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Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  VCW_D_LA_T9_Catalina_Manley_downsized
Catalina by Harriot Manley

Southern California

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  vca_maps_losangeles
12
March
Average (°C)
Mar - May
19°
High
8°
Low
June - Aug
23°
High
13°
Low
Sept - Nov
22°
High
10°
Low
Mar - May
19°
High
8°
Low

Swaying palms, white-sand beaches, warmest water in summer, and melt-your-heart sunsets—that’s what you’ll find at pretty-much-perfect island getaway Santa Catalina Island, just 22 miles/35 kilometers off the Southern California coast. Catalina, as it’s most often referred to by locals, has all the things you’d want from an island retreat—appealing lodgings, fresh seafood dinners, plenty of family-friendly water sports. But you’ll also discover unexpected finds, including a star-studded history (Marilyn Monroe lived here), remarkable wilderness adventures, and even its own wine estate.

Climb aboard a Catalina Express ferry for the one-hour ride across the sea from Long Beach, San Pedro, or Dana Point, or the Catalina Flyer from Newport Beach; or, splurge on a 15-minute helicopter ride for an easy escape to California’s ultimate island paradise. Once you arrive, get around by a rented golf cart or just go by foot to explore the town of Avalon or play along Descanso Beach, where you can rent kayaks or paddleboards. The family-friendly island has a long list of surprising activities, too, from taking submarine tours, ziplining, or taking a jeep tour at the Catalina Island Conservancy (look for the rare Santa Catalina Island fox and the resident bison, who have lived here since a movie shoot in the 1920s).

Read on for tips on how to plan your trip—renting golf carts, booking hotels or camping spots, golfing, and visiting such attractions as the Catalina Island Museum and the Art Deco landmark, the non-gambling-style Catalina Casino.

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  VCW_D_Catalina_T1_AvalonNight_1280x624
Courtesy of Santa Catalina Island Company

Avalon

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  vca_maps_losangeles
Avalon
Explore Catalina's romantic main hub

Visiting a town that can only be toured on foot, bike or golf buggy says a lot about the pace of things. While Avalon’s residents can get around in (mostly) tiny cars, vans and trucks (see if you can spot the world’s smallest Fed Ex delivery truck), visitors can’t hire cars to get around. That may seem like a hassle, but visitors often say one of their favourite things to do on Catalina is to go up and down Avalon’s steep and twisty roads in one of the toy-like carts, where 5 miles per hour seems plenty fast enough for the pace of island life. Even without a cart, there is plenty to do along the flat and pretty waterfront—visit souvenir shops, splurge at ice-cream parlours, browse galleries or take a guided walking tour of historic Avalon Casino (with arguably one of the most beautiful promenades on the planet). 

Dining? Order fresh oysters and sparkling wine at romantic Ristorante Villa Portofino and take in sunset view of the harbour.

Dining? Order fresh oysters and sparkling wine at romantic Ristorante Villa Portofino and take in sunset view of the harbour. To venture further, catch a trolley, cab or bus, or take a guided Jeep tour.

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  VCW_D_Catalina_T2_catalina_3_scuba-1_1280x642
Courtesy of Santa Catalina Island Company

Catalina Water Sports

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  vca_maps_losangeles
Catalina Water Sports
Explore the brilliant blue sea on your own, or join a mini-sub adventure

On an island, undersea adventures beckon, especially on Catalina, where the water sparkles brilliant blue, water clarity is outstanding and fascinating sea life abounds.  The hub of many water sports and activities is Descanso Beach, a pretty 1-mile stroll north of Avalon Harbor. Here you can hire kayaks and stand-up paddle-boards (lessons and guided tours available)—a great way to see dolphins, seals, sea lions and, if you’re lucky, resident flying fish. 

While California’s Pacific waters are refreshingly comfortable here (up to 22oC in summer), most snorkellers and SCUBA divers don wetsuits to explore underwater; gear and instructors are available on the island. For a novel way to see pumpkin orange garibaldi fish and other ocean creatures, join a SeaTrek adventure: a special outfitted diving helmet lets you literally walk across the sea floor while breathing fresh air.  If you prefer to keep your feet dry, join a glass-bottom boat tour or entertaining mini-submarine tour of Avalon Harbor.

Adventure-seekers can take a ferry ride or hire a boat in Avalon to reach rustic Two Harbors, on the island’s west end; the *off-the-grid hamlet is a popular place for overnight sail and power boat trips, as well as snorkelling, diving and kayaking. Head all the way around the island to the remote and wild Little Harbor cove—one of the state’s prettiest campgrounds.

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  VCW_D_Catalina_T3_activities-tours_hummer_1280x642_0
Courtesy of Santa Catalina Island Company

Catalina's Backcountry

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Catalina's Backcountry
Hike, bike, or join guided adventures

Founded in 1972, the Catalina Island Conservancy, one of the oldest private land trusts in Southern California, protects 88 percent of Catalina Island as a carefully managed preserve. Home to more than 60 endemic plant, animal and insect species found nowhere else on earth, Catalina’s so-called ‘Interior’ is home to rare species, including the Santa Catalina Island fox. 

Join a guided Eco Jeep Tour (or guided hikes in summer) to bounce along dirt roads with experienced naturalists; they’ll share information and insights about the foxes and other native species, as well as Catalina’s most unexpected residents, a lumbering herd of American bison (their ancestors were brought to the island in 1924 as extras for a film). The popular Wildlands Express bus tour takes visitors to the famous ‘Airport in the Sky,’ a small airstrip atop a peak at the island’s centre. Mountain bikers can buy a day pass to explore 40 miles of trails and unpaved road (gear and guided tours are available).  

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Golfing on Catalina by Steve Burns/Flickr

Golfing on Catalina

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  vca_maps_losangeles
Golfing on Catalina
Putt and drive on the island's historic *9-hole course

*FYI: The nine holes each feature two sets of tees for 18-hole play.

Tee up at what’s touted as the oldest course west of the Rocky Mountains. The meandering  Catalina Island Golf Course, at the base of Avalon’s rugged, shrub-covered hills seems like a private resort, but its nine challenging holes are open to all. (Two sets of tees at each hole allow you to play 18 holes if you wish.) There’s also a shady putting green, popular with dads and kids (in fact, Tiger Woods played here as a young boy). The course is also the site of the historic Catalina Country Club (a nice choice for a relaxed al fresco lunch, even if you’re not a golfer); it was originally built as a retreat for the Chicago Cubs baseball team, who once trained on the island—a hint at the island’s primary owners, the chewing-gum-magnate (and Cubbie’s owners from 1920 to 1981) Wrigley family. 

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  VCW_D_Catalina_T5_avalon_casino_exterior_1280x642
Avalon Casino by Santa Catalina Island Company

Catalina Casino

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Catalina Casino
See art, views, and performances at an iconic waterfront masterpiece

From its regal setting at the north end of Avalon Harbor, this dramatic circular building has stood as a welcoming sentinel since just before the Great Depression. The impressive Art Deco building was the dream of chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr., who bought a controlling interest of Catalina Island in 1919. Wrigley saw the casino as a way of casting a magical spell on all who arrived—a way of seeming to say, ‘look, here is beauty, relaxation, and fun,’ and a way to—for at least a little while—escape the country’s troubled times.

"Wrigley saw the casino as a way of casting a magical spell on all who arrived"

Inside, Wrigley hosted lavish dances and performances. Today the tradition continues, and at annual events guests (many dressed in period attire) still twirl in the casino’s grand ballroom, or watch first-run films in the elaborately painted theatre on the lower level. (On Friday and Saturday evenings, arrive an hour before show time for a live performance on the theatre’s spectacular pipe organ.) Guided walking tours are also a must, shedding light on Avalon’s history and Hollywood connection. The Behind-the-Scenes Tour lets you peek into dressing rooms that have been closed for 70 years, and walk on the stage where famed musicians like Benny Goodman played to adoring fans. 

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  VCW_D_Catalina_T6_descanso_1280x642
Courtesy of Santa Catalina Island Company

Catalina’s Luxury Lodgings & Beach Club

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Catalina’s Luxury Lodgings & Beach Club
Oceanfront elegance does not get much better

What’s an island getaway without a swanky place to sleep? Choices on Catalina include the Avalon Hotel, the carefully restored California Craftsman-style building that combines rich mahogany wood with Catalina’s signature tile artwork. And the hotel’s rooftop deck might just be the perfect place to relax with a glass of bubbly. Rooms at the ocean front Snug Harbor Inn rooms come with jacuzzis and fireplaces. Hotel Metropole, named for the island’s original grand hotel (which burned in 1915), was rebuilt with sumptuous, coastal style—for an unforgettable splurge, book the 2-bedroom, 2-bath Beach House, where you can wrap yourself in soft robes and take in panoramic ocean views from your private deck.

High above Avalon, with fantastic twilight views of the harbour and Avalon Casino, there’s The Inn on Mt. Ada, housed in the original Wrigley mansion, with nice touches like ice cream available for guests in the butler’s pantry, plus appetisers, wine and California bubbly, served every evening. For a roomier option on the island, consider hiring a condo in the posh Hamilton Cove area; many units include golf buggies so you can make the 5-minute drive down to Avalon—if you ever feel like budging from your sun lounger on your deck or by the pool. Exclusive Descanso Beach Club hires chi-chi private cabanas, plus beach valets and other spoil-me touches.

For a more remote getaway, travel to Two Harbors, north of Avalon, and Banning House Lodge, with expansive views of the Isthmus of Catalina and Catalina Harbor. 

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  AvalonCasino_manley_1280x642
Harriot Manley/Sunset Publishing

Catalina Island Museum

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  vca_maps_losangeles
Catalina Island Museum
Learn the island’s history, from Native American tribes to Wrigleys, Hollywood, and Marilyn Monroe

Devoted to art, culture and island history, this gem of a museum is a great way to orient yourself when you first get to Avalon. Currently situated on the first level of the Catalina Casino—and slated for a much larger in town location in the future—the museum includes a small digital theatre, history galleries and a special gallery, where shows can range from a focus on famous residents, like Norma Jean (aka Marilyn Monroe). Learn about Catalina’s original inhabitants, the Pimungan tribe, as well as early European settlers who worked as otter hunters and miners. You’ll also learn about the legacy of chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr., who bought most of the rights to the island in 1919 and turned it into the island holiday destination it is today. (The Wrigley family still owns and manages much of the island.) After your museum visit, walk, bike or ride your golf buggy to the Wrigley memorial in the island’s botanical garden, near the golf course on the east end of town.

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  VCW_D_Catalina_T8_little-harbor-2_1280x642
Courtesy of Santa Catalina Island Company

Hiking and Camping on Catalina

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Hiking and Camping on Catalina
Find your inner Robinson Crusoe in Catalina’s interior

Remote canyons, windswept ridges, secret coves and beaches—here’s a place where you can recharge your mental batteries rather than your phone. Managed by the Catalina Island Conservancy, the pristine interior—the name for the 88 percent of the island that is not developed—is a permit-only mini-wilderness, perfect for a day of off-the-grid hiking. While you might not be up for trekking the entire 37-mile-long Trans-Catalina Trail, you can do just a few miles. Get trail maps and tips from the staff at Catalina Island Conservancy, in Avalon; they’ll also issue you a free hiking permit (required), or you can get one online. Hikers typically ride the local shuttle bus to the airport to avoid the big hump up the main access point. 

To really get away from it all, consider an overnight at one of the island’s five campgrounds or 17 boat or kayak-in campsites (again—you’ll need a permit, available in Avalon, at Two Harbors or Hermit Gulch). Closest to Avalon is Hermit Gulch, a good option if you are new to camping or you have young children. Two Harbors, on a bluff overlooking the ocean, offers tent cabin as well as campsites. Little Harbor offers seafront camping on the island’s wild and beautiful ocean front side—just note it can be windy here. Want even more adventure? Take the tough hike—or paddle a kayak—to remote Parson’s Landing, shaded by pines and eucalyptus. 

If that doesn’t get your adrenaline running, take Catalina’s Zip Line Eco Tour, a nearly 4,000-foot descent down the canyon to Descanso Beach.

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  VCW_D_Catalina_T1_twoharbors_sunrise_1280x642
Courtesy of Santa Catalina Island Company

Getting Around Santa Catalina Island

Spotlight: Santa Catalina Island  vca_maps_losangeles
Getting Around Santa Catalina Island
The island’s small size makes it easy to navigate, and it’s one of the few places where golf carts are an encouraged way to get around

That beautiful stretch of ocean between Catalina and the Southern California coast does make for a magical setting; it also makes for a little bit of extra planning to get to the island getaway. Ferries leave regularly year-round from four mainland ports (Long Beach, Dana Point, Newport Beach and San Pedro). Keep your eyes peeled—dolphins and whales are frequently seen.

On this island, walking is the preferred mode of transportation. In fact, cars are so frowned upon that there’s a 14-year wait list to own one on the island. Luckily, the main town of Avalon is only one square mile, making most attractions an easy stroll apart. Taxis and shuttles meet all incoming ferries, so it’s easy to catch a lift to your accommodation. Or just walk into town from the ferry landing. There’s also a taxi stand in the centre of town, and trolley services run regularly along two scheduled routes in the summer, plus weekends in the off season. Golf buggies are popular for touring the hills above town—hires are easily available, as is bike hire. If you plan to explore beyond Avalon, shuttle bus and charter van services are available from Avalon to the Airport in the Sky, the town of Two Harbors, and campgrounds in the island’s centre.

Ready to arrive in style, or maybe just in a hurry? Private aeroplane or helicopter service is available.