks for sharing, would love to see it live!
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:48 pmGlad to have shared it! 🙂
Laura Caddick
17th February 2018 at 9:38 amDitto Ana Ro, how interesting to learn about a different salt flats! Looks really cool to visit though!
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:48 pmYeah was pretty fun to see!!
Viola
17th February 2018 at 11:12 amWow looks like Heaven! I have wanted to go to Bolivia to see the famous salt flat there. Maybe I should just go to Utah! Thanks for sharing this. 😀
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:49 pmHaha yes Bolivia is on our list too for the salt flats, but since we were in Utah we couldn’t resist stopping here 🙂
Sapna
17th February 2018 at 10:41 amLovely salt flats. Looks so white and vast. I like to see this kind of places.
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:48 pmIt sure felt so peaceful to stand on the salts and look out to the emptyness!
kaytherunaway
17th February 2018 at 10:53 amWoah! 30,000 acres! That’s a chunk of land!
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:49 pmUnimaginable eh!
Mattea
17th February 2018 at 11:36 amIt’s my dream to visit here one day! It just looks so peaceful and heavenly!
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:49 pmThanks for commenting! It sure was!
Amy Morgan
17th February 2018 at 11:47 amSee I’d be so tempted to floor the car across it. Must have been lovely to be able to look around and not see any buildings to ruin the view!
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:50 pmHaha we did have that feeling, but kept it safe! It was very peaceful to stand and look out to emptyness.
Sarah
17th February 2018 at 11:59 amSuch a cool looking spot! I definitely gotta explore my own country more.
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:50 pmThanks for commenting! We loved it there even just for a short stop.
Raksha Rao
17th February 2018 at 12:13 pmWow. Never heard of this salt flats in Utah. Quite interesting!
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:51 pmIt sure is!
Kristine Li
17th February 2018 at 4:49 pmThe salt flats looked magical, almost like snow! Thanks for the tips =)
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:51 pmSo true! Thanks for commenting 🙂
madhu-on-the-go
17th February 2018 at 5:20 pmBeautiful pics and this looks like an amazing place.
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:51 pmThank you Madhu-on-the-go 🙂
Anisa
17th February 2018 at 8:04 pmI had no idea there were salt flats in Utah. It looks like a really interesting place to visit.
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:52 pmIt sure was, even for a small stop it was pretty impressive!
Kate Korte
17th February 2018 at 8:21 pmSuch a cool spot!! I want to visit the Salt flats and some of Utah’s other spots on a roadtrip some day, saved your post for later.
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:52 pmThanks for commenting! We would definitely recommend it if your passing through Utah!
meghanramsey1
17th February 2018 at 9:44 pmSalt flats are so cool! I would love to visit here. Maybe on my next West Coast road trip!
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:53 pmYeah its a great place to stop during a road trip!
Katalin
18th February 2018 at 2:32 pmWow, I need to add these salt flats to my US bucket list! We have visited only the one in the Death Valley, but this looks much whiter!
Zoe | Together In Transit
19th February 2018 at 2:53 pmYeah we visited Death Valley too (post coming soon) it sure was a different experience though!