How to Budget for your Family Vacation to Hawaii

In every Hawaii group I’m in, one of the most commonly asked questions is “How much money should I plan to spend in Hawaii?”  Everyone wants to know the price of hotels, flights, food, rental cars and activities because they know, in general, Hawaii is expensive.  I am going to break down the numbers and share what our family of 5 spent on our recent trip to Hawaii.

There is no wrong way to vacation, but everyone prioritizes differently. What some may splurge on, others may skimp on–and that’s ok! If your’re on a budget, I’ll share ways you can save without losing out on the fun!

When to Visit

No matter what destination you choose, you will always see off-season and peak-season rates.  For Hawaii, you’ll tend to find better rates in the Spring and Fall for both flights and accommodations.  And more than likely, you’ll see the highest rates around holidays.  If you’re flexible and can travel during those “shoulder” seasons, you’ll definitely save money.

With kids in school, we’re not as flexible so the rates we paid over Spring Break are probably higher than off-peak times.  Because of this, we found other ways to save money so we could make this trip a reality!

Let’s take a look at costs and how to budget each category, including flights, accommodations, transportation, activities and food.

# 1 – Cost of Flights

The cost of flights is really going to depend on a variety of factors like where you’re flying from, what time of year you’re visiting, how many people are going, what airlines you prefer, if you want a higher-class seat, if you’re planning to visit another island, etc.

What we paid for flights

We had a longer-haul flight (about 11 hours) flying from Cleveland, Ohio to Oahu.  Flying directly with a short layover was an option, but we preferred breaking our flights up.  We flew to California, stayed the night and then flew to Oahu the next morning.  This was actually a little cheaper than the direct flight too, but keep in mind that you’ll also have hotel stay, which does add to the cost. 

Because we stayed in California before arriving in Hawaii, we were able to get some sleep. Plus, our flight landed in Hawaii at 10am, giving us most of the day to explore. We spent six nights on Oahu, then took an inter-island flight to Maui, where we stayed for two additional nights.  We then flew from Maui to California, stayed the night and then flew back to Ohio the following day.

The cash cost of our flights was about $714/person.  Keep in mind that this included an inter-island flight from Oahu to Maui so if you’re not planning to island hop, your cost will likely be less. And flight costs fluctuate–A LOT! You can see totally different prices within the same day for the exact same flight.

To get an idea of what you should budget, use Google Flights to check roundtrip prices from airports close to you.  Just doing a quick search, it looks like May, September and October are the cheapest times to fly—there are some flights for under $500 RT (leaving from CLE/PIT).  If you’re on the west coast, your flights will likely be quite a bit less than for those of us on the east coast.

How to Save on Flights

Be Flexible

If you can be flexible, look to book during off-peak times.  Our Spring Break started on Good Friday, but we found that leaving on Tuesday evening instead of Wednesday saved us money and gave us an extra day in Oahu so we booked that day instead.  You will also find that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are often cheaper to fly than other days of the week.

Check Nearby Airports

We live within an hour of Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Akron so when I look for flights, I always check all of these airports. And we’ve even driven a bit farther and flown out of Columbus because we found a fantastic price.

The same goes with arrival airports. We flew into LAX on the way to Hawaii; however, on our way home, we flew out of Long Beach because of how much cheaper it was. We did have an Uber fee to get us to that airport, but it was still signifacantly cheaper than booking our flights home from LAX.

Fly economy or on budget airlines

A first-class flight would have been amazing, but that’s not really in our budget with a family of 5.  So, we flew with Southwest instead.  Prior to our trip, we earned their Companion Pass, which gives us one FREE fare on every flight we take for nearly TWO YEARS!  This saved us over $700 on our trip! You can read about how we earned that here.

Earn/Use Points and Miles

We actually booked our flights for FREE (with the exception of taxes and fees $5.60/person/flight) using points and miles we earned with the Southwest credit cards.  You can read more about how to earn Southwest Points in this post.

Flight Recap

• CASH COST: $714/person ($3570 for our family of 5)

• WHAT WE ACTUALLY PAID: $140
  • Since we used Southwest Points to pay for our flights, we only paid for the taxes and fees, which was $140. We used 49k Southwest Points/Person.  And since we earned the Southwest Companion pass, we only needed to use points for 4 people since my husband flies as my companion for free.

How to plan and budget accommodations, activities, transportation and food

Alright, now that you know about how much to budget for flights, let’s take a look at how to plan and budget the rest of your trip.

What are your priorities?

Before you even begin to budget, you first need to figure out what you want out of your trip.  Doing this will help you figure out where to splurge and where to save.  Take a moment to answer these questions:

• Do you want a hotel right on the beach or within walking distance?
• Do you prefer a resort, hotel or condo?
• Is your focus to relax and enjoy the pools/beach or will you be on the go participating in tours/activities?
• Will you have a car?  Or will you use Uber/Lyft, public transportation or walk everywhere?
• Do you plan to see the island on your own or via tour companies?
• Will you eat all meals at a restaurant or will some be in the room?
• Do you like to drink alcoholic beverages?  With meals only? Throughout the day?

Alright, let’s take a look at what you should budget for accommodations, transportation, activities and food!

#2 – Cost of Accommodations

There are so many hotels to choose from, including luxury, moderate and budget options.  More than likely if you want beachfront property or resort-style pools, you’re going to pay a bit more.  However, if you’re willing to have a short walk to the beach and are ok with a typical hotel pool, then you can really save money on your accommodations.

What’s your preference?

If your goal in Hawaii is to lay out on the beach or chill at the pool, then finding a beachfront hotel with awesome pools should be your priority.  Yes, these hotels will come at a higher price, but you’ll be able to enjoy all of those hotel amenities, making that cost justifiable.

Now if you’re planning to be gone most of the day exploring the island, then go with a cheaper hotel a couple of blocks off the beach.  More than likely, you’ll be visiting some amazing beaches on other parts of the island so you can save some money by booking a no-frills hotel.  There is no right or wrong way to enjoy Hawaii!

Check Google Reviews

When my husband and I were broke college kids, we stayed in super-cheap hotels.  However, I value cleanliness so I tend to stay with more trusted brands like Hilton, Holiday inn, Hyatt and Mariott.  We’ve stayed outside of these brands, but regardless of brand, I always look at recent Google reviews prior to booking.  This helps me narrow down my options.

Decide on your location

If you are looking for the hustle and bustle of the city with lots of food options within walking distance, then Waikiki is probably best for your home base on Oahu.  However, if you’re looking for something quieter or less busy, you may want to look at the North Shore.  Kapolei also draws in the Disney lovers because that is where Aulani is located. 

In Maui, we decided on Wailea, which is quiet, but there are lots of shops and restaurants within a short 5-10 minute drive.

Wherever you decide, just be sure to figure out how you plan to get to restaurants, activities, or even the hotel.  If you’re renting a car, you’ll have easy access to all parts of the island.  However, if you’re planning use ride shares, public transportation or walk, then your hotel location becomes even more important.

What we paid for accommodations

Oahu – Beachfront

For this trip, I had a few different hotels in mind, but ultimately decided on Hilton Hawaiian Village for the bulk of our stay.  We already knew we were using points for this so the cash cost of the hotel wasn’t as big of an issue for us since most of the hotels are fairly close in points.

Since we were in Hawaii, I wanted a “beach” experience, but I also wanted to explore the island.  Who knows if we’ll ever get back to Hawaii as a family so I figured, go big or go home!  I had our hotels narrowed down to the Embassy Suites in Waikiki, the Hilton Waikiki or Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Oahu – Walk to the beach

Embassy Suites was actually one of my top choices for a few reasons.  First off, they have rooms with 3 beds (typically two queens and a pull-out sofa), which is ideal for our larger family.  In addition, they offer a free cooked to order breakfast each morning. 

I knew we’d spend a good chunk of money on food so to have one meal free each day would really save us money.  And lastly, each evening, they offer a Manager’s Reception, where you get free snacks and drinks (including alcohol), which is a nice way to wind down. 

Embassy is one of our favorite hotel chains for all of these reasons.  However, the one in Waikiki is lacking on the true “resort” feel.  It’s not right on the beach and it doesn’t have a variety of pools or waterslides like you’d see at a resort.  Although, that wasn’t a deal breaker for me.  I knew the value was still there, just in other ways.  However, when I finally got around to booking, it wasn’t available for our entire stay. 

Oahu Top Choice – Hilton Hawaiian Village

We then decided that Hilton Hawaiian Village was our top choice.  Not only did it offer that “resort” feel with several pools (including a waterslide), hot tubs, and restaurants, it was also right on the beach and within walking distance to Waikiki restaurants and entertainment.

The cash cost for this hotel for 5 nights was $3282.66, which included a daily resort fee of $50.  This is significantly higher than staying at a cheaper hotel, but offers a different experience.

Maui – Hilton Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort

In Maui, we used Free Night Certificates we earned with our Hilton Surpass credit card.  These certificates are pretty awesome because you can stay in a $100/night Hampton Inn and use them or stay in a luxury resort.  I love getting amazing value, so I chose the Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort. 

This resort came with a pretty hefty price tag– $2748 for two nights!  Now that’s a pretty great redemption!  If we were paying cash for this resort, we likely wouldn’t have stayed here because that’s pretty far out of our budget.  But when it’s free, you better believe we’re going to enjoy that luxury!

How to Save

Because we are Diamond Members with Hilton, I tend to lean towards Hilton Hotels.  One, we get perks that we don’t get at other hotels and two, I know what to expect at their different brands.  Plus, their footprint is so large that you can find them almost anywhere you want to go. 

I highly suggest finding a chain that you like and signing up for their free loyalty program.  Typically, you’ll find better rates and even some perks with their free program.  And, you’ll be on your way to earning free stays!

Points / Free Night Certificates

The biggest savings for us is that we booked our Oahu hotel on points and used Free Night Certificates in Maui.  For years, I’ve had a Hilton Honors American Express credit card that I use like a debit card.  I rack up so many points from using that card on my everyday spending that we get free hotel stays all the time! 

A couple of years ago, I upgraded my card and my husband also got his own so we ended up with a large chunk of points.  I used points last summer when we vacationed in California, but I earned even more on that trip.  When we decided that Hawaii was our next big vacation, we held on to the points we had so we’d have what we needed for this trip.

We each earn a Free Night Certificate with our Hilton Surpass cards when we spend $15k in a calendar year.  Because we charge everything we can to our credit cards each month, this isn’t hard for us to do over the course of a year.  It’s nice to know that all those groceries, HOA fees, car insurance and other non-exciting things we have to pay for at least gives us a couple of luxury stays a year!

5th Night Free

One of the perks we love about Hilton is that when you’re a Siver Member or above, you get your 5^th night free when you book using points.  The Hilton Hawaiian Village was 70k points per night, but we only needed 280k points to stay for five nights.  This is such a great value and a perk that I try to take advantage of whenever I can!

Cheaper Hotel

We actually ended up adding an extra day to the beginning of our Hawaii trip because our flights were significantly cheaper leaving a day earlier.  For this one night, we stayed at one of Hilton’s most inexpensive hotels in Waikiki.  The Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki was $265.73 for the night, compared to $600+ at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.  Included in this price, was the required daily “resort” fee. 

Hotel Consideration: Resort Fee

Almost all hotels in Hawaii charge some sort of resort fee so be sure to budget for that!  Some of these fees offer better benefits than others.  I thought the Hilton Garden Inn was a great value and their resort fee actually provided some nice perks.  This resort wasn’t on the beach, but the walk wasn’t terrible either (10-12 min). 

The resort fee gives you daily access to free beach chairs/umbrella rental (3 credits) and even a surfboard/body board rental.  We didn’t use this perk since we were only there one night, but it’s great if you’re staying longer.

In addition, beach towels and even reef-safe sunscreen and after-sun lotion are provided (in the pool area). 

Hotel Consideration: Location

I felt that the location of the Hilton Garden Inn was great!  It was right across the street from the International Marketplace, which has tons of shops and restaurants.  Plus, it’s within walking distance to many other restaurants and shops in Waikiki.  If you aren’t planning on renting a car, this hotel is ideal—you’re close to restaurants, bars, the beach, etc. and aren’t paying a premium on the hotel itself.  It’s a win-win!

The Hilton Garden Inn did have a pool with beach chairs along with a pool bar that offered Happy Hour drink specials.  They also have an onsite restaurant and a market with grab and go food items as well as souvenirs. 

I honestly think this hotel is a great value!  If you spent 7 nights here, it’d cost around $1855. 

Food and Beverage Credit

One HUGE perk when you’re a Hilton Gold/Diamond Member is that you get a daily food and beverage credit.  If you’re planning to stay in any Hilton hotel for any length of time (that doesn’t offer breakfast), you should really consider getting the Hilton Surpass credit card.

When you are a Hilton Surpass cardholder, you automatically get “Gold” status at Hilton Hotels.  You can read an entire post of how to stay in Hawaii for free here, but you’ll see that our favorite Gold perk is the daily Food and Beverage Credit.

This credit card does have an annual fee of $150, but let me show you how you why that annual fee is so valuable.

The Hilton Garden Inn gave us $15/adult/day, the Hilton Hawaiian Village gave us $18/adult/day and the Grand Wailea gave us $25/adult/day.  The amount you get to spend varies by hotel and market, but it’s a nice perk to have! 

Our one-night stay at the Hilton Garden Inn gave us $30 to spend in an on-site restaurant/bar or even at the HoloHolo Market.  We used this credit to grab sandwiches for lunch the day we checked out, saving us on one of our meals that day.

We got $36/night ($180 total) at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which we used for breakfast, lunch or snack items.  And we did the same with the $50/night we got at the Grand Wailea.  This also helped us offset some of our food budget.

Even if you stayed for 7 nights at the cheaper Hilton Garden Inn, you’d have a credit of $210 to use at the hotel.  That credit, alone, covers the annual fee + some! 

Quarterly Hilton Surpass Statement Credit

We saved even more by booking our Hilton hotels and paying for them with our Hilton Surpass credit cards.  Each quarter, my husband and I both get a $50 credit with our Hilton Surpass Cards.  And because this vacation fell at the end of Q1 and beginning of Q2, we were able to use two credits each on this trip, saving us an extra $200!

Prior to us heading to Hawaii, we stayed at the Hilton LAX Airport, which was $188/night.  I split the payment, putting $50 on my husband’s card and the rest on mine.  Since this stay happened in March (Q1), both of our cards had $50 statement credit, making our cost for this hotel only $88. 

Plus, we got another $36 Food and Beverage credit that we used before our early morning flight to Honolulu. 

This hotel also offered a free 24-hour shuttle to/from LAX airport so we didn’t have to worry about paying for a Lyft/Uber to/from our hotel! A lot of hotels offer this, so be sure to look for those when you stay in a hotel before/after a flight. 

In Maui, we had a car and needed to pay for parking.  Even though our hotel stay was free, parking for one night was $65.  Yikes!  It worked out well because this stay was in April—the beginning of Q2.  My husband paid for parking one night on his Hilton Surpass Card and I paid for the other on mine.  This meant that we each got another $50 statement credit, making our parking only $15/night! 

Other ways we saved

Plus, because you’re a Hilton Gold member, you’ll be well on your way to earning points for your next stay!  To put it into perspective, I earned about 7300 points on my one-night stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki, multiply that by 7 nights and could earn 51k points—that’s close to earning another two nights for free.  See what I mean about these points?!  They add up fast!

We also booked a non-Hilton hotel using our Capital One Venture X card for the night in LA on our way home from Hawaii.  This was another hotel that offered a 24-hour shuttle to/from LAX, which saved us on those Uber/Lyft fees. 

The Captial One Venture X card does come with a steep annual fee ($395), but you automatically get a $300 travel credit, which essentially drops that fee to $95.  And we’ll talk about how we get so much more value out of that card with airport lounge access later on. 

Accommodation Recap

• CASH COST: $6656 for 10 nights
  • Hilton LAX: $188/night
  • (Oahu) Hilton Hawaiian Village (Beachfront Resort): $656/night
  • (Oahu) Hilton Garden Inn (Hotel a few blocks from the beach): $265/night
  • (Maui) Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort: $1374/night +$65 Parking/night
  • Fairfield Inn LA: $175
• OUR ACTUAL COST WITH POINTS/CREDITS: $528 for 10 nights
  • Hilton LAX: $88 (after $100 in statement credits from Hilton Surpass cards)
  • (Oahu) Hilton Garden Inn: $265
  • (Oahu) Hilton Hawaiian Village: $0 (70k/night with the 5^th night free)
  • (Maui) Grand Wailea: $0 (used 2 Free Night Certificates)
  • Fairfield Inn Los Angeles: $175 (used Capital One Venture X hotel credit, which essentially drops our credit card annual fee)

#3 – Transportation

If you’re planning to stay in Waikiki or an area that has restaurants and entertainment within walking distance, then you won’t spend much in transportation costs.  You’ll need some sort of transportation to/from the airport, but you have lots of options.

For us, we knew that we wanted to explore the island.  And although places like Kualoa Ranch and different Luau’s offer transportation (for a cost), those prices add up fast—especially with a family of five.  Even and Uber/Lyft is higher because we have to use the XL version to fit our family. 

We compared so many different options and ultimately settled on renting a car through Turo on both Oahu and Maui.  Some options may have seemed cheaper in the long run, but where you saved, you ended up spending somewhere else.  Here are things to consider:

Rental Car Companies

We looked at rental car companies like Hertz because we get better deals with our Capital One Venture X. 

PROS

It was convenient to be able to grab our car at the airport and go directly to our hotel.  With our Venture X, we have Hertz President’s Circle, which allows us to just grab a car and go.  So many people talk about car rental lines being super-long in Hawaii, wasting a ton of time so this was a huge benefit for us.

We had the option to do a one-way drop for not much more than the cost of an Uber XL.  A one-way drop means that we could rent the car from the airport and drop it off at a hotel in Waikiki with an on-site Hertz location.

We’ve done this quite a few times on other trips because it gives us the ability to explore an area before our hotel is ready for check in, but not really pay much more than we would for transportation from the airport to the hotel.

Cons

Those drop locations close EARLY!  A lot of things close early in Hawaii, but the rental car places close between 3:30 and 4:30pm, with no after hours drop.  This meant that if we did rent a car from the airport, we’d have to hurry and make sure we were in Waikiki by 3:30 to turn in our car.

If we planned to keep the car overnight, hotel parking fees are anywhere from $50-$75/night—OUCH!  Keep a car for a week and those costs really add up!

And even if we decided to just rent a car for a day from the hotel rental lot, their hours are typically 8am-4pm so if you’re an early bird, forget about catching the worm.  Starting your drive at 8am is a recipe for disaster since it’s rush hour!

Rideshares

Since we’re a family of 5, we need an Uber/Lyft XL, which costs more than just a regular size.  For us that cost really adds up.  Looking at what we wanted to do for the week, we knew an rideshare company wouldn’t work. 

The airport (one-way) was around $50 for our family.  Pearl Harbor was also in that same area so it’d cost us another $100 to get to Pearl Harbor and back from a Waikiki hotel.  With just the airport and Pearl Harbor, we’re already looking at $200+ and we had 5 other days on Oahu.

Public Transportation

I honestly won’t spend much time on this one.  We value our time too much to waste time sitting on a bus.  Is it cheap? Yes, but not worth it for us.  I’d rather pay the extra money and get right to where I want to go, at the time I want to get there.

Hui Car Share

Hui is a rental car company unique to Hawaii (Oahu).  It’s actually a pretty cool set up and can really come in handy if you don’t want to rent a car, but have some destinations that are farther away.  It kind of reminds me of those scooters you see in big cities, where you hop on and hop off for a fee.  The difference with Hui is that it’s always picked up and dropped off from the same location.

Pros

The stations where the cars are parked are all over Waikiki (and even other areas too).  If you’re staying in Waikiki, you’ll likely have a car available within walking distance.  Everything is controlled by their app—so your info is loaded into the app and then you use the app to rent and unlock the car.  You can see what cars are available near you at any time and even reserve a car for a future trip.

You don’t have to pay hotel parking fees.  Because these cars are already parked, there is no parking fee (as long as you park them in their same spot).  And gas is also free.  There is a gas card in the car so you don’t have to worry about paying for a fill-up, which saves even more.

You can rent a car for minutes or an entire week.  This is great if you just want to use it for a couple of days.  Plus, you don’t have to worry about dropping your car off before a facility closes because you can pick up/drop off 24 hours a day.

Cons

Even after doing comparisons and factoring in free parking and gas, it’s still not too much cheaper than the other options out there.  Plus, you’re super-limited on choices—you can get a Prius or Toyota Corolla.  They do have some Rav4s and trucks, but those cost a bit more.

Turo

In the end, we decided on Turo for a few reasons.  One, my husband is the driver and he likes to have a nice, comfortable car.  On Turo, you can choose the vehicle you want.  The other big pro for us was that the person we rented from (Clayton B) had a few parking spots that we were able to park the car.  One of which was right across the street from the Hilton Hawaiian Village. 

Parking at this resort was $72/night and at our one night at Hilton Garden Inn was $55.  Parking alone would have been $415 if we used a rental car company like Hertz.

What we paid

We didn’t use any points to pay for our car rental. The cost was a bit more using Turo ($709 in Oahu and $265 in Maui), but in Oahu we got a Ford Bronco with a hard top that came off.  We thought this would be a nice way to enjoy the island.  Plus, we were supporting someone local who was top ranked on Turo.

In Maui, we also used Turo, but didn’t have free parking like we did in Oahu.  We went with a Jeep with soft top, which was so nice as we were driving the road to Hana! 

How to Save

Because we didn’t have to pay to park our car on Oahu, we saved $415!  Plus, we got a $30 credit by using our Hilton Surpass American Express card. 

Transportation Recap

CASH COST (WHAT WE ACTUALLY PAID): $1371

• Turo: $944 for 9 days
• Lyft/Uber Rides: $100
• Gas: $130
• Parking at Grand Wailea for 2 nights (after Hilton Statement Credits): $32
• Airport Parking (not a Hawaii expense, but an expense for us in Cleveland to park our car): $165

#4 – Activities

The amount you should budget for tours and activities will significantly differ from one family to the next.  It will really depend on what types of activities you plan to do as well as where they are located.  If you’ll have a vehicle or they are all nearby, the cost will be lower than if you have to pay for a transportation.

We wanted balance.  I like to be on the go all the time to see all that I can see, but our kids do not enjoy it.  When I started planning our itinerary, I tried to limit us to one morning activity and one afternoon activity each day.  We also had a rest day scheduled on our 3^rd day, which I can’t suggest enough!

I started with a huge list and narrowed it down to the things I thought our family would enjoy most.  Because we had a car, we weren’t limited to where we could go.

Go City Oahu Pass

I did TONS of research to figure out exactly what we wanted to do and found that many of the activities on my list were also part of the Go City Oahu pass. Last summer, in California, we used the Go City Los Angeles pass and got so much value out of it that we were on board to try it again for this trip.  The total cost of the Go City Oahu Passes was $1045 ($222.30/Adult and $189.05/Child).

We used the Go City pass for the following tours/activities:

• Kualoa Ranch: Jungle Expedition Tour
  • Cost: Go City Pass + $15 upgrade charge (Regular price: $54.95/Adult and $39.95/Child)
• Honolulu Snorkel Company
  • Cost: Go City Pass + $1.25 fee/person (Regular Price: $84.95/Adult and $55/Child)
• Pearl Harbor: USS Missouri Battleship + Aviation Museum + Audio Narration
  • NOTE: The Pearl Harbor Memorial is actually free to see.  We spent $1/person to reserve our boat ride to the memorial in advance, which I highly recommend.  The Go City Pass gets you into other attractions within Pearl Harbor).
  • Here is an entire blog post with everything you need to know about Pearl Harbor!
  • Cost: Go City Pass (Regular Price: USS Missouri – $34.99/Adult and $17.49/Child, Aviation Museum – $25.99/Adult and $14.99/Child, Audio Narration – $7.99/person) + Parking
• Sea Life Park + Luau
  • Cost: Go City Pass (Regular Price: $183.25/Adult and $157.07/Child) + Parking
• Kualoa Ranch: Secret Beach
  • Cost: Go City Pass (Regular Price: $54.95/Adult and 39.95/Child)
• Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC)
  • Cost: Go City Pass (Regular Price: $89.95/Adult and 71.96/Child)

How to Save

Discount Ticket Vendors

We’ve used Tickets at Work to purchase discounted admission to several places.  Last year, we purchased our Go City Los Angeles passes, which was cheaper than buying them direct.  I also had a coupon for my Tickets at Work account, saving me even more!

Shopping Portals

I use Swagbucks, Rakuten, Retail Me Not and Ibotta when I’m doing my online shopping.  Sometimes the cash back is minimal, but it all adds up.  However, I saw that Swagbucks was offering 16% cash back for Groupon purchases through their shopping portal. 

Since Groupon sells the Go City Pass, I was able to save another $167!  This means that our Go City Passes were only $878 for our family of 5!  Considering the Luau alone would have cost our family $863, I think this was an amazing value!

These shopping portals are a great way to save some extra money.  And the Chrome browser even has an extension that automatically shows me the cash back percentage for any website I go to.  This ensures that I remember to use the portal and lets me know which portal is offering the best deal!

Go City Savings

For our family of 5, we spent $878 on our Go City Passes.  With these passes, we could do unlimited activities over three days.  If we would have purchased these activities on our own, without the Go City Pass, our cost would have been $2419.86.  That means the Go City Pass saved us over $1500 on our Oahu activities! 

The passes are so easy to use too!  Everything is digital so your passes are emailed to you and then you add them right in the Go City app on your phone.  Then the vendor just scans your QR code and you’re in!  Some places do require advance reservations, but those were easy to make too.  All of the activity options are in the app and will let you know which ones need the reservations.  

Go City Tours WITH Transportation

The Go City Pass does offer a variety of tours that do include transportation so if you aren’t renting a vehicle, there are other options that will allow you to see other parts of the island.  The app provides all of this information as well!  And you’re able to see all of the activity info on the app or the Go City website before you purchase your passes, which allows you to plan your activities before you buy anything! 

Other Oahu Activities

Kevo’s Beach Bus

We also did a tour with Kevo’s Beach Bus.  I saw some posts in Hawaii Facebook groups about this tour being really good.  As I researched it more, I felt like it was a tour that my kids would really enjoy.  Having teenage boys has proven to be challenging when it comes to finding things they enjoy.

They absolutely LOVED this tour!  The guides were fantastic and took us to places the locals would go on the North Shore.  We visited Green World Coffee Farm, Pipeline Beach, Waimea Bay, Turtle Bay, did Stand Up Paddle Boarding (or kayaking), jumped off a bridge, tried a rope swing, had an amazing plate lunch, snorkeled with turtles and visited the Dole Plantation.

Tour Cost

This tour was $149/adult and $119/kid + $20/person for paddleboard/kayak (optional) and the cost of lunch.  Although this was a little pricey, we did feel that it was worth it.  Because we saved so much by getting our flights and hotels paid for, we were able to spend more on our activities and really make the most of our trip!

Other Inexpensive Oahu Activities

Nu’uanu Pali Lookout

We also found a few places to go that were not on our above list.  The day we arrived, we drove up to the Nu’uanu Pali Lookout. Although the cost of this activity was free, there was a fee for parking of $7.  It was worth it to check out some pretty amazing views.

Byodo-In Temple

We also LOVED the Byodo-In Temple.  This was on our way to Kualoa Ranch and was inexpensive.  Adults were $5 and kids were $2; and when we got there, they only charged us for our adults.  This place made you feel like you stepped out of the U.S. and into Japan.  The temple was cool with such a beautiful backdrop!  The kids even enjoyed checking it out.

Aloha Stadium Swap Meet

Oahu is known for their Swap Meet, which you can find at the Aloha Stadium on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.  It’s a great place to find souvenirs and discounted merchandise.  We’re not big on bringing home souvenirs so the kids weren’t all that impressed, but there are lots of things you can get at a bargain price, if you’re in need of that!

Tropical Farms Macadamia Nuts

Right down the road from Kualoa Ranch is the Mac Nut Farm. They have a variety of coffee to try as well as several types of macadamia nuts. It’s also a gift shop so it was a nice place to just check out. We actually ended up making two stops because my husband wanted to grab some coffee to take home!

Dole Plantation

If you love pineapples, check out the Dole Plantation. You can go into the store for free and it’s filled with tons of snacks, dole whip and souvenirs that revolve around pineapples.

Hilton Hawaiian Village Fireworks

Every Friday night, Hilton Hawaiian Village has a firework show. Because we stayed at this resort, it was easy for us to view, but it’s open to the public and draws in tons of people. Parking is available, but it’s definitely busy so if you are staying at a nearby resort and can walk, do that!

If you are staying at the resort and have Diamond status, there is a viewing area available to you. Just head to the Super Pool and show the attendant your status on your Hilton App and you’ll get right in. We were able to grab seating, even with getting there right before the show started.

Maui Activities

We didn’t do a ton of things in Maui like we did in Oahu.  Since we only had two days on the island, we decided to drive to a few different places just to get a taste of what Maui has to offer.

Haleakala National Park

Haleakala is beautiful.  I took a Geology of National Parks class in college and did a research paper on Haleakala.  Twenty years later, I finally got to see it!  Many people head to the summit for sunrise, but you typically need to be up at around 2am to get ready and drive up there.  Plus, you’d need reservations.  By this time on our trip, I was ready for some relaxing, so we decided to just see it during the day, which is still beautiful.

On our first day in Maui, we drove to the summit of Haleakala National Park.  There is an entrance fee of $30/car to get in; however, we decided to pay for the America the Beautiful annual pass instead.  This got us into Haleakala, but will also get us into any other National Park over the next year.  Since we’re heading west this summer, we decided to grab the annual pass so we can save some money on that trip!

Road to Hana

If you look up activities in Maui, the Road to Hana is at the top of the list.  This road is also referred to as “divorce highway” because it’s a series of switchbacks with some crazy drop offs.  It can take you a full day to explore the entire road by the time you drive to Hana and back.

Since we were excited to enjoy some pool time, we decided to just do “halfway” to Hana.  We were still able to see some really cool views, but it wasn’t something my kids loved.  They just wanted to be in the pool.  If we had more time, it would have been nice to drive the entire road, but halfway was a good compromise.

Ho’okipa Lookout and Beach Park

One our way back from the Road to Hana, we stopped at both the Ho’okipa Lookout and Beach Park.  The views here were spectacular!  Plus the beach park had tons of sea turtles that were just chilling on the sand.  You can’t get too close to them because they are protected, but they are neat to see.

Town of Paia

We also stopped in the town of Paia to walk around and have lunch.  I love little beach towns, so I enjoyed this area.

Activities Recap

OUR ACTUAL COST OF ACTIVITIES: 1858.67

• Go City (with discounts): $878
• Kevo’s Beach Bus: $758.64 + $83.77 for 4 Paddleboards
• Pearl Harbor Reservations: $5 + $7 Parking
• Sea Life Parking: $15.26
• Swap Meet Entrance Fee: $9
• Byodo-In Temple: $15
• Nu’uanu Pali Lookout Parking: $7
• Haleakala National Park: $80

#5 – Food

I see so many people asking how much they should budget for food per person/day.  All I can say is that it depends on what you like to eat and drink!  We planned on eating most meals out so I knew I had to budget for 2-3 meals/day + snacks and drinks. 

How to Budget for Food

I started by researching restaurants.  We love to eat local anywhere we travel so once I had some recommendations, I started looking at where they were located and what they offered.  In the evenings, we’d be near Waikiki at our hotel so I tried to choose restaurants that were nearby.  And in Maui, I chose restaurants near our hotel in Wailea.

There were some restaurants we looked at and ended up not booking because their options were either too expensive and/or didn’t offer things that I thought my kids would eat.  If it was just my husband and I, we may have tried these places, but I hate spending a ton on food that the kids just waste.

Look at Menus

Once we decided on our restaurants, I looked at the menu and figured out what we’d likely eat.  I know what my husband and kids like, so I am pretty good at guessing what they’d pick.  And even if I didn’t know exactly what they’d choose, I got a sense for what each person would spend.  Then I added it up, took drink prices, desserts, appetizers and tipping into consideration and came up with an estimated cost of the meal.  I typically bump it up a little, in case we splurged, but this gave me a good idea of what we’d spend.

Most restaurants have their menus online.  And you can even find menus for some of the quick-service/fast food locations to help you budget other meals as well.

Make Reservations

Since Waikiki gets pretty busy, I went ahead and booked reservations at the more popular sit-down restaurants.  I feel like your budget can get really out of hand if you wait until you’re already hungry to find a restaurant.  You may end up picking a place that is either way out of your budget or not something you enjoy because you are hangry!

Factor in Food and Beverage Credit

I also factored in our food and beverage credit that we got through the hotel.  Those credits paid for breakfast or grab and go lunch items.  And if we didn’t end up using them for a meal, my husband and I grabbed a drink or the kids got a smoothie at the bar.

Make a Grocery Run

You can also make a grocery run or bring what you can from home to cut back on some of your costs.  We’ve done this on several of our vacations to either save money or save us from eating out for every meal.  You can easily grab a few breakfast items, like cereal and milk or bagels to save on that meal.  We’ve also bought lunch items like Uncrustables, lunch meat and buns or even items to make our own charcuterie boards. 

If you’re on a tight budget, saving on breakfast and lunch may allow you to splurge a little on your dinner.  Then you can enjoy some of those highly-recommended places, instead of missing out. 

Where we ate

We found some good food and great deals on our trip.  I’m including where we ate as well as what we spent for our family of 5.  If you want to save some money, order water.  Unless our meal comes with a drink, we stick to water and easily save $15-$20 a meal.

Oahu

Tiki’s Bar and Grill

This restaurant was in walking distance from the Hilton Garden Inn so we made reservations to eat here our first night in Oahu.  They have a happy hour menu so I booked a table during that time.  I was the only one who ordered food from that menu so it didn’t save us much, but what I got was really good (Brussel sprouts and a quesadilla).  The menu also included alcoholic drinks too so we saved on our beer and Mai Tai. 
I was super excited to try their pineapple crème brulee, but I should have skipped it.  Crème brulee is one of my favorite desserts and pineapple anything is right up my alley, but this one just wasn’t what I expected.    

What we spent: $150 (included appetizers, meals, cocktails and dessert)

Morimoto Asia Waikiki

This is my kids’ FAVORITE restaurant in Disney Springs so when they found out there was one in Waikiki, it was immediately added to the list.  They, unfortunately, don’t have kid’s meals like they do in Disney though.  We ended up just getting a few dishes to share.  Everything is served as it gets done so the restaurant is set up for sharing anyways. 

We ordered the Orange Chicken, Noodles, A5 Surf and Turf Sushi Roll and the Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice.  Everything we ordered was so good! 

What we spent: $138 (We ordered small because we weren’t as hungry this day so it was a couple of appetizers and a couple of meals.  We didn’t order any desserts or drinks, otherwise the bill probably would have been quite a bit higher).

Hula Grill

Since we weren’t overstuffed from dinner, we grabbed a slice of their famous Hula Pie.  It was plenty big enough for us to share.  It was good, but not anything that I would have to get again.

What we spent: $15

Tsue’s Farm

This was our lunch stop when we were on the Kevo’s Beach Bus tour and it was fantastic!  We tried the teriyaki chicken, garlic shrimp, spicy shrimp and Kailua pork and all were really good.  The plate lunches are $15-20 each and come with the entrée, rice, pineapple and macaroni salad. 

What we spent: $107 for five plate lunches and a dragon fruit lemonade.

The Yardhouse

We planned to eat dinner here, but we were so stuffed from lunch that we just grabbed something quick at the ABC store.  Although this is a chain restaurant, they have a pretty big happy hour menu with half-priced appetizers.  You can easily feed your family and have a couple drinks for under $100!

Kono’s

My youngest son and I ate here for lunch when we were walking around in Kailua.  I ordered the sliders because I wasn’t super-hungry and neither was my kiddo.  However, he ate two of the three sliders and wanted more.  So, we ended up going back and grabbing another order!  The food was great!  I definitely recommend giving them a try! They have a location in the North Shore as well as Waikiki, so you have options!

What we spent: $26 on two entrees

Leonard’s Malasada’s

You know, everyone recommends this place so we had to try it.  Unpopular opinion—we weren’t impressed.  They serve malasadas, which are Portuguese doughnuts.  The original, non-filled option was my favorite, but I just can’t say it’s the best donut I’ve ever had.  We live in Youngstown, Ohio and are spoiled with so many great restaurants and food that it’s truly hard to find anything better than what we have in our area! 

What we spent: $16 for half a dozen doughnuts.

Liliha Bakery

We stopped at the original location on our way to the Aloha Swap Meet.  It’s small, but all five of us were able to grab a spot.  The pancakes are enormous and can easily be split!  Their rolls were delicious too!  The food was really reasonably priced too so it’s a great breakfast option!  They are known for their coco puffs, but they have a wide variety of baked items to choose from too.

What we spent: $70 for the five of us, which included a couple of pastries from the bakery + breakfast.

LeCrepe Cafe

We stopped here while we were in Kailua and grabbed a Romeo Et Juliette crepe to go.  It was really good!  I would have loved to grab a savory crepe too, but I just ate lunch and we were heading to our luau so I didn’t want to fill up too much.

What we spent: $17.

Foodland

We loved the options and pricing at Foodland!  There were lots of hot and cold food selections, including Poke and sushi. We all ate lunch here one day and then my husband and a couple of boys ate there again while we were in Kailua!

What we spent: $40 for the five of us for lunch.

Sam’s Eatery

We weren’t hungry around dinner time so by the time we were ready to eat, we decided to grab something fast.  This place offered a variety of plate meals that were pretty cheap. 

What we spent: $84 for four meals—although it was closer to five since my husband ordered extra meats!

Pounder’s

We ate at this restaurant when we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center and it was one of our favorite meals!  I got the short ribs, which were really good.  My husband got the poke nachos and a salad and our kids got burgers.  Then we grabbed some of their cookies for dessert.  Mine was one that was cooked to order and topped with ice cream and cookie butter.  It was so good! 

What we spent: $185, which included an appetizer, meals and desserts

ABC Stores

These stores are literally EVERYWHERE!  It’s a convenience store that has a little bit of everything, including hot foods and grab and go items.  We grabbed stuff here a few times for lunch or just something to snack on.  Sandwiches are anywhere from $6-10 so it’s pretty reasonably priced for a quick meal.

Maui

Three’s Bar and Grill

We chose this restaurant because they had happy hours specials and good reviews!  The reviews didn’t lie!  Everything we got was great and the prices were even better.  It’s hard to find a restaurant where our family of 5 can eat…AND DRINK…for under $100.  The happy hour menu had great options and even had a Mai tai for $6.25!

What we spent: $94.15, which included dinner and drinks

Nalu’s

This restaurant is a cross between fast food and a sit down restaurant.  You order your food, then go find an open table and then someone brings it out.  You can grab drinks at the bar.  Their mai tai was $7.50 for happy hour and was pretty large for the price.  We, again, spend under $100 for our family of 5—with drinks.

What we spent: $85, which included dinner and drinks

Paia Fish Market

We stopped at this restaurant for lunch.  The food was good.  My husband got the fish tacos and I got fish and chips.  I don’t eat a lot of fish, but I’ll do some here and there. Their fish was really good!  It wasn’t fishy at all and had a different breading than a typical beer battered option. 

What we spent: $52

Aunty Sandy’s Banana Bread

When we were driving the Road to Hana, we stopped for some Aunty Sandy’s Banana Bread right around the half way point. It was still warm when we grabbed ours! It was a nice little snack to have on our drive.

What we spent: $13.30 for banana bread and cookies

Food Trucks

Both Maui and Oahu have food trucks available, but we stopped at the food truck park in Kehi and found some great options!

What we Spent: $31 for 2 meals + specialty drink

Uluani’s

I guess I am full of unpopular opinions when it comes to Hawaii, but I waited about an hour for a shave ice and I would never do it again.  It was a total waste of time.  I mean it was ok, but not worth an hour wait!

What we Spent: $9.41 for one Shave Ice

How we saved

Food & Beverage Credits

Since we stayed at Hilton hotels, we got a daily food and beverage credit so we used this to our advantage!  We used these credits for either breakfast or lunch to help offset the cost of food for our family.  Most days we were able to get a few entrees and just split them. 

My husband eats breakfast every morning, but my kids and I are hit or miss so three entrees between the five of us worked out well.  I also packed snacks and grab and go items that we were able to eat too, which saved us from having to purchase several meals. 

Now the cost of food at both the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Oahu and Grand Wailea in Maui wasn’t cheap by any means, but our daily credit was enough to get what we needed.

Happy Hour

We also found that many restaurants offered happy hours, which saved a ton of money when we ordered from that menu.  In Maui, we spent under $100 for dinner for our family of 5!  When we go to dinner in Ohio, we spend that much in a lot of cases—especially when you add in a few drinks!

Grocery Stores

Foodland was a great option in Oahu and Maui for pre-cooked/grab and go items.  My husband loves Poke and he was able to get a nice size container for about $8.  Plus, they had several varieties to choose from.  They also had both hot and cold food selections that were perfect grab and go lunch options. 

Walmart, Costco and Sam’s Club are also available so you can find the best deals for more packaged food/things you’d cook.

Food Trucks

Both Maui and Oahu have lots of food trucks and small roadside stops with plate lunches.  These are quick options with reasonable prices.

Luau

If you’re planning to attend a Luau, remember that food and drinks are included. Although our Luau was an activity and part of the Go City Pass, it was also dinner for us. So yes, it was an expensive activity, but it was also a meal we didn’t have to pay for, additionally.

Airport Lounges

A few years ago, we got a credit card that gave us passes to the Priority Lounges at a variety of airports.  We typically leave from Cleveland or Pittsburgh and both have these lounges.  Airport food is expensive so having access to these lounges saves us a lot of money!

The downfall with these perks is that not every airport has a lounge so you won’t always be able to utilize this benefit.  And sometimes there is a wait to get in.  Most lounges aren’t huge and only have so much seating available. 

If you get there at a busy time, you may get waitlisted.  Now if you have a long layover, you may be able to wait and get in when a spot opens.  However, there have been a few times where we just didn’t have time to wait.

Free Food & Drinks before your flight

When you do get access to these lounges, they really are worth it!  You get nice seating, a place to charge your phone and many offer all you can eat and drink!  We love getting to the airport a little early and heading straight to the lounge so we can fill up, relax and have a few drinks before we board the plane!

Capital One VentureX

There are a variety of credit cards that offer lounge access, but the card we’re currently using (and has become a quick favorite) is our Capital One Venture X card.  This card does have a steep annual fee of $395, but if you travel, it’s totally worth it!  You immediately get a $300 credit to use in their online booking portal.

We easily found a use for this credit on our way home from Maui.  We found a hotel near LAX Airport that we stayed in before flying back to Cleveland.  It was cheaper than a Hilton hotel and had a free shuttle and breakfast, so it worked out well for us. 

We also have another hotel booked for our summer vacation, which essentially takes that $395 fee down to $95 and totally worth it when you factor in lounge access! Plus, you can get TSA Pre-Check with the card every four years, which is a $78 fee (and TOTALLY worth it). You can read all about why we HIGHLY recommend TSA Pre-Check in this post!

Value of Airport Lounges

For that remaining $95, we easily made that up in one lounge visit!  In Maui, the airport had a lounge, but it didn’t offer food.  We needed to eat before we got on our 6-hour flight back to LA so we ate at Burger King.  Our family got four Whoppers and a Chicken Sandwich, an order of fries and order of onion rings and two drinks.  The total for our meal was $78—for BURGER KING!

On our way to Hawaii, we flew out of Cleveland.  Our family of 5 ate dinner and dessert, plus my husband and I each had two alcoholic drinks.  The kids enjoyed their Shirley Temples and we paid $0 (other than a tip we left for our waitress). 

We also had a layover in St. Louis, where we sat in their lounge and had some coffee and snacks…and more food!  We again paid $0.

Capital One Lounge

And because we have the Capital One Venture X, we were also able to take advantage of the Capital One Lounge in Denver, CO on our layover home.  This lounge was AMAZING!  The food and drinks available in this lounge were fantastic!  Plus, they had sleep rooms, work rooms and showers if you needed them.  In addition, they have a variety of grab and go items that they encourage you to take before you leave so you have something when you’re on your flight!

If Denver is your home airport and you don’t have a Capital One Venture X, I would HIGHLY suggest getting one because you’ll get so much bang for your buck!  There is another lounge in Texas at DFW and at Dulles International in Washington DC.  These lounges really set the bar high.  Honestly, any lounge with free food and drinks is ideal, but these ones are just the cream of the crop!

Food Recap

OUR ACTUAL COST: $1676 for 11 days for our family of 5

How much does Hawaii really cost?

What we spent versus the actual cash cost of our trip was significantly different.  If we were paying for our trip with all cash, we would have spent almost $16k.  However, using points and miles and other savings from our credit cards, we only spent around $5600.

If we didn’t use points and miles, our trip probably would have looked a lot different.  Without points and miles, we likely would have tried finding flights in the off season.  We also would have looked for cheaper accommodations and we certainly would not have spent over $1200/night to stay in Maui.  However, having the ability to do that really elevated our trip!

In addition, we may have rented a car for a couple of days versus the entire week.  And we would have chosen either the Go City Passes or Kevo’s Beach Bus to save on our activities. Our food budget probably would be about the same, but we could have grocery shopped and had some lunches in the room to save a bit on our food costs.

How much should I budget for Hawaii?

Here is what I would suggest budgeting if you have a trip to Hawaii in your future:

• Flights: $500-$700 per person from the east coast
• Accommodations: $2000/7 nights (for one room)
• Transportation: $150/day
• Activities: $200/person
• Food: $70/adult/day (assuming $15 for breakfast, $20 for lunch and $35 for dinner, on average, with kids being half of that)

These prices are in no means and exact amount that you’ll spend, but it at least gives you a good idea.  As I mentioned throughout, many categories really depend on what you want to prioritize or splurge on versus where you want to save.  The best advice I can give you is to just start planning it. 

Look at hotels during the time you think you’d be going and see how much they are.  Use Google Flights to get an estimate on flight costs.  And check out restaurant menus to see what you’d eat/drink to have an idea of what that will cost.

You can see our actual cost vs our cost without using points and miles below.  Check out this post to get your own version of my budget planner.

Where would you save vs splurge?

If you headed to Hawaii, where would you splurge a little and where would you save money?

Check out our other Hawaii Planning Posts

If you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, check out our other posts!

How to Book 7 Nights in Hawaii for FREE

How to Fly to Hawaii for FREE

Everything you need to know about visiting Pearl Harbor

How to Plan Your Hawaii Activities in 5 Steps