A weekend guide to Catalina Island
Although we weren’t able to keep up our (favorite) wedding anniversary tradition of celebrating in a new place in Mexico (take me back to Mexico City!), we did still manage to explore somewhere new! The silver lining of quarantine is that it’s forced me to look at places closer to home in a new light, and luckily, California has no shortage of truly beautiful destinations.
Catalina Island has been on my list of places to visit in California, and our anniversary weekend seemed like the perfect time to go! It ended up being such a lovely and easy weekend getaway (even during the off-season and during Covid regulations!), and the view from our balcony felt like had transported to somewhere on the Mediterranean.
The only thing that was disappointing was the food: we went to a few different places, and it generally felt overpriced and just…not great. I definitely don’t mind paying more for good food on an island (understandable!), but we weren’t wowed by anything. Definitely recommend renting a place with a kitchen and packing some snacks!
What to Do
Hiking, by far, is one of the best things to do on the island: 88% of the island is actually part of the Catalina Island Conservancy, which is one of the oldest private land trusts in the state, and there are more than 165 miles of trails. We did the Hermit Gulch Trail, which had incredible ocean views to both sides of the island. I would love to go back and try out more of the trails: there are so many!
At the base of the trail is the Wrigley Botanical Garden. It’s really peaceful, and full of beautiful and thriving flowers and cacti.
Another “hike” that we did was the Avalon Bay Trail: it’s basically just a walk up to a viewpoint with a gorgeous vista of the bay and town. It’s pretty easy and definitely worth it for the view!
Delcanso Beach Club seems like it would be a completely different vibe in the summer, but it was a very chill place to have an oceanfront beer in the off-season. It’s one of the only “private” beaches in California where drinking on the beach is legal: you pay $2 for entry to the beach, and then you can enjoy cocktails from the bar!
We also ended up renting kayaks right next to the Delcanso Beach. Although it was pretty windy on the afternoon that we went (with the wind going against the way to come back), we still spotted a seal out in the water and loved the views of Catalina from the water. There were also some little coves and beaches that were only accessible from the water that we spotted: on a nice hot summer’s day, it would be SO fun to rent a kayak and pack some lunch and have a little private beach picnic.
Although the inside of Catalina Casino wasn’t open for any tours (due to Covid restrictions), I still loved the Art Deco exterior. It’s home to a movie theater and ballroom, and was the center of Avalon’s bustling nightlife in the late 1920s and 1930s. Fun fact: it was never used for gambling! It gets its name from the Italian term for gathering place.
The “downtown” of Catalina is basically just one main street of restaurants and shops, but it’s right along the water and it’s very cute!
The one restaurant I’ll recommend: I think it’s worth it to get a Buffalo Milk, the island’s signature boozy milkshake, at Luau Larry’s on the water! It’s right on the water, and the bar food is definitely satisfying: I have a soft spot for curly fries, and these were good. The vibe is definitely party-like, but the drinks are good–I’m not too big on creamy cocktails, but the Kona Ken’s went down very smooth.
And although we didn’t have time, I would have loved to do the ropes course and zipline. I honestly might go back just for a day trip sometime to do both!
How to Get There
Personally, I would love to find a friend with a boat who could sail us over to Catalina. Alas, I do not yet have that friend and so, we took the Catalina Express ferry. Ideally, we would take the ferry from Dana Point, but there were only routes running from Long Beach during our stay. The whole experience was very easy: there is a secure parking facility in Long Beach (that costs $20 a day) right next to the port, boarding was very simple, and the trip takes about one hour from port to port. Covid restrictions meant that there wasn’t any food or beverages sold on the boat–which disappointed David, who looooves to have a beer while out on the water!
Where to Stay
The thing that really made our trip was our Airbnb: we splurged on a spacious spot with a huge balcony and ocean views in Hamilton Cove. We absolutely loved it! The big perk was that it came with a golf cart, which made it so easy to get around the island. Hamilton Cove is a private collection of condos that basically looks like it was plucked out of Greece or Italy–and also has its own little beach, tennis courts, a pool and a playground. Although it’s a bit of a walk to the main part of town (or a very easy golf cart ride!), we definitely appreciated the views, space and complete and utter quiet.
How Long Do I Need?
We spent three nights and basically three full days with the ferry schedule, and that was plenty–it’s a pretty small island! I think you could definitely do a day trip with an early morning/sunset ferry and do a morning hike and then an afternoon cocktail in town, but I think the ideal would be one night and two days to explore! It really depends on how much hiking you’d want do, but you can definitely see the whole town in one day and do a good hike in one day as well.
Have you been to Catalina? Any tips for our next trip?
