How to Go to Hawaii for Less than $1000 the Week of Christmas

The stereotypical honeymoon getaway, a lot of people write off Hawaii for being too expensive, something they wouldn’t be able to afford or somewhere they have to save for a special occasion. Not true. As long as you do a little bit of homework and pre-plan, the tropical vacation of your dreams is well within reach. I’ll show you exactly what my trip across the Pacific cost and where I could have saved even more. Travel can be affordable if you know how to budget and plan. Here’s how to go to Hawaii for cheap.

Cheap Hawaii Flights

I found my main flight from Denver-Oahu for $270 on Skyscanner.com, my secret travel weapon. Why is it so great? If you just want to get away, you don’t even need to input an end destination – you can simply view the cheapest countries on any given day. If you do know where you’re going like I did this time, choose the calendar view for pricing – you can see the cheapest flights on any given day of the year. Another great site for flight deals is skiplagged.com, but they’re currently tied up in a nice lawsuit with United and Orbitz. My main chunk of money was spent on inter-island flights because I wanted to see three different islands while I was there. You could save a lot more by focusing only on one location. My one-way flight from Oahu-Maui on Hawaiian Airlines was $60, then a one-way flight from Maui-Kona was $140, and finally the one-way from Hilo-Oahu was $110. I used miles to get back home to Denver, which is another way to save money, by checking all possible combinations of miles (between any of your programs) and cash. Total: $580

Affordable Hawaii Accommodations

Always compare accommodations to find the best deals. Hostels for two nights in Maui was $80, one night in Kona was $30, and two nights in Hilo was $60. The last four days I stayed with a friend in Oahu, but I did price out a hostel there just in case: four days in Waikiki would’ve been $100. If you want to save even more, there is also oceanfront camping available on almost all of the islands for about $25 a night if you don’t mind a bit of sand in your hair. Total: $270

Cheap Hawaii Car Rental (Big Island)

I drove down the Southern Coast from Kona to Hilo so I could do the Manta Ray dive in Kona while stopping at the green sand beach, black sand beach, and Volcano National Park. You would save a lot of money by only seeing one of the main cities on the Big Island but hey, yolo. Alamo was also nice enough to upgrade me to a convertible, so it really made the experience. Total: $170

Budget Restaurants in Hawaii

While you certainly can go all out and splurge on expensive Luaus (usually put on by the hotels) and lobster dinners, standard Hawaiian cuisine is actually quite affordable. A plate of Loco Moco (two scoops of rice, some form of meat that’s typically Kahlua pork, and a fried egg covered in hearty gravy) for lunch will run you just $5-8 on average. Similarly, an ahi poke bowl (fresh pieces of tuna served as a salad over rice), should cost less than $10 if you get it locally. You can also find plenty of roadside stands and food trucks offering delicacies like banana bread and my favorite, honesty stands, essentially a pay what you want fruit stand. One affordable must-eat in Waikiki is Marukame that has seriously better udon than I had in Japan. Served cafeteria style, it was my go-to lunch spot (where I may or may not have eaten twice in one day. It really is that good.). A build your own bowl kind of place, select optional tempura toppings, but no matter what you put in it, it should cost no more than $10. Don’t believe me? The line around the block and 1000+ Yelp reviews should be proof enough. Total: $300

Obviously, I could have done Hawaii even cheaper had I not made so many stops or gone for a shorter amount of time (nine days is a lot), but not knowing when I’d be back, I wanted to fit in as much as possible on one trip and left feeling like it was a great value for the amazing experience I had. Mahalo!

Hawaii for Cheap is Possible

The myth that Hawaii is only for honeymooners and hedge funders? Busted. You can sip mai tais under a palm tree the week of Christmas without auctioning off a kidney or selling your soul to a rewards program.

Will it take a little flexibility? Yes. Will you have to stalk flight alerts like it’s your part-time job? Also yes. But the bragging rights of spending the most expensive travel week of the year in a tropical paradise — for less than the cost of your friend’s Christmas light installation — are so worth it.

Because here’s the deal: the holidays don’t have to be cold, chaotic, or consumer-driven. They can be barefoot, beachy, and blissfully budget-friendly. And if you play your cards right (or book your trip in an incognito window at 2 a.m.), Hawaii doesn’t have to be a once-in-a-lifetime destination — it can be your every year if I time it right getaway.

• Ready to book your Hawaii adventure? Read up on what to do there.