8D7N – Oahu, Hawaii for ~1500 per pax

I was actually very surprised after booking our flights to Hawaii the total spend of this trip was well within ~1500 per person.  Including flights, 8 nights at an Airbnb, rental car, shark tours, diving, food and shopping our 8 day island paradise didn’t break the bank.  While we did have family dinners which are not accounted for in this budget, we saved big time by choosing a location away from Waikiki, and cooking at our Airbnb rather than eating out every day.

Here’s our greatest money saving tips:

1) Book the Airbnb in advance. We got the best selection, and the best prices by booking early.

2) Hit the grocery store to buy items for breakfast. Pack lunch everyday if you’re planning on hiking.

3) Opt in and research for tours you can do for free (or nearly free)

USS Arizona

Koko Head Crater Hike

4) Eating the local food is a must when you travel.  In countries where it’s more expensive to eat out, plan where to go ahead of time so that you don’t miss out on local dishes!

5)   Brings things with you that you will need ahead of time.  I always bring: refillable water bottle and snacks to eat on the plane or whenever you’re hungry.  It sounds minimal, but imagine the amount of money we save at the airport when we’re hungry and don’t buy that $10 sandwich.  In Asia, tours will always include snorkel gear.  For Hanauma Bay, we saved 30 bucks by brining our own gear.  But even in Asia we’ve snorkeled off the beach countless times and saved $$ on snorkel tours this way.

This is a graph of our daily spend and itinerary:

 

And a pie chart of our overall spend by category.  Surprising accommodation could have been way more if we stayed at the nicer resorts by Waikiki and because we stayed in an Airbnb, we also got to cook at home.