How Much Does It Really Cost To Visit Hawaii?

I think by now you have all realised how much I like to talk about money and travel budgets, so here I am doing it again. I get people asking me all the time how I can afford to travel the way I do, as often as I do and to the places I choose to go, now I’m going to tell you.

Here is the key: destinations are only as expensive as you let them be.

Seeing the world in general is more important to me than seeing the world from the perspective of a 5-star resort or Michelin star restaurant. In fact, resorts and restaurants really have no place in my trip plans at all. If those things are what is important to you, find a way to make it work.

Since we are talking about Hawaii today, I’ll try to be as specific as I can and hopefully crush some of the popular beliefs about not being able to afford an island getaway.

This will be my third trip to the state of Hawaii in 4 years. In 2015 I went to Oahu, 2017 I went to Maui and this year I will be in Hawaii, The Big Island. The overall frame of each trip has been pretty similar despite being with different people each time and being on different islands.

I've never had much desire to see the islands from a hotel perspective and I can think of so many better things to do with the extra money saved by staying elsewhere. I like to eat out sometimes, but I still prefer a piece of fruit and cereal for breakfast, that's very inexpensive. I didn't want to rent a car the first time I went but I'm glad I did and the money saved on accommodations was more than enough to cover the car.

I didn’t track my expenses in Oahu, but it was very inexpensive. I was with 4 other girls and therefore split the cost of most things by 5. If memory serves, it was about $350 RT for my flights plus about $500 for the rental car, $2100 for our accommodations and about $300 on groceries for the week. That is only $930 per person for a week-long vacation. Beyond that, everything is pretty variable. If you want to go shopping, that’s up to you, same with eating out, excursions, etc. The Hawaiian Islands are the perfect place to get outside and enjoy free activities in paradise.

All-in for Oahu (1 week in March): Under $1000 each

Where we stayed: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/3898389?location=Honolulu%2C%20HI%2C%20United%20States&s=733DKthm&check_in=2019-03-20&guests=1&adults=1&check_out=2019-03-27

I partially tracked last year’s trip to Maui and it was quite different for many reasons. Most notably, there were only two of us and we did half camping and half hotels. Flights were $500 RT and the rental car was $255. We did grocery store breakfasts, cheap lunches and had supper in reasonably priced restaurants. It was about $120 for 4 nights of tent camping and in stark contrast, about $1300 for 4 nights in hotels. You can see what I mean about destinations being as expensive as you let them; If we stayed at the camp ground the whole time our trip would have been $1180 less than what it was. I don’t think we did any shopping at all and the snorkels we rented were about $27 for the week which provided us the most enjoyment.

All-in for Maui (1 week in April): $3500 for 2 people

Where we stayed:

https://www.campolowalu.com/tent-camping/


https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/days-inn/maui-hawaii/days-inn-maui-oceanfront/rooms-rates?hotel_id=34006&checkin_date=04/22/2018&checkout_date=04/23/2018&adults=2&children=0&brand_id=DI&rate_code=SSP&iata=05513292&CID=ME%3ADI%3A20180321%3AGGL%3Agha%3ACPA%3ANULL%3A34006

Hawaii. My flight was $370, our AirBnB was $620 (5 nights), hostel for the first night is $50 each and the car rental was $900. We also booked one excursion for $80/person. That is just over $1200 per person for all of the expensive bits. I was only be with 1 friend this time so everything is split in 2. Since we had a kitchen we mostly cooked for ourselves, we did predominantly free activities and I didn’t do much shopping.

All-in for Hawaii (1 week in April): $1600 each

Where we stayed:

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/13534296?location=Captain%20Cook%2C%20HI%2C%20United%20States

http://www.myhawaiihostel.com/

Now, I don’t know about you, but $1600 per person for a week in paradise seems pretty decent to me. This number could be significantly higher or lower if you changed up a few of the details, when you go, how many people split the cost, etc. For this trip specifically, we could have skipped the vehicle upgrade and saved a ton.


Here is the detailed break down of my 1 week trip to Hawaii:
Flights: $368.24
Car rental: $469.27
Accommodations: $371.29
Food: $72.50
Gas: $90.11
All other spending: $178.61

TOTAL: $1550.02
The cost of the car rental, accommodations and gas are all split in half as I was with one other person.