Antelope Island Visitor Center

The Antelope Island Visitor Center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and sits at the island's north end, just south of where the Davis County Causeway arrives. It has exhibits, a gift shop, restrooms, an amphitheater and Junior Ranger booklets, and it is wheelchair accessible. Its 2026 expansion added a learning center and a 3D giant screen theater, the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Theater, which shows the documentary Secrets of Great Salt Lake. Call 801-725-9263.

What's Inside

• Exhibits and publications about the island and the lake.
• Gift shop, which also issues portrait photography passes and metal-detecting permits.
• Restrooms and drinking water. Fill your bottles here; there's no water on any trail.
• Amphitheater for park programs.
• Junior Ranger booklets for kids.
• Firewood for the campgrounds (gathering wood on the island is prohibited).
• Trail Chair, sponsored by Antelope Island Friends, for visitors with mobility issues; it needs at least two people to help with it.
• Lost and found: items are held 90 days.

The 3D Giant Screen Theater

Utah State Parks describes the expanded visitor and learning center as featuring a 3D Giant Screen Theater, the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Theater, showing the exclusive 3D documentary Secrets of Great Salt Lake on a giant screen. The park's history page lists the expansion as complete in 2026. Show times and tickets are on the theater's own site, greatsaltlake3dtheater.com. The theater also streams the bison auction each November (Bison Roundup).

Permits You Get Here

• Drones: banned March through November. From December through February you can fly with a permit, and day-of permits are issued at the Visitor Center during open hours.
• Portrait photography pass and metal detecting permit: at the front gate or the gift shop.
• Special events (weddings, races, commercial shoots): a Special Use Permit through the assistant park manager, with a $10 application fee (Rules).

Programs

Utah State Parks runs programs year-round: guided hikes, Junior Ranger programs, bird walks and astronomy programs. Antelope Island is an International Dark Sky Park, and star parties are part of the calendar. School field trips cover Great Salt Lake ecology, geology and Utah history and must be approved ahead of time by emailing the park's field trip address.

Near the Visitor Center

The Park Office and the bison corrals are close by, the RV dump station is just south, and the Mountain View Trail heads south from this end of the island. Chukar, rock wrens and barn swallows are regulars around the building (Wildlife & Birds).