I love Oahu. Like seriously, I’m obsessed with it. That being said, I also have talked to friends who have spent $$$$$ on Hawaii vacations – which always blows my mind a little bit. My travel guide for Oahu Hawaii is one of my most popular blog posts of all time – which tells me that a lot of people want to hop on a plane to Hawaii just as much as I do. Below, I have listed all the ways that we live it up in Oahu without spending scary amounts of money.
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Cheap Flights to Hawaii
First of all, as a general rule I never pay more than $350 for flights to Oahu. I live on the West Coast of the U.S., which means there are almost always good fight deals. You can find good deals on Kayak, but my favorite way to search is through Google Flights.
On Google flights, all you need to do is to search for flights from your home airport (mine is Portland, Oregon) to Honolulu, and Google does the rest for you. In the picture below, you can see a sample search of flights, which is really helpful because it shows the cheapest days to travel in green.
This way, I usually find flights from the West Coast to Honolulu for around $300, which is about $200 cheaper than you will pay if you don’t look for a deal.
Pro Tip: If you don’t live on the West Coast, look for flights from your home airport to a major West Coast city (LA, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland). You can almost always find good deals to these airports from smaller cities, and there are also good deals from these cities to Hawaii (not just Honolulu).
When to Go to Oahu Hawaii
This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but I can say I have always planned last-minute trips to Hawaii, and they are always in January or February. The weather in Oahu is FABULOUS during those months, and they are also the months that see the worst weather in other places. Because it’s not peak summer, flights and hotels also tend to be a bit cheaper than other times of the year.
In short, if you want to go to Oahu Hawaii and pay less, look for dates in January or February.
Pro Tip: We always save money when booking last-minute Hawaii trips, usually around 2-3 weeks ahead of time. By this time, hotels and airlines have often lowered their prices in order to fill up those dates, which can lead to some major steals if you’re willing to be spontaneous.
Hawaii Hotels: Where to Stay in Oahu Hawaii
Let’s be real, hotels are a BIG part of vacation expenses, and they can make or break your trip. In Oahu, you can easily pay anywhere between $100-$800 per night for a hotel, which is a major price difference for your trip.
Personally, I don’t think the specific hotel really matters that much, as long as you’re staying in a central area. I have visited and stayed at several different hotels on Oahu, and I can definitely say that I prefer a hotel near Waikiki Beach. If you’re looking for a 5-star resort, they’re there too – but I usually go for hotels that range between $100-$150 per night. They are usually 3-4 star, nice hotels that I enjoy staying at but don’t spend all my time at, because when in Hawaii I would rather be at the beach!
The map below shows hotels in the general area I would recommend staying, which is close to shopping, nightlife, the beach and lots of restaurants.
Booking.comAnother note on Oahu hotels: parking is not always included, so make sure to check the hotel listing for parking details. You should definitely rent a car while visiting Oahu if you want to see more of the island (seriously, just do it), so knowing how much parking will cost is a big factor in booking the right hotel.
Renting a Car in Oahu Hawaii
Speaking of car rentals, seriously – just do it. I have been to Oahu on a trip where we didn’t rent a car, and I saw maybe 5% of the things on the island. It was a totally different experience, and since there is SO MUCH to do on Oahu, I would recommend just biting the bullet and renting a car. I say biting the bullet, but it actually often ends up being cheaper to rent and drive a car yourself, rather than paying to be a part of expensive tour group packages.
Driving in Oahu is simple, and you’ll see most tourists driving rented Jeep Wranglers. Are they semi-impractical and cheesy? Absolutely, but it’s awesome and we had a great time doing that. I think you can get slightly cheaper vehicles to rent, but for the minimal price difference we chose to go with a Jeep and didn’t regret it.
Also worth noting that there are four major areas of Oahu – Honolulu, the East Side, the West Side and the North Shore. They are all between 30 minutes to an hour driving distance from Honolulu, which is why we always chose to stay there, since it’s a central spot and offers more affordable hotel options.
Where to Eat in Oahu Hawaii
We don’t generally spend a lot of money on food while in Hawaii for a few reasons. First of all, we like to pre-purchase breakfast food that we can take on the go, which is cheaper and saves a lot of time in the morning. Almost every hotel has in-room refrigerators, and there are countless convenience stores in Waikiki with good breakfast food options.
In my opinion, the absolute best culinary option in Hawaii is acai bowls, which are both healthy and relatively cheap. We usually ate an acai bowl for lunch every day, which runs about $8-$10 for a large bowl. I love eating and am always hungry, and I found that this was more than enough food for me (even when going on hikes).
For dinner, we would always return to Waikiki and eat at a local restaurant. All of the places we ate had reasonable prices for food and drinks, plus they offered great views of the beach. For more info on this, check out my post on the best restaurants in Waikiki.
What to Wear in Hawaii: Don’t Buy Clothes in Oahu
Another way to definitely save money is to pack what you need before you leave home, rather than planning to buy stuff on the island. Prices are pretty high in Hawaii, and we have found that when we forget stuff (swimsuits, sunscreen etc) we pay way more for them in Hawaii than we would have at home.
Wondering what to bring with you to Hawaii so you don’t end up spending $$$ on stuff you forgot? Check out my post on what to wear in Hawaii.
Free Oahu Hawaii Vacations
My last tip for traveling to Oahu Hawaii (or anywhere really) is to know how to get stuff for free. We have an incredible credit card that earns points on every purchase we make, so we just put all of our bills on the card and pay the off every month. By doing this, we usually earn one to two free vacations per year, meaning the points we have earned are enough to cover our hotels and airfare for an entire trip.
There are two travel cards that are generally ranked as “the best,” which are Chase Sapphire and Capital One Venture. I have Chase Sapphire and my mom has Capital One Venture, so I have used both and can say while both are excellent, I prefer Chase because of the impressive bonuses they give (free lounge access, no car rental insurance fees (!!), trip protection) and because of their flexibility in terms of how you use your points.
If you travel frequently or just want to travel more and earn rewards for having good credit, I would definitely recommend looking into either of those cards, since they make a really big difference in the amount of money you spend traveling. I want to note that I linked both of those cards here for info, but I am not an affiliate and don’t receive anything from them if you sign up. I just think they’re really great and have helped me save probably over $15,000 in the last 5 years.
That wraps it up for my tips on how to book cheap(er) Oahu Hawaii vacations – hopefully that was helpful and will inspire you to spend less and enjoy your vacation more! After all, money stress SUCKS and we really can all just do without that in our lives.
If you have any questions about the cost of a Hawaii vacation or have additional tips to share, please leave a comment – I would love to hear from you!
xoxo,
Denise
