If you are looking for a quick one-day or weekend vacation (especially if you are located in California), I highly recommend Catalina Island. I have been here twice now, my latest visit was in September 2022, and I am always left wanting to come back. It is a small island that you can practically explore in one day, but there are also hotels in case you want to stay overnight and take it easy.
How To Get Here
I have always traveled to Catalina Island (Avalon) via high-speed ferry on the Catalina Express - departing from Long Beach to be exact. You can also get to Catalina Island by helicopter (for a much higher cost of course). The ferry ride is about one hour (one way), but time really does pass by fast. You can choose a seat inside the ferry, or a seat outside the ferry. The outside ferry seats provide more of an experience, but make sure to bring a sweater because it does get cold out here in the ocean. When you are buying your tickets for the Catalina Express ferry, you can choose either General Seating or Commodore Seating. Commodore seating has a little more perks and is more expensive, but honestly General Seating is just fine. At the time of this post, the ferry ride General Seating costs about $43 one-way. You can select different departure times, and different return times. I always try to pick an earlier departure time, and the second to last return time to maximize my time at Catalina Island (Avalon). You can buy Catalina Express ferry tickets here: https://www.catalinaexpress.com/.
What To Do Once You Get Here
Wonderful, you've made it! Now what? When you arrive to Avalon (Catalina Island) you will see at at short distance a guest services area where you can buy tickets for excursions - note, you can also buy tickets for excursions ahead of time, which I highly recommend. This will ensure you will have time for everything that you want to do and see, since the excursions are timing based.
Some of the excursions that are available on Catalina Island (Avalon) include: submarine tours, parasailing, a Ridgetop Eco Adventure, a Bison Expedition, casino tours (these are only available on certain days of the week), food tours, a Discover Avalon tour, scuba diving, and more. The meeting points for each tour vary, so be sure to check your excursion tickets for the meeting points. The island is pretty small, so the meeting points are usually a short walk away.
Excursions That I Have Done And Recommend:
On the top of my list of recommendations is parasailing. This is such an amazing experience, you simply cannot miss it! You can purchase tickets for this excursion and other excursions here: https://www.catalinatours.com/ . It is so quiet up so high, and the views are breathtaking. I also saw dolphins right next to our little motor boat - close enough to touch! I obviously didn't touch them though. I recommend taking your phone up with you (careful not to drop it!) so that you can take photos of the beautiful view. You can also purchase photos from the excursions organizers, they will give you a flash drive with all of your photos once you return from the excursion.
The submarine tour is nice especially if you have children. It is only partly submerged, and you can see different types of fish, sea lions, and dolphins from the windows.
The Discover Avalon tour was also really nice. You board an open bus and are guided through the streets of Avalon. You can get a deeper knowledge of Avalon and it's history, while also taking pictures. At one point during our tour, we stopped at a scenic location and the driver offered to take everyone's photo. The stop was at most 10 minutes, and then we were back on our way to learn and see more. This tour is especially great for those with mobility issues, as you can experience and see the island while sitting down.
If you have some time, you can also stop by the Catalina Museum For Art & History. There are some pretty cool things to see and learn about here - I did a brief stop here just to see what it was about. They also have a gift shop with some fun little trinkets that you can purchase.
While I didn't particularly visit/use these, there is also the Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Gardens, a miniature golf course, a children's play area, basketball courts, and you can rent golf carts (rented by the hour) and bicycles as well. You will also see cute little shops lined up all along the walkway where you can be souvenirs, towels and swimsuits (if you forgot to bring them!). And of course you can also just sit back, relax in the sand and enjoy the beach.
Places To Eat
We were mostly too busy having fun to have time to eat, but when we did get hungry we stopped by The Lobster Trap to eat some lunch. Beware, the wait times can get long! We put our phone number down and they called us when a table was ready for us. But if you don't show up soon after they give you a call, you will lose your table. We left one person there waiting outside the restaurant, while both of us walked around the island a little more. Our wait time was between 30 minutes and 45 minutes, but the food was really good! It tasted very fresh. In one section they also have a recreated boat inside with tables... pretty cool especially if you have children with you.
As you explore the island, you'll notice many people with ice cream cones or chocolate covered frozen bananas. And if you're like me, you can never pass up a yummy snack! We stopped by Scoops Homemade Ice Cream for these treats. And they did not disappoint! You can also get coffee here and crepes and other delicious treats. The lines here can also get a little long, but that's only because it's really good!
Other Details...
Catalina Island has a pretty high tax rate (about 10%), so everything tends to be slightly more expensive here than usual. And don't be too busy that you forget to take photos! There's several beautiful spots to take memorable photos, so don't forget to take advantage of the scenery. Overall, this is a fun and relaxing weekend or day trip adventure!
Fun facts about Catalina Island (Avalon):
- There is only 1 gas station and 1 grocery store on the entire island
- The founder of Wrigley gum was once the owner of the island
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