Want to get an idea of the budget for a road trip to the Hawaiian Islands? Come on to have a look at the expenses I’ve made during my trip.
ITINERARY - HAWAII: here is the full itinerary for a tour of the Hawaiian Islands.
This is just an example of expenses that can totally be adapted to the trip you are actually planning. You can adjust the expenses according to the choices you make in terms of accomodation, restaurants, activities, additional stops …
And be aware that these expenses apply to a 1-week trip for 2 people.
I am now going to explain the expenses item by item:
Plane tickets
As for every trip, this is one of the biggest parts of the budget. Here, it represents 50% of it. But for sure, it depends on the period you choose on going. However, domestic flights are not that expensive, so moving from island to island is not what you should save on. In my opinion, you should focus on visiting the most important things of each island, in order to explore at least three of the Hawaiian Islands on one trip.
Hotels
The budget for this item will depend on the choices you make in terms of accommodation. However, it’s important to keep in mind that hotels in the Hawaiian Islands are pretty expensive. And you won’t necessarily be able to choose whether you want to stay in a motel or a 3-star hotel. Sometimes, there are only two or three hotels in the area you want to stay in.
Before leaving, I had made all of my bookings online.
Transportations
In order to visit the Hawaiian Islands, the best solution is to rent a car, one on each of the different islands. Moreover, it’s not that expensive. So back then, I had rented all my cars from the airport which is really convenient, because from the beginning to the end of your trip, you won’t need to worry about your means of transportation. Even if sometimes you’ll have parking to pay for, it won’t be a lot of money.
Sightseeings
When it comes to sightseeing places, most of them are free. However, sometimes there’s a $5 parking fee. But the most expensive visits are the National Parks. For example, there’s the Volcanoes National Park on Big Island and the Haleakala National Park on Maui (which wasn’t part of my itinerary). Admission fee for each of these parks is $30 without the
« America the Beautiful » pass. Note that the pass is only good value for money when visiting at least three National Parks in one year.
But in the end, sightseeing is not where you’ll spend most of your money.
Others expenses
For food and shopping, the budget will depend on whether you choose to eat out or on the go, and whether you want to bring back lots of souvenirs or not. On the other hand, for parking lots and petrol, it’s a mandatory expense. So except for Big Island which is the largest of the Hawaiian Islands and where you’ll drive a lot, on Kauai and Oahu, you’ll almost won’t need to refuel the car. For my whole trip, I spent about $100 on fuel.
Thanks for reading :)
