By air: Salt Lake City is a major airline hub, so flights are numerous. Many well-organized companies provide ground transportation. When you make your lodging reservations, ask about ground transportation arrangements and most will make them for you. You also can go directly to the shuttle desks in the airport.

By train: Amtrak's California Zephyr stops in Salt Lake City (at 4 a.m. coming from the West Coast but the fare is most reasonable. From Chicago, the train arrives at midnight). Call (800) 872-7245 or consult the Amtrak Web site at www.amtrak.com.

By car: Snowbird is 25 miles southeast of Salt Lake City in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The most di-rect route from downtown and the airport is east on I-80, south on I-215, take 6200 South exit (turns into Wasatch Blvd.) then follow the signs.

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Getting around: If you fly in, you most likely won't need to rent a car—Snowbird is entirely walkable. A free Snowbird shuttle also will get you to various points within the resort complex. Free bus service links Alta and Snowbird. Some of the hotels around Alta have free shuttles that can bring you to Snowbird. The UTA offers free bus service (one mile) between the two ski areas, but you may need to wait for one to come by. VILLAGE MAP

If you plan to ski at a lot of other Utah areas, stay in Salt Lake City (see Salt Lake City links throughout the Snowbird pages). If you do stay in Salt Lake City, you can take the Utah Transit Authority light rail (UTA TRAX) from downtown and transfer to a UTA ski bus to take you to any of the Cottonwood Canyon resorts. Be prepared to make transfers and pay close attention to bus schedules associated with going up and down the canyon. This is convenient, very affordable and the rail cars and buses are remarkably clean. It costs $6 round trip for a Ski Pass. Ski buses have different daily weekday and weekend schedules. They start at 6:53 a.m., stop around the city and at 10 different hotels. Plan for about an hour total travel time. The only drawback: On Sunday, TRAX doesn't run from downtown until after 10 a.m. If you want to get to the resorts early, you can call a cab (about $25 one way; still cheaper than renting a car) to take you to the ski bus stop. You can can ride the Utah Transit Authority ski buses for $3 round trip from the park-and-ride at the canyon's mouth to any of the Cottonwood Canyon resorts (exact fare is required).

Another transportation alternative to get to the resorts are the private transportation services such as Canyon Hop at 801-860-Skii (7544), which is $36 per person round trip from Park City to any of the four Cottonwood Canyon resorts. Canyon Transportation at 800-255-1841, offers a $56 per person round trip from Salt Lake City to the resorts.

Here's information for getting to Salt Lake City.