How we spent 5 days in Oahu for less than $1000.00 for two people!
We all know that a trip to Hawaii can be extremely expensive and isn’t always the best place to travel for people on a tight budget – however it is possible to visit Hawaii without breaking the bank – and here’s how we made a 5 day trip to Oahu for two, for only $453 per person using points! That same cash price would have cost us $3,438.66, saving us a total of $2,533.66! We could go to Hawaii several more times with that savings!
Is that really possible, and if so how?
Absolutely! We are living proof that traveling doesn’t have to mean breaking the bank. Several years ago we discovered the world of point hacking using miles and points to travel for a significant savings. We have now taken several trips with the help of points including trips to Canada, Italy, and Hawaii that we may not have been able to afford if it weren’t for the world of points and miles.
Miles & Points 101
How we are able to do this is through a combination of new sign up bonuses through travel credit cards, and smart spending on our travel cards! Essentially, getting into the points and world game is like extreme couponing, but instead of getting cheaper groceries, you get cheaper flights, and cheap or free hotel stays. The key is to put all spending you can on a credit card, earning miles and points for your every day purchases, then paying off your credit card so as to not carry a limit. It is extremely important that you pay off your credit card(s) every month, otherwise the interest rate will outweigh the benefits you receive! If you aren’t good about paying off your cards – this isn’t the right hobby for you!
How to Earn Points & Miles:
There are many ways to earn points and miles, but the easiest way is to earn sign up bonuses on a new credit card. We recommend doing this when you have large expenses coming up that you would have paid for anyways!
For example: We signed up for the IHG Premier Card when we learned that we were going to have to replace the water heater in our home. Since this was a large expense, we were easily able to meet the minimum spend on the card and in turn received a 4 night free stay at any IHG property up to a value of 40,000 points per night.
Other great ways to earn points are by maximizing your spending on specific spending categories like groceries, dining, travel, and gas. By using the correct card with specific earning categories, you are able to gain points at a pretty decent rate equaling more frequent travel trips!
Real world examples of how we saved for our trip to Hawaii!
Saving on Flights:
First and foremost, getting to and from Hawaii can be extremely expensive, especially depending on the time of year you go. We always try to travel during the off season to save money, but that’s not always necessary when we can find a good flight deal! We were lucky enough to find a flight deal through Delta Airlines for roundtrip tickets for just 22,900 points and $11.20 per person. After transferring points from our American Express card to our Delta account for a small fee of $14.40, that means that we only paid 55,800 points and $36.80 for the two of us to travel round trip – a savings of $996.86!
Saving on Hotels:
The second big expense – and often the most expensive part of traveling to Hawaii was the lodging cost! During the time we visited (the end of January/beginning of February), cash prices were ranging from between $1300 to over $5,200 depending on which hotel you stayed at. For the 5 nights we stayed in Hawaii, we were able to stay at the Holiday Inn Express Waikiki for just the cost of the resort fee – $33 a night + tax, which for 5 nights cost us just $195.85! And rather than using points, we actually took advantage of our free night rewards. Brandon had gotten 4 free nights through a signup bonus for his IHG premier card, and I had an annual free night to use through my IHG premier card. This meant that together we were able to stay here for zero points, only paying the resort fee – a savings of $1,304.15 for our hotel stay.
Savings on Car Rental:
We used another one of our credit card benefits – a $300 annual travel credit to book our car rental for no out of pocket cost to us – making our car rental totally free! We also opted to spend the first two days of our trip exploring by foot, only taking a few uber rides (one of which we only took due to HallyAnn’s bad back acting up) to avoid having the car for the entire trip. It’s important to note that many of the hotels in Oahu will charge a parking fee – ours was around $50 a night after taxes. Waikiki is incredibly walkable without having to deal with paying for extra days to have the car and to park the car, so if you can save the car rental for only the days you are exploring the entire island!
Where we spent the most!
Due to us saving so much on hotel and transportation, it left food and entertainment as our biggest spending categories.
In total, we spent less than $300 on food for the two of us during our stay in Oahu. We took full advantage of the free breakfast in our hotel, saving a significant amount on dining, and also chose to visit the local grocery store Foodland to grab snacks and a few cheap meals, meaning that we were able to splurge on a few dinners out on the town. For entertainment, there were a few must-do things that we couldn’t resist making the investment in for life long memories, however in total we still spent less than $150 for the both of us on entertainment! Our splurge items were whale watching, hiking the diamond head crater hike, and visiting the Byodi In Temple.
Save with Free Activities!
Once you get to Oahu, there are a number of things to do that are completely free – and still totally worth doing! Some of our favorite activities we did were actually free!
Go to the Beach!
All beaches in Hawaii are free to visit so why not take advantage of the water while you are there! We personally enjoyed Waikiki Beach, Kailua Beach, Shark’s Cove, and Turtle Beach during our stay!
Go for a hike!
Lanikai Pillbox Hike
Length: .9miles
Elevation Gain: 393 ft
Difficulty: Moderate
Our favorite hike in Oahu was hands down the Lanikai Pillboxes hike. It felt less like a hike at times, and more like a scramble making for a full body workout along several areas of the hike as you grabbed onto trees, rocks, and roots to steady yourself along the vertical gain. Once getting to the top, you are greeted with the view of the Lanikai pillboxes along the ridge and a stunning view of the Lanikai beach below. We felt like we were on top of the world here and couldn’t believe how stunning the view of the water was.
Manoa Falls Trail
Length: 1.8 miles
Elevation Gain: 577 ft
Difficulty: Moderate
While we didn’t hike this trail on our stay, we have heard great things about it and know several people who have completed this hike. It’s much more inland, and features a waterfall!
Koko Crater Tramway Trail
Length: 1.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 885 ft
Difficulty: Hard
If you enjoy hiking for a physical challenge, this may be the hike for you! With this hike being a vertical stair stepper, climbing up some old railway tracks – you are in for a workout, but you are also in for a view! We personally skipped this hike due to HallyAnn’s bad back and chose to do easier hikes with less milage and an easier rating.
Go Snorkeling!
For an incredibly cheap or free activity – you can go snorkeling. We own our own snorkeling gear – so we were able to make the drive to a few free snorkeling spots to just enjoy the water and the sea life below it! If you don’t already own your own gear, you can always rent some or stop at the local Costco and buy some!
Turtle Beach
Located right next to the Ritz-Carlton Oahu hotel, Turtle Beach is one of Oahu’s premier destinations to spot the Hawaiian green sea turtles – which we were lucky enough to spot while snorkeling! This location is also known for being a destination that the sea turtles like to come out to the beach and sunbath.
Shark’s Cove
For a completely different snorkeling experience, head to Shark’s Cove to snorkel through the shallow water filled with lava rock formations and diverse marine life and the occasional turtle. And don’t worry, despite its name, sharks are rarely seen in the cove. The name for Shark’s Cove actually comes from the shape of the offshore reef when viewed from above. While here we unfortunately didn’t see any turtles, but we were constantly surrounded by several schools of fish!
Drive through the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden
CLOSED ON THURSDAYS
Nestled in the windward side of Oahu you will find this stunning 400 acre botanical garden that is shockingly free to visit. This garden was established by the United States Army Corps in 1982 as a form of flood protection for the nearby Kaneohe, but also features plants from all over the world. Whether you choose to stay on the main road just driving through the scenery, or get out and walk the trails, this botanic garden is definitely worth a visit on your trip.
Drive to the Halona Beach Cove and Halona Blowhole
Halona Beach Cove, also known as the Eternity Beach or Cockroach Cove is a small beach accessible by driving to the Halona Blowhole Lookout parking area and taking a short walk downhill. The Halona Beach Cove is known for being a secluded swimming spot, a place to go cliff jumping (small cliffs) and even snorkeling. However, our favorite part was a natural cave like lava tube that leads to the beach. This area is also notable as a filming location for movies like 50 First Dates the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
The Halona Blowhole was also created by lava tubes, but is known for having a scenic lookout of the coastline and being one of Oahu’s wonders, often blowing seawater up to 30 feet into the air.
For a complete list of activities and restaurant recommendations while in Oahu, check out our blog about how to spend 5 days in Oahu!