03
Catalina Island excursions, from the free walk to the backcountry
Ordered by how each holds up against the one question every paid Catalina tour has to answer. What does this buy that a walk, a gear rental, or a golf cart doesn't?
If Catalina is one stop on a longer Mexican Riviera or California coast run, our Mexican Riviera cruises guide helps you decide which port earns the paid day.
Do it yourself · Avalon
Avalon on foot, from the Cabrillo Mole
This is the walk every paid Catalina tour has to beat.
Every ship anchors offshore and tenders passengers to the Cabrillo Mole, right in the middle of downtown Avalon. The City of Avalon Harbor Department runs that operation — not the Catalina Island Company, the private operator behind most of the paid tours on this list.
Crescent Avenue starts within a few minutes of the landing. The Catalina Casino, the round Art Deco building everyone photographs, sits at the far end of the bay, and Descanso Beach Club is just past it.
None of that costs anything beyond what you spend once you're there.
The catch isn't the walk. It's the tender. Rough seas can slow or cancel tender operations, a ship-by-ship call. We found no published cancellation record for cruise tenders specifically — though Catalina Express, the passenger ferry running the same crossing, does publish weather-related cancellations of its own, which at least confirms the water here can get rough enough to matter.
- Time commitment
- Flexible. No line publishes a duration for a self-guided walk.
- Getting there
- On foot from the Cabrillo Mole, three to five minutes to Crescent Avenue.
- Suits
- First mornings, short calls, and budget-conscious travelers.
- Ship or independent
- Independent, easily. Nothing on this walk needs a guide to unlock it.
Why it's worth considering
The tender puts you in the middle of town, not at a dock miles out. That's unusual, and it means the free version of a Catalina day is a genuinely good one.
The catch
Weather is the real variable here, not distance. Confirm your tender is running before you plan a tight schedule around getting back.
Verify before you book
- Whether tenders are running, if seas are rough on your call date
- Which landing you're assigned, if your ship uses a secondary tender point
- All-aboard time against how far past town you wander
Two ways to see the reef without getting wet, both run by the same operator.
The Glass Bottom Boat Voyage and the Undersea (semi-submersible) Expedition both depart the Green Pleasure Pier and cruise Lover's Cove Marine Preserve, a protected reserve the operator's own copy calls one of the healthiest marine environments anywhere. Both run about 45 minutes.
Pricing is genuinely inconsistent across the sources we checked. Catalina Tours, a licensed reseller, quotes roughly $34 adult for the glass-bottom boat and about $57 for the semi-submersible. Viator's own live listing showed the glass-bottom boat closer to $32. Disney Cruise Line's own port-adventure store prices them at $54 and $84, its own markup built in.
The semi-submersible goes a few feet deeper and stays climate-controlled, which matters more on a hot afternoon than the fish do.
- Time commitment
- 45 minutes, either tour, per reseller listings and Disney's own port-adventure store.
- Getting there
- Walk to the Green Pleasure Pier from the mole, then board.
- Suits
- Non-swimmers, families with small kids, and anyone who wants the reef without gear.
- Ship or independent
- Either. Both are walk-up bookable at the pier kiosk; the ship version just adds a guaranteed slot.
Why it's worth considering
Neither requires you to get in the water, which nothing else on this list can say. It's close, too — a short walk from most tender landings, not a bus ride.
The catch
We couldn't get a current price straight off the operator's own site. Its booking widget renders through a separate ticketing system our research tools couldn't read, so every figure above is reseller- or cruise-line-sourced, not the Catalina Island Company's own printed rate.
Verify before you book
- Current adult/child pricing directly with the Catalina Island Company (877-778-8322) before you book
- Whether your ship sells a version with a guaranteed departure time
- Which pier your specific tour boards from
The one genuinely adrenaline item on this list, and the one every seller prices differently.
The Catalina Island Company's own copy describes a shuttle up to a ridge 600 feet above Descanso Beach Club, then five zip lines through canyon and eucalyptus grove at speeds up to 35 mph, with a guide narrating the island's ecology along the way.
Age and size limits are real, not marketing caution. Viator's current listing puts the minimum age at 10 — younger children can't participate at all — with an 80 to 240 pound weight range and a 55-inch minimum height. Everyone gets weighed, fully clothed, at check-in.
Prices vary by who's selling it. Catalina Tours quotes $149.95; Viator's own live listing showed $155.95; Disney Cruise Line's own port-adventure store lists it at $199 flat. None of those is wrong — they're different retailers marking up the same Catalina Island Company product.
- Time commitment
- About 2 hours to 2 hours 15 minutes, depending on the listing.
- Getting there
- Shuttle from the check-in point near Descanso Beach Club to the ridge top.
- Suits
- Confirmed thrill-seekers 10 and up who clear the weight and height limits.
- Ship or independent
- Either works. The ship version buys a reserved slot on a tour that can sell out on a busy call.
Why it's worth considering
It's the closest thing on this island to a genuine adventure-park experience, and the ecology narration is a real add, not filler.
The catch
The age and weight limits rule out young kids entirely, and the price swings by $50 or more depending on where you book it — shop before you commit.
Verify before you book
- Current weight/height limits before you book, since check-in includes a weigh-in
- Price across at least two sellers — we found a real, meaningful spread
- Whether your ship's version includes transport from the pier or just the tour itself
The round building on the point is Avalon's actual landmark, and it's never held a casino game.
The Catalina Island Company's own general-admission ticket is self-guided: the Avalon Theatre, the Marine Bar, the Wrigley Ballroom and the Ocean Promenade, all at your own pace, with a working 1920s-era pipe organ played live Friday and Saturday evenings. Catalina Tours lists general admission at roughly $21.50 adult; Disney Cruise Line's own store prices a guided version, paired with the theatre and ballroom, at $34.
The VIP Backstage Tour goes further — the stars' dressing rooms, the producers' gallery, the directors' projection booth, spaces the operator's own copy says stayed closed to the public for more than 70 years. Catalina Tours prices it around $42; expect a cruise line's own store to run higher.
General admission includes a $2 discount toward the separate Catalina Island Museum, if you want a second stop in the same building.
- Time commitment
- Self-guided general admission has no fixed clock; the VIP backstage add-on runs about an hour on reseller listings.
- Getting there
- On foot from most tender landings — the Casino anchors the north end of the bay.
- Suits
- History-minded travelers, film buffs, and anyone short on time who still wants one real sight.
- Ship or independent
- Independent works fine for general admission. Lean ship, or book ahead directly, for the VIP tour if backstage access matters to you specifically.
Why it's worth considering
It's a genuine Art Deco landmark, not a photo-op facade — the murals and the ballroom floor are the real 1929 originals.
The catch
We couldn't pull a confirmed current price directly off the Catalina Island Company's own site, the same booking-widget problem as the boat tours. Treat the figures above as reseller-sourced, not the operator's printed rate.
Verify before you book
- Current pricing directly with the Catalina Island Company before you book
- The pipe organ schedule, if that's why you're going on a specific evening
- Whether the VIP tour is running on your call date — it's a smaller-group product
A 38-acre garden of plants that grow nowhere else on Earth, built around a 1930s memorial to the family that shaped this island.
The Catalina Island Conservancy's own site lists admission at $13.58 for adults, $11.41 for seniors and students, $8.15 for children 5 to 12, and free under 5, with hours running 8am to 5pm daily. That's a real, current, official figure — unlike most of the pricing on this page.
It sits about 1.7 miles from the ferry landing — walkable if you've got the legs and the time, or a short golf-cart or taxi ride otherwise. A free round-trip shuttle from the Trailhead Visitor Center runs with a ticket.
Disney Cruise Line's own port-adventure store also sells a guided version paired with narration, at $79 adult and $59 child — the same garden, with someone explaining it.
Budget at least an hour for a real visit. Two hours or more suits anyone who actually cares about the plants.
- Time commitment
- At least an hour; two or more for a full visit, per the Conservancy's own guidance.
- Getting there
- About 1.7 miles from the tender landing — golf cart, taxi, bike or a longer walk.
- Suits
- Anyone who wants quiet and shade after the boat-tour crowds, and plant people specifically.
- Ship or independent
- Independent, comfortably — it's a fixed admission price payable at the gate, no booking required for the self-guided version.
Why it's worth considering
It's the one attraction on this list with a real, current, official price we could confirm directly — worth knowing when almost everything else here needs a caveat.
The catch
It's the farthest thing on this list from the mole that's still commonly done independently. Budget real transit time, especially on a short call.
Verify before you book
- Current admission price before you go — official prices update without much notice
- Shuttle schedule against your own timing, if you're skipping the walk
- Whether your all-aboard leaves room for the round trip
Two genuinely different products share almost the same description, and it's worth knowing which one you're booking.
The Catalina Island Company's own Skyline Drive runs an open-air Hummer about 10 miles into the interior and 1,600 feet up, past Divide Road's ocean-and-canyon views, in about 2 hours. Royal Caribbean names both a Zipline Eco Tour and a Journey to the Sky excursion built on similar routes — though the live listing pages for both, and for its own Glass Bottom Boat Tour and Avalon Scenic Tour, returned “no longer available” or retrieval errors on every attempt we made. We're disclosing that rather than guessing at a current price.
Separately, the Catalina Island Conservancy — a different organization, the island's nonprofit land manager — runs its own Jeep-based eco tours (a Wildlands Discovery Tour, roughly two hours; a Hidden Catalina Expedition, roughly three) reaching the same general interior and the Airport in the Sky, its own airstrip at 1,602 feet. We found no public per-person price for those group tours; the Conservancy's own site prices only its private option, at $880 for up to six people on a 2-hour private tour.
Disney Cruise Line's own store sells a “Naturalist Led Wildlife Eco Tour Adventure” at $204 adult, $179 child — almost certainly the Conservancy product, cruise-line-priced, though Disney's own listing doesn't name the Conservancy directly.
Both routes can turn up bison. The island's small bison herd, descended from animals left behind after a 1920s film shoot, roams the interior on its own schedule, not the tour's.
- Time commitment
- About 2 hours for Skyline Drive; 2 to 3 hours for the Conservancy's eco tours.
- Getting there
- Open-air Hummer or Jeep from a pickup point near Avalon; no independent self-drive version exists.
- Suits
- Travelers who want the island's undeveloped interior, not just the town.
- Ship or independent
- Lean ship or a direct advance booking. This isn't a walk-up product, and Royal Caribbean's own current listings weren't loading for us to confirm as bookable.
Why it's worth considering
This is the actual backcountry, not a scenic pullout — the Conservancy manages roughly 88% of the island's total land specifically to keep it this undeveloped.
The catch
The Catalina Island Company and the Catalina Island Conservancy are two different operators selling similar-sounding interior tours. Confirm which one you're actually booking before you pay.
Verify before you book
- Which operator runs your specific tour — Catalina Island Company or Catalina Island Conservancy — before booking
- Whether Royal Caribbean's own listings are live on your sailing date; four of them errored out when we checked
- Current per-person pricing directly with whichever operator, since public group-tour pricing wasn't posted for the Conservancy's own tours
DIY transport · Cartopia
Golf cart rental, Avalon's real rental-car substitute
There's no real rental-car option here, so this is what fills that gap.
Cartopia, the main rental operator at Crescent Avenue and Pebbly Beach Road, lists a 4-passenger golf cart at $135 for two hours on its own site, plus a $20 online service fee and a $65 refundable cash deposit. A 1-hour rental exists too, but it's walk-in only, not bookable ahead.
Drivers must be 25 or older, per the operator's own policy page. Reservations need 24 hours' notice, and carts aren't held past your reserved start time — book, don't assume you'll walk up on a busy day.
This isn't an all-day rental. Two hours covers a loop through town and up toward the golf course or garden road. It doesn't replace a car for a full-day plan.
- Time commitment
- 2 hours standard, per Cartopia's own rate card; 1-hour walk-in slots exist, availability permitting.
- Getting there
- Pickup at the Cartopia lot, Crescent Avenue and Pebbly Beach Road, an easy walk from the mole.
- Suits
- Anyone touring Avalon's hillside streets or reaching the garden or golf-course area without a taxi.
- Ship or independent
- Independent, always. No cruise line sells a golf cart rental as a packaged excursion, in what we found.
Why it's worth considering
It's genuinely the only self-drive option on the island for a visitor. Private full-size vehicles are effectively closed to you.
The catch
Two hours goes fast once you factor in photo stops. This is a sightseeing lap, not a day-long rental — plan your route before you drive off.
Verify before you book
- Same-day availability if you haven't booked ahead — it books up on busy calls
- The exact deposit and fee total against your budget
- Whether your route plan fits inside 2 hours before you commit to it
The same protected cove the glass-bottom boats cruise, open to anyone willing to get in the water.
Lover's Cove is a marine preserve a short walk past the Green Pleasure Pier, calm and shallow enough for beginners. Wet Spot Rentals, a local operator, lists mask-snorkel-fins sets from about $15 for one to two hours, up to $30 for a full day, with wetsuits available separately if the water's cold for your taste.
No cruise line packages this as a paid excursion in what we found. It's cheaper and more flexible to just rent gear and walk in.
It's a protected reserve, not open water. Leave the marine life alone; collecting anything here isn't allowed.
- Time commitment
- As long as you want. No fixed tour clock.
- Getting there
- On foot from the Green Pleasure Pier, past the glass-bottom boat dock.
- Suits
- Confirmed swimmers who'd rather skip a boat and just get in the water.
- Ship or independent
- Independent, easily. This is a gear rental, not a booked tour.
Why it's worth considering
It's the cheapest real water time on this list, and you set your own schedule instead of a tour's.
The catch
It's a preserve, not a beach club. We found no confirmed lifeguard coverage, so bring a buddy and know your own swimming limits.
Verify before you book
- Water temperature and visibility on your sailing date — conditions vary by season
- Current gear rental rates, since they can change seasonally
- Your own swim confidence, since this is unguided
Two products only Carnival appears to sell here, not the standard Catalina Island Company menu repackaged.
The Fantastic Catalina Race is Carnival's own clue-based scavenger-hunt game through Avalon, teams of two to eight, ending in an awards ceremony with food and drinks included. Carnival's own listing prices it at $74.99 per person for about 3 hours.
The Catalina Carnival Explorer Helicopter departs Pebbly Beach for roughly 15 to 20 minutes of actual flight time over Avalon, the Casino, Two Harbors and the Airport in the Sky, inside a listed 1-hour excursion window. Carnival's own listing prices it at $279.99 per person, minimum age 3, maximum weight 250 pounds, seats assigned by aircraft weight and balance.
Neither shows up on the Catalina Island Company's own public tour menu under these names. Both read as excursions Carnival built or licensed specifically for its own passengers.
- Time commitment
- 3 hours for the race; about 1 hour, mostly ground time, for the helicopter.
- Getting there
- Both depart near the pier — the race on foot through town, the helicopter from Pebbly Beach.
- Suits
- Groups who want a game, not a lecture, for the race; splurge-minded flyers for the helicopter.
- Ship or independent
- Ship only, as far as we found. Neither is listed for public walk-up booking the way the Catalina Island Company's tours are.
Why it's worth considering
These are genuinely different from the standard Catalina roster — worth a look specifically because they're not the same products every seller resells.
The catch
Carnival-only, on the evidence we found. If you're not sailing Carnival, don't expect to book either one directly.
Verify before you book
- Whether these are sold on your specific Carnival sailing — excursion menus vary by ship and season
- The helicopter's weight limit against your whole party before you book
- Group size limits for the race if you're traveling with more than 8
04
Ship tour or on your own, once you're off the tender
Catalina is a genuinely easy independent port, closer to Willemstad than to a port with no walkable town at all.
The mole puts you in town, not at a dock miles out
The Cabrillo Mole sits in the middle of downtown Avalon. Nothing costs money until you decide to spend it — the walk itself, the Casino exterior, Crescent Avenue, all free.
One private operator runs most of what you'd pay for
The Catalina Island Company, not the city, sells the glass-bottom boat, the semi-submersible, the zip line, the Casino tours and Skyline Drive. The Catalina Island Conservancy runs a separate set of eco tours into the interior it manages. Knowing which one you're booking avoids a mismatch.
We couldn't get current prices straight from the operator's own site
The Catalina Island Company's booking widget renders through a separate ticketing system our research tools couldn't read directly. Every price on this page comes from a reseller, a cruise line's own store, or, for the botanical garden, the Conservancy's own printed rate — not the operator's own current cart.
Golf carts are the local rental-car substitute, not a luxury add-on
With private vehicles effectively closed to visitors, a golf cart is how you'd cover more ground than your feet allow, not an extra. Two hours, drivers 25 and up, book ahead on a busy call.
What the ship's version actually buys here
For the boat tours and the Casino, mostly a guaranteed time slot on something you could also walk up and buy yourself. For Skyline Drive, the Conservancy's eco tours, and Carnival's helicopter and race, it buys access to something with real capacity limits, or a product no one else seems to sell.
How each option compares in Catalina Island
| Excursion | Lean ship excursion when… | Independent works when… |
|---|
| Avalon on foot | Almost never — nothing here needs a guide | You're comfortable navigating a small town without a plan |
|---|
| Glass-bottom boat or semi-submersible | You want a guaranteed slot on a busy call | You're fine walking up to the pier kiosk yourself |
|---|
| Zip Line Eco Tour | You want price certainty built into your cruise fare | You're comparison-shopping — prices span $50 or more across sellers |
|---|
| Casino tours | You want the VIP backstage access specifically | General admission is fine walking up on your own |
|---|
| Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden | You want narration included | You're happy with a $13.58 self-guided ticket |
|---|
| Skyline Drive / Conservancy eco tours | Interior access is capacity-limited — book it | Rarely — there's no true independent version of this route |
|---|
| Golf cart rental | Never — no line sells this as a packaged excursion | Always, if you want wheels — it's the only self-drive option |
|---|
| Snorkeling at Lover's Cove | Never — no line packages this, in what we found | Always — cheaper and more flexible than any boat tour |
|---|
| Carnival's race or helicopter tour | Only Carnival passengers can book these at all | Not an option — neither is sold independently |
|---|
Short answer
Walk off free, and spend only where a real constraint shows up — a capacity-limited interior tour, a guaranteed time slot on a busy call, or, if you're sailing Carnival, a product nobody else sells. Everything else here is a pier kiosk, a gear-rental counter, or a golf cart you book a day ahead.
06
Catalina Island port logistics: tender, golf carts and getting around
Where you dock
Catalina has no cruise pier. Every ship anchors offshore and tenders passengers to the Cabrillo Mole, right in the middle of downtown Avalon. The City of Avalon Harbor Department runs the harbor and the tender operation — a separate authority from the Catalina Island Company, the private operator behind most of the paid tours in this guide.
That's a real, weather-dependent step. Rough seas can slow or cancel tenders, a ship-by-ship call. We found no published cancellation record for cruise tenders specifically, though Catalina Express, the passenger ferry running the same crossing, does publish weather-related cancellations of its own — at least a proxy signal that conditions here can turn.
Getting around: golf carts, taxis, feet
Private full-size vehicles are effectively off the table for a visitor, and mostly off the table for residents too. That leaves golf carts, taxis, bikes and walking as the real transportation menu.
- Golf cart rentals run about $135 for 2 hours (4-passenger cart), plus fees and a refundable deposit, per Cartopia's own site; drivers must be 25 or older
- A permit waitlist for private vehicles is real; the exact length is disputed across sources (roughly 20 to 25-plus years cited), and we found no single official document confirming one figure
- Taxis operate in Avalon for point-to-point trips; no single official fare card was available to us
- Uber and Lyft coverage on the island is inconsistent by most accounts we found; don't count on one being nearby
Currency and advisories
Catalina Island is part of the United States, so this is a domestic port, not a foreign one. US dollars, US cell coverage in most of Avalon, and no US State Department travel advisory apply the way they would for a foreign call elsewhere in this cluster.
Which lines call here
Carnival, Disney, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Lindblad Expeditions all call at Catalina on current itineraries, per our research. Lindblad's expedition model bundles its landings into the fare rather than selling discrete shore excursions, so it doesn't appear in the excursion list above the way the other five lines do.
Booking the boat tours and Casino directly
The Catalina Island Company's guest line is (877) 778-8322 for its own tours. The Catalina Island Conservancy's guest services line is 310-510-2595, extension 0, for eco tours and the botanical garden.
