Experience the best of Catalina Island

Catalina, or Santa Catalina Island, lies about 35 kilometres off the coast of Southern California, a rugged island of hills and canyons with a mild Mediterranean climate. The harbour town of Avalon fills a small bay, with brightly painted houses, golf carts instead of most cars, and the round white Casino building from 1929, which holds a ballroom and a cinema. The island was home to the Tongva people before the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo landed in 1542.

Most of the island is protected by a conservancy, and its interior has hiking trails, including the long Trans-Catalina Trail, campsites, and a herd of bison introduced in the 1920s for a film shoot. The Catalina Island fox lives nowhere else. Glass-bottom boats and snorkellers view the orange garibaldi fish in the kelp forests off Avalon, and Two Harbors, on the narrow isthmus, is a quiet village between two coves.

Fresh seafood, fish tacos and bison burgers are on the menus in Avalon, which still has a sleepy small-town feel. The Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Garden honours the chewing-gum magnate who bought most of the island. The climate is mild, with warm sunny summers, a morning marine layer in early summer, and cool, clear winters.