It’s possible! I’m a college student, paying my way through my degree on an hourly wage. I also have the adventure bug and I’ll pinch a penny to have a good time. This summer I spent 6 WEEKS in Hawaii for dirt cheap, and I had WAY too much fun. And you can do it too! Here’s how to have a budget friendly Oahu vacation.

the “duh” stuff

Let’s start with the obvious aspects of budget travel. If you’ve been doing research on budget traveling already, feel free to skip ahead to “Tip #1” where I dive into my bigger money saving tips.

Okay, first things first, you gotta book the plane ticket. Some travel days are hundreds of dollars cheaper than others. So forget when it’s most convenient for you to travel, go when the plane tickets are cheapest. I’d start looking at tickets at least three months in advance of your preferred travel month. And go with Southwest or Spirit. Your flights will probably be delayed. It might be a bit stressful. BUT airlines are obligated to compensate, and one inconvenient travel day is worth saving a couple hundred bucks.

Second, travel with friends! At least one. Because guess what: if you’re traveling with a friend, everything is 50% off! You split the cost of accommodation and travel. Not only do you have someone to share the memories with, you have someone to share the expenses with as well:) and you both get a good time out of it. It’s such a win-win situation.

tip #1—where to stay

You aren’t going to believe this, but I rented an Airbnb for $15 bucks a night. It took me AGES to find. I checked about every travel website that exists. Everyone knows that Hawaii is an expensive state to visit, and on average I was looking at spending at least $150 per night. That just wasn’t ideal to me. I was planning the trip with a close friend, and she wasn’t having much success as she looked for options either.

One day, I popped on Airbnb for about the millionth time and I found a listing for an old, rust bucket of a built out van. It was listed for $30 bucks a night. I sent a screenshot of it to my friend with the text, “You down?” We booked the van and it ended up being the best decision we ever could have made. We split the cost, and that’s how I ended up paying $15 per night to stay on Oahu. Unheard of.

I won’t link the van because it was honestly about to fall apart, but you don’t have to go to the low quality end of the spectrum like I did in order to save money. If you and a friend decided to rent a decent van and split the cost, you’d be looking at around $30 per night. Talk about budget friendly! Honestly, it’s not just the cheaper option, it’s just all together the best thing ever. Click here to read about why I think traveling in a van is the best decision you could ever make!

When it comes to finding a vehicle, I recommend looking on outdoorsy. Airbnb has options, but they don’t have as many high reviews and you’d be banking on good faith like we did, which isn’t always a comfortable prospect and usually doesn’t work out as well as it did for us.

tip #2—where to get groceries

My biggest expense on this trip (aside from flights) was definitely groceries. The Hawaii grocery stores just aren’t budget friendly for anyone. The first thing I did that saved me a lot of money in the end was bringing food with me. It wasn’t fun to give up packing space, but before my trip I went to Costco and bought granola bars, pancake mix, some chocolate…the essentials you know?

Okay this next tip is important. I found a grocery store called Don Quijote. It’s got a little bit of everything. It’s one of those businesses that makes money by selling quantity, not by high markups. I went to the one in Honolulu and it was MASSIVE. It had everything I needed and was actually way cheaper than even a lot of grocery stores in Utah, where I’m from. It’s a fun place to shop because it has foods from different places around the world, so you can try all sorts of things for really cheap. I definitely recommend shopping at Don Quijote if you’re looking for a budget friendly Oahu vacation.

Tip #3—how to save money and still have the classic Oahu experiences

If you’re planning on staying for more than just a few days, I definitely recommend buying your own equipment instead of renting it. I’m talking about snorkel gear, body boards, flippers, and other small items. The beautiful thing about Oahu is that the beaches are free, but unless you have the equipment, all you’ll be doing is traveling to different beaches to…lay out and read. Still great, but it’s nice to shake things up. Some of my favorite experiences were body boarding and snorkeling. I REALLY recommend getting on Facebook marketplace before you arrive and buying cheap equipment, then reselling it before you leave.

Keep in mind, this may only be worth it if you’re staying for a minimum of a week. But you’ll likely be spending most of your time exploring different beaches, and you’ll want to add some variety to your adventures. This is a good way to do it. There are a lot of amazing places to snorkel and surf, but it’s typically expensive to rent the equipment. If you’re careful, your equipment won’t depreciate in value in only a few weeks, and you’ll be able to resell it for the same value you bought it for. I definitely recommend this approach if you’re planning on getting a real Oahu experience while still being budget friendly.

For a list of free/cheap experiences that I would 10/10 recommend on Oahu, check out this post of some of my favorite experiences by clicking here. And, for tips and details on how and where to find good hikes on Oahu, click here!

Other resources

There are so many other good resources for planning a budget friendly Oahu vacation! Here’s a few other blog posts that I think you’ll find super helpful.

1. The most expensive part of my Hawaii trip was the roundtrip flights. Even booking well ahead of time and booking the cheapest days, I spent over $1000. I don’t think you need to have the same experience, so I’m linking lifestyle blogger, Communikait’s blog post: how to get cheap flights to hawaii.
2. Aloha with Love is a blog written by a local Hawaiian. Her post, 7 Days at $50 per day covers free tours and a cheap day by day itinerary full of great ideas!
3. Last but not least, Gypsy With a Day Job has an EXTENSIVE blog post that covers so many detailed aspects of cheap Hawaii travel! I definitely recommend it. You can check it out here: 27 free things to do in Oahu!

Enjoy your trip!

The idea of a budget friendly Oahu vacation is much less daunting than it seems. And now that you know it’s possible I vote you do it. Right now. Call up a friend, ask them if they’re free to do vanlife in Hawaii for a week or two, and pick a timeframe. MAKE IT HAPPEN. And when you do, I want to hear about it:) Comment down below if this post has given you the travel bug and what you’re going to do about it.

As always, safe adventures!

And thank you:) I’m glad you’re here.