Have you ever considered planning your next vacation in Hawaii? Well, if the answer is yes, then you can really benefit from this guide. I’m going to talk today about how to plan a Hawaiian vacation on a budget. Before we start, it’s important to know that I’m not going to give you some insider information telling you where to get cheap flights to Hawaii or even bargain for the best price at a hotel. Today’s post will be different as it’s completely focused on how you can save money when in Hawaii. It will tell you about:

Visiting Hawai’i is a great experience. You will be able to enjoy the breath-taking views of nature, but you’ll also be able to enjoy the diversity of cultural activities. However, when planning your vacation you might feel that there are many places you need to visit and they can be expensive. If you’re on a budget you will want to check out our post to find out some good tips on how to plan a Hawaiian vacation on a budget. If you ask any resident of the state of Hawaii, I’m sure you will hear wonderful things about this tropical paradise. But unfortunately for most of us, we need to rely on our vacation budget. So how do you plan a Hawaiian vacation on a budget? Let me tell you a little story about my family’s first (and second) trip to the Aloha State.

How To Plan A Hawaiian Vacation On A Budget

Planning your Hawaiian vacation on a budget can be challenging. I have been to Hawaii twice and loved it both times. It is a beautiful place and there are a lot of Hawaiian vacation deals as well. That said, Hawaii is going to cost a bit more money to get to and you will need to spend money once you are there. Lets review some ways we can make this trip go smoothly while still making it affordable.

Hawaii on a budget (2022): all the tricks and tips you need to know

December 16, 2020 by Melissa

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Most people think that “Hawaii” and “budget” don’t belong in the same sentence. After all, it’s supposed to be a splurge to visit a gorgeous tropical paradise… right?

We’re here to tell you that traveling to Hawaii on a budget is possible and can be even more rewarding than what the brochures from expensive resorts show you. There are so many opportunities for how to do Hawaii on a budget in every category – from airfares to discount accommodations in Hawaii to saving money on activities. Keep reading for our best tips to save money on a trip to Hawaii.

2022 update: Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware that the coronavirus pandemic has changed travel planning dramatically. The details of re-opening to trans-Pacific travelers with negative test results have been changed several times as conditions on the islands have fluctuated. Be sure to get the latest updates here before planning your travel to Hawaii Remember that Hawaii’s strict rules are in place for the protection of those who call the islands home, so please be sure to respect all guidance as you plan your trip and once you arrive. Mahalo!

Finding the cheapest way to go to Hawaii

Trying to plan a Hawaii vacation on a budget? Make sure you don’t blow it before your feet even touch the sand! If you’re traveling from mainland US to Hawaii, there’s a very good chance that you can score an awesome deal on your airfare to Hawaii and there are lots of ways to do it. Read on for insider tips on how to go to Hawaii on a budget.

Oahu’s top 10 can’t miss

First, be flexible about your dates and which island you visit – within reason. Since airfare and lodging are the two biggest components of your Hawaii trip cost, you’ll want to balance those two to minimize your costs. Second, weigh the many options you have for using cash or points to book those plane tickets. Here are just a few ways to save money on airfare to Hawaii:

Find the cheapest airfare for cash payment

Sometimes the simplest thing to do is pay cash for a plane ticket, and with the great deals you can often find from America’s west coast it just might make sense. The first place to start your search is on Skyscanner.

We love using Skyscanner to find flights because it allows us to reflect our total flexibility – we can allow nearby airports on both ends and search for whole months at a time to land the best rate. Even if you don’t end up paying cash, it’s always important to know the going rate for flights when evaluating whether or not an award redemption is worthwhile.

Look for special deals

Many frequent flyers have heard of Southwest’s “companion pass”, but did you know that Alaska Airlines offers a similar one too? Alaska’s is a little different (only one per year and generally $99 per companion ticket plus taxes, but the base fare is often waived in the first year with promotions) but Alaska Airlines has tons of flights to Hawaii!

And it’s not one of those gimmicks where you have to pay an exorbitant price for the first ticket in order to use a companion fare on the second one, you can just buy any regular ticket on the website. Especially for west coasters who already have access to bargain plane tickets to the Aloha State, this might be one the cheapest way to travel to Hawaii.

In early 2019 Southwest launched their much-anticipated service to Hawaii. Introductory fares were as low as $49 each way from select airports and eligible for companion pass! Now fares have settled in higher, but still cheaper than plenty of mainline carriers. Southwest’s companion pass only requires that you pay taxes, so it can be a really great deal. The fastest way to earn your companion pass is by opening a Southwest credit card – even faster if you open a personal card and a business card.

The catch is that they don’t have an extensive route map: initially they’ll only offer non-stop service from Oakland and San Jose to Hawaii, and they only fly to Oahu in Maui. The least expensive tickets I found as of this writing are around $350 roundtrip, which is in line with Alaska Airlines.

Southwest also now offers inter-island flights from Honolulu to either Maui or Kona on the Big Island. They plan to add inter-island service to both Kauai and Hilo on the Big Island. It’s definitely worth comparing prices versus local carrier Mokulele Airlines to find the cheapest inter-island flights.

Book with frequent flyer miles

Obviously the cheapest way to go to Hawaii is not to pay for it! When your friends ask you how to go do Hawaii on a budget, this is usually the first trick you’ll want to tell them about.

If you’ve racked up enough frequent flyer miles with one airline to cover your tickets to Hawaii, it might be worth considering using them… or maybe not. Since you’ve already researched the cash price for plane tickets, you can easily figure out what value you’d be getting for your redemption.

We’re big United flyers and have racked up big miles (plus free baggage!) with their credit cards. Right now you can score enough bonus miles for a free ticket here. Obviously “free” is the cheapest way to get to Hawaii!

We recommend targeting at least 2 cents per mile, but sometimes it makes sense to redeem for as little as 1.5 cents per mile if you really don’t want to spend the money out of pocket (after all, if you’re buying four plane tickets to pretty much anywhere you’re looking at a minimum of a thousand dollars). Here are the major airline award redemptions for from the continental US to Hawaii as of August 2019 (economy class for us, folks):

American Airlines – 45,000 peak; 40,000 off-peak

United Airlines – 45,000

Delta Airlines – 45,000

Alaska Airlines – 40,000

British Airways – 26,000 from west coast, 51,500 from east coast (operated by AA)

From the chart above, it’s clear where the value in frequent flyer tickets to Hawaii lies. Alaska Airlines and sometimes British Airways can offer far better value than the mainline US carriers. British Airways offers a distance-based award chart, so passengers coming from the west coast only need 26,000 miles for a round trip, while east coasters would need a whopping 51,500 miles!

Ok, so how can you earn enough British Airways Avios points as an American? Simple: open up a Chase Sapphire Reserve or  and once your sign-up bonus hits, do an instant transfer to your Executive Club account! Then redeem here through your account BA account.

For US flyers who had an account with Virgin America before its acquisition by Alaska, you may have more sitting in your Mileage Plan account than you thought! It turned out that Ronnie and I had each accumulated almost exactly 15,000 miles in our accounts, so we were each able to purchase a one-way ticket for him with our miles that had been sitting around unloved for a few years. Score!

Redeem Chase Ultimate Reward Points

Wondering how to go to Hawaii on the cheap? The final way to save money on plane tickets to Hawaii is actually how we picked up three of our four tickets. Since we’ve accumulated a ton of Chase Ultimate Rewards points through our Sapphire Reserve and Ink Plus cards, we took advantage of their flexibility to buy our remaining tickets.

One of our favorite features of Ultimate Rewards points is that you can redeem them for almost any travel expense through the portal; your redemption rate is 1.25 cents per point with most Chase cards and 1.5 cents per point if you have the Sapphire Reserve card (even if the points were earned on a different Chase card).

In our case tickets on Alaska were $445 each if purchased with cash, so we redeemed almost exactly 30,000 points for each. Ultimate Rewards points do not transfer to Alaska Airlines, but by purchasing through the portal our whole family was on the same flight and the only out of pocket expense was $11.20 to cover the taxes on Ronnie’s ticket.

Want to plan the ultimate Hawaii vacation? Click here for step-by-step Hawaii travel planning help!

If we hadn’t cared about using those lingering Alaska miles before expiration (or if we didn’t have them), we could have transferred 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways (with around $45 to cover taxes as well). That option would have saved us points/miles overall, but if would have taken more from the stash that we regularly rely on. The decision on how to redeem isn’t always clear-cut and may depend on your own preferences and future travel needs.

Save money by going carry-on only!  Check out our full (but minimalist) women’s packing list for Hawaii.

Where to stay in Hawaii on a budget

Hopefully we’ve gotten you to Hawaii without putting too big of a dent in your wallet. The other huge chunk of the cost of a Hawaii vacation is accommodation. If you really want to plan a budget trip to Hawaii, consider a home exchange.

Vacation Rentals in Hawaii

Vacation rentals can be a great option in Hawaii, but it’s important to know what you’re getting in to. In June 2019, the mayor of Honolulu enacted strict limits on unhosted short-term vacation rentals on Oahu – essentially stifling the market for Airbnb on Oahu outside of designated tourist zones like Waikiki, Ko Olina and Turtle Bay. Newer restrictions are even tougher.