Most visitors to Catalina Island have the same short list: snorkeling, the Casino, maybe a glass-bottom boat ride. All great choices, but if you've done the classics before, or you just want to see the island from a different angle, Catalina has a handful of tours that fly under the radar and deliver some of the most memorable experiences on the island. Here are five worth building your next trip around.
1. Catalina Food Tours: Taste Your Way Through Avalon
Forget picking one restaurant and hoping for the best. A food tour lets you sample your way through Avalon's best bites in a single afternoon. Catalina Food Tours walks small groups through a rotating lineup of local restaurants, cafes, and hidden gems, pairing each stop with stories about the island's food culture and history along the way.
It's a great option for first-time visitors who want a crash course in where the locals actually eat, and it takes the guesswork out of "where should we go for dinner tonight?" Bonus: you'll leave with a mental map of your new favorite spots for the rest of your stay.
Note: this tour is 21+, since several stops include beer, wine, or cocktail pairings.
Book Catalina Food Tours: catalinafoodtours.com
2. Haunted Catalina's Ghost Tour: Avalon After Dark
When the sun goes down, Avalon takes on a different personality. Haunted Catalina's Ghost Tour leads guests through the town's historic streets and buildings after dark, sharing the darker chapters of the island's past: shipwrecks, unexplained disappearances, and the ghost stories that locals have passed down for generations.
It's equal parts history lesson and campfire story, led by guides who clearly relish the material. Even skeptics tend to leave with a few goosebumps and a new appreciation for how much history is packed into this small town.
Book the Ghost Tour: hauntedcatalina.com
3. Catalina History Tour: The Island's Story, Beyond the Postcards
Catalina's story is a lot wilder than most people realize: Native American settlements, Spanish explorers, a silver mining boom, Prohibition-era rum runners, and William Wrigley Jr.'s vision that turned the island into the resort destination it is today. The Catalina History Tour connects all of it, walking guests through Avalon's landmarks while unpacking the events and characters that shaped the island.
If you've ever wondered why there's a giant Casino building with no gambling inside, or how chewing gum money built an island paradise, this is the tour that answers those questions.
Book the History Tour: visitcatalinaisland.com
4. Catalina Casino Haunting Tales: Inside Avalon's Most Iconic Building
The Casino is Catalina's most photographed landmark, and, as it turns out, one of its most haunted, according to local lore. The Catalina Casino Haunting Tales tour takes visitors inside this Art Deco landmark for a look at its glamorous ballroom and theater history, alongside the eerie stories that have accumulated over the building's nearly century-long life.
It's a chance to see the inside of a building most visitors only photograph from the outside, with a spooky twist that makes it feel like a completely different experience from a standard architecture tour.
Book Casino Haunting Tales: hauntedcatalina.com
5. Catalina Island Conservancy's Bison Tour: Meet the Island's Most Unexpected Residents
Yes, there really are wild bison roaming Catalina Island, and no, they're not native. A small herd was brought over in the 1920s (the popular story involves a movie shoot) and has called the island's interior home ever since. Today, the Catalina Island Conservancy manages the herd as part of its broader conservation work protecting the island's unique ecosystem.
A bison tour with the Conservancy takes you off the beaten path and into the island's rugged interior, where you'll learn about the herd's history, the Conservancy's conservation efforts, and the surprising ecology of an island that's home to plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. It's one of the few tours where "wildlife safari" and "California island getaway" belong in the same sentence, and it's a great way to support the ongoing work protecting Catalina's wild spaces for the future.
Book the Conservancy's Bison Tour: catalinaconservancy.org
If you'd like more options, Catalina Island Company and Catalina Adventure Tours also run their own bison tours, typically by Jeep or off road vehicle into the interior, so you can compare formats and pick the one that fits your trip.
Book with Catalina Island Company: visitcatalinaisland.com
Book with Catalina Adventure Tours: catalinaadventuretours.com
The takeaway: Catalina Island rewards curiosity. Between food, history, hauntings, and free-roaming bison, there's a lot more to explore here than the beach alone. Mix one or two of these into your next visit, and you'll come away with a very different, much richer picture of the island.
