The Perfect Day Trip to Santa Catalina Island (off the Los Angeles coast)

Believe it or not, there is a beautiful, small island off the coast of California right near Los Angeles!

It is often overlooked, but we think it deserves to be recognized. Some people call this island, “the mini Amalfi Coast”. While this island is definitely NOT Italy in the slightest, my boyfriend and I did thoroughly enjoy our day trip here!

Santa Catalina Island can only be reached by ferry for the most part. There is a small airport on the island but it is very expensive and fairly far from the main town of Avalon. 

Ferries run from the coast of California every day! We used the Newport Beach, California option. 

In the off season (which is when we went) these boats leave at 9:00am from Newport Beach and depart at 4:30pm from the island. In the summer, boats depart at 7:30am and 12:30pm from Newport Beach and depart 4:30pm and 8:30pm from the island. This one that we used was called the "Catalina Flyer".

We found discounted round-trip ferry tickets on Groupon for $60 each.  The ferry trip takes 75 minutes each way, but it is a beautiful ride so it goes by quick. There are facilities as well as refreshments on board to purchase.

If you prefer to purchase tickets online, this is their website. They will tell you to arrive an hour early, but I would say half an hour was plenty of time! We arrived 8:30am for a 9:00am departure, and we had plenty of seats to choose from.

If you are driving your car to the dock, park in the Balboa parking lot about a block away for only $20 for the whole day! You can walk straight to the Catalina Flyer boarding line as long as you have your confirmation email.

Once you arrive at the island you will have the ability to explore freely!  

I highly suggest renting a golf cart. (Side note: they will only allow you to rent it for two hours maximum at a time to make sure everyone gets a chance.)

Important Tip: Most people go to the first golf rental place they see after walking off the ferry. Others make reservations somewhere which is great.  However, we found that if you walked just four minutes down the road to "Catalina Island Golf Cart Rentals & Tours", you could get much cheaper rentals, and no reservations were needed!

We rented a cart for the full two hours (which we highly recommend). This was the perfect amount of time to do the route that they give you on a map. It cost us $120 total. 

Drive all the way to the top of the loop by going to the right out of the golf rental place and then work your way down the other with your stops.

Our first stop on the loop was this beautiful view of Avalon. You will see a secret staircase that goes down to a little grass patch with wildflowers. This is a great spot for photos!!

Along the map route, there is a breathtaking botanical garden and old temple that you can pay $12 per person to get in and explore. I personally enjoyed the scenery and variety of plants so I would recommend it! However, if you are not into plants, cacti, or historical temples and do not care for some scenic photo ops, I do not think you need to waste your time or money. 

There are plenty of other photo ops along your route. (We will be sharing this list in a blog post coming soon...!) My phone actually died from all of the photo ops so we highly suggest bringing a portable charger for this! (Amazon Affiliate Program- AAP)

Now, once you return your rental, it is the perfect time to stop for lunch!

We chose to save time by not having a sit-down meal. We decided to grab food from the Coney Island West window restaurant.  The fish and chips were the perfect island lunch to continue our day!! These are even perfect for sharing as a couple if you aren’t super hungry. This is the cheapest and fastest way to eat and then continue exploring.

After this, you can walk over to the Casino. This is not a casino with gambling, but rather a beautifully designed entertainment spot. There are shows available or even just tours. We opted to not go in there for this trip. If you wish you enter for a tour, it costs $21 per person! We have heard wonderful things about it!

Next, you can walk over to Descanso Beach and explore on the rocks or relax in the sand before heading back into the town.

This amazing day was coming to an end, sadly... so, we shopped around for souvenirs and grabbed ice cream before boarding the ferry. I highly recommend trying the huge and delicious waffle cone from Scoops!

Pro Tip: They tell you to get in line to board the ferry an hour early, but in our honest opinion, this is totally unnecessary!! You can literally see the ferry from the town, and it is a quick five-minute walk over. We boarded about 15 minutes before 4:30 and had no problems at all. 

Unless you have a preference for your seat on the ferry, then, I suggest maximizing your time on the island!

Make sure you bring a sweater especially for your ferry trip back because it can get windy on there! Also, be on the lookout for dolphins following the boat! We saw about 30 dolphins all jumping around behind us. SO MAGICAL!

There is so much to do and see on this island. You can go snorkeling, jet skiing, parasailing, diving etc. Experience the island in whatever way you prefer as a traveler because you really cannot go wrong with the options on Catalina Island!

We would love to go back and explore this island again to take advantage of everything it has to offer!

Tiktok for more on Catalina Island: You'll Never Guess Where This Island is Located

Thank you for reading along! Be sure to check out our post "BEST Eats for your Beverly Hills trip (Los Angeles, CA)" if you are staying on the mainland!