Hawaii is a dream destination, in any case a destination that we have been dreaming about for a few years. So when we made the decision to put Hawaii as the first destination of our world tour as much to tell you that we were like crazy. But beyond the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands, it is important to organize your trip to Hawaii well and above all to know all the details so as not to be surprised on the spot. We have therefore concocted an article for you that brings together our feedback on the different methods to take into account before and during your next trip to Hawaii.
Prepare and organize your trip to Hawaii.
The itinerary is the first step to properly organize your trip to Hawaii. If you want to discover the 4 islands and do not have a budget constraint, it is common to say that it takes at least 4 days on the islands of Kauai, Oahu and Maui and 5 days on the Big Island (Hawaii) which is more big.
On our side, we were on a world tour and we tried to match our time on each island with an acceptable quality/price ratio. That’s why we did 6 days on the islands of Big Island and Oahu and 3 days on the islands of Maui and Kauai.
Consider that the islands are quite large and the distances are often longer than Google Maps says. Don’t plan too many things on the same day to enjoy it and not end up with huge dark circles haha (even if we don’t have the opportunity to come back to Hawaii every 5 mornings).
Plane tickets
Plane tickets are a bit of a headache to discover Hawaii because there is no direct flight from Paris and especially because there are several islands in Hawaii and you also have to manage inter-island planes if you want to discover several islands. Depending on your dates and the weather on each island, you will spend a few hours on airline sites to get the best itinerary at the best price.
On our side, we first did a Paris-San Francisco with the FrenchBee company. This allowed us to make a 2 day stopover in San Francisco. The price of the one-way ticket (around the world requires) was 211 euros per person with meals and luggage included. In most cases, if you want to go to Hawaii, the best quality/price ratio stopovers are San Francisco and Los Angeles. Feel free to compare prices on Skyscanner.
Once in San Francisco, you have to reach the Hawaiian Islands. Our first island is the island of Hawaii (Big Island) where we took a San Francisco-Kona flight through Hawaiian Airlines. We paid $168.20 per person without the luggage which will cost you $30 more. By the way, you should know that on Hawaiian Airlines, luggage is never taken into account in the initial price on their website (to be paid on site at the airport).
From Big Island, we took a flight to Kahului airport on the island of Maui with the company Southwest which is the new inter-island airline in Hawaii and which comes to compete with the monopoly of Hawaiian Airlines. The advantage of the Southwest company is to have free luggage. We paid 49 dollars for the flight Kona (Big Island) – Kahului (Maui)
We continued our inter-island flights with Southwest to do Kahului (Maui) to Honolulu (Oahu) and Honolulu (Oahu) to Lihue (Kauai). Each of the two flights will have cost us 39 dollars per person (including luggage).
The return to American soil from the island of Kauai was via Hawaiian Airlines between Lihue airport (Kauai) and Los Angeles. The flight cost us $179 without baggage. We could have returned to San Francisco but as part of our world tour, we wanted to rediscover the Los Angeles region before heading to Guatemala (this wish was undermined by the Coronavirus, we returned to Paris from Los Angeles).
This is the black point of the islands of Hawaii because it is the expense item that makes your budget melt like snow in the sun. To organize your trip to Hawaii, the only way to lower accommodation costs is to camp on each island with a canvas tent. For all other cases, even if there are price differences between each island, the prices are very expensive whether for a simple hostel or for a private room in an Airbnb. So, we are not even talking about normal or even high-end hotels haha.
Big Island (Hawai Island): it is on this island that we have found the most affordable prices. We took a private room through AirBnB which cost us 207 euros for 5 nights. The accommodation was located south of the city of Hilo.
Maui: It is on the island of Maui that we found the most expensive prices. We took a hostel with two single beds and shared bathroom at 430 euros for 3 nights. The accommodation was located in Wailuku.
Oahu: it is possible to find decent prices on the island of Oahu near the city of Honolulu for hotels or a little away at homestays. We found an Airbnb with a private room for 495 euros for 6 nights. The accommodation was located at Ewa Beach.
