Catalina Island, CA

05/10/2018

A weekend in Catalina Island

Things to do in Catalina Island

Saturday

We started off by going to the Newport Beach Pier early in the morning where we rode the Catalina Flyer. We left our car in a parking garage nearby. We got our tickets for the boat from Groupon.com (sometimes they have a deal on the direct website where you get to ride free on your birthday! Check out to see if they have the deal before booking!) The ride is about 1 hour long.

Once we got there, we rented a golf cart. They book fast, so I recommend doing this as the first activity of the day. They provide maps for you to get around, but we just went with the flow. We really wanted to simply explore the island so we headed wherever the road took us. We took a left turn on the first main road and then a right turn at the first intersection, which lead us to go up hill and gave us a beautiful view of the island pier.

After driving around for a couple of hours, we returned the golf cart and had lunch and drinks at Catalina Cantina . We then hopped onto the Avalon Transit Public Bus that took us straight to the Wringly Memorial and Botanical Garden. The bus is $2 one way per person, and the garden is based on donations upon entry. The garden was nice to walk around, look at all the different kinds of plants and see a beautiful view from the top of the memorial.

We then hopped back on the bus to take us back to downtown. We played some games in the Three Palms Avalon Arcade and walked around the nearby shops located right outside.

After checking-in to the Snug Harbor Inn, they provided us with some beach chairs and towels, so we sat and enjoyed the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The hotel is a modern boutique hotel, it was so beautiful and accommodating. Later that night, we walked to the Catalina Island Casino.We did not go inside, but we got to admire the large building from outside. Book a tour inside if you can!

Sunday

The Snug Harbor Inn was probably my most favorite hotel I have ever stayed at. They provided a complimentary beautiful breakfast.

After checking out, we then headed over to our Catalina Glass Bottom Boat tour. We got to see so many fish. It was the perfect way to end our trip in Catalina.