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We've compiled the best of the best in Catalina Island - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Inside this local art and history interactive museum, visitors can learn about the island's native Chumash people, as well as about Catalina Island's owner and creative developer William Wrigley Jr., his baseball team, his Hollywood celebrity friends, and his love for big band music. The exterior of the Catalina Island Museum is a beautiful Spanish Mission style with art deco enhancements.
The crystal clear waters of the Casino Point Dive Park are home to protected marine life. This is where moray eels, bat rays, spiny lobsters, harbor seals, and brilliant orange garibaldi (California's state marine fish) cruise around kelp forests and along the sandy bottom. It's a terrific site for scuba diving, with some shallow areas suitable for snorkeling. Equipment can be rented on-site next to the world-famous Catalina Casino. Water temperature ranges in the mid-60s to low 70s during the summer, with September to mid-October being the warmest.
Walk 2 miles south of the bay up to Wrigley Memorial and Botanic Garden, home to many plants native only to Southern California and the Channel Islands. Today there are five different sections where you can see Catalina ironwood, wild tomato, and rare Catalina mahogany. The Wrigley family commissioned the garden as well as the monument, which has a grand staircase and a Spanish-style mausoleum inlaid with colorful Catalina tile. You'll find great views at the top.
Built in 1929, this iconic circular white structure is an architectural masterpiece. The entrance offers Spanish-inspired Catalina tile and painted murals in marine blue, sand, and sea foam green colors. This casino was named after the Italian word for "gathering place," not gambling. The circular ballroom with a soaring 50-foot dome ceiling once famously hosted 1940s big bands and is still used for jazz festivals and gala events. The Santa Catalina Island Company leads two different types of guided walking tours of the Casino. On the lower level is the historic Avalon Theatre with more than 1,000 seats; first-run movies show here on the weekend. Look up to see one of the most beautiful art deco murals by John Gabriel Beckman.
Divers can rent equipment here and take a tour under the sea at Casino Point.
Head to the Green Pleasure Pier for a good vantage point of Avalon Harbor. On the pier you can find a visitor information office, fish-and-chip snack stands, a bait shop, a dive shop, and a tour boat ticket stand. This is also a gathering spot where tourists rent small motorboats and paddleboards.
