Downtown Park City use to have an old mining-town flavor. It felt like small-town America and had a funky and fun edge to it. Since the Winter Olympics and the growth of the Sundance Film Festival, it has grown up. The area around Park City looks more like suburbia rather than an old mining town. Huge homes and condos are springing up everywhere. The first thing you now notice when you turn off the freeway is a Wal-Mart and dozens of fast-food establishments.

The town is now filled with fashionable boutiques, bistros, and shops. It's got a cool edge to it and seems a bit like Aspen's little brother.

The prices also reflected this growth, everything from food to lift tickets have shot up in price since the Olympics came to town. Park City use to be considered a deal but not anymore.

Not all the changes are bad. The Olympics left Park City with an outstanding transportation center. You can get anywhere in town or to any nearby ski resort for free on ultra-clean and well-run buses.

It has also brought five-star dining to the area, and today Park City can compare with any other ski town for fine dining.

It's still beautiful here and you have great skiing at any one of the three area resorts: Deer Valley, Park City Mountain, or The Canyons.

When you come here, you have a lot of options to choose from. However, say good-bye to funky and hello to chic as Park City has come of age. ${QuickSuggestions} There is an assumption that by buying a package, you will save money. However, this is not always true.

I was in the travel business and did product development on tour packages for a large airline; you would have thought I would have known better. But I was in the middle of a move and didn't have a lot of time, so I took the lazy way out and booked a ski package with Southwest Vacations. I found a package for $520 per person with air, car, and a studio. It seemed like a fair price and I booked it.

After it was paid for, I found some extra time on my hands and I played with the pricing. I took the same flights, the same car, and the same room and priced them out on the Internet. I came up with a price of $380.00 per person - $140.00 per person cheaper then the package! We would have saved a total of $560.00 by booking each part of this trip directly.

Packages can be good deals. But there is no promise that because you book a package, you are saving money. Be smart and compare! ${BestWay} Park City is a quick 45 minutes from Salt Lake CIty International Airport (SLC), and the one-way shuttle cost is only $27 with Park City Shuttle.

You will not need a car in Park City if you want to stay in the area and ski any of the three area resorts. The bus is FREE! It runs to all the areas and it runs often with new, clean buses.

The bus also runs all over Park City, and you can get anywhere in town. This great bus service was leftover from the Olympics, and I have to say that I have never been to a ski town with better transportation.