Everything I would tell you if your visiting Hawaii and want to stay on budget

  • Don’t shop at the grocery store/convenience stores in waikiki they are way overpriced and you can go a little outside of the city and find ones that are cheaper (I recommend walmart or costco)
  • Eating out is insanely expensive so we tried to grocery shop most of the time but definitely balance it out because the food there is really good
  • Try the different types of food that the locals recommend and the 7/11 we didn’t try this till are last couple days and regretted it bc its such an easy way to try local food and not spend a ton of money 
  •  There are a ton of different gorgeous beaches that aren’t as packed as Waikiki, don’t waste your time there everyday but it is good for surf lessons.
  • Walmart is probably one of the cheapest places to grocery shop or Costco is you have a membership
  • Bus pass for a month was $70 and took us pretty much everywhere we needed to go, very convenient but takes a long time to get to the north shore from waikiki which for us was annoying bc it was our favorite place to go but if your just doing a day trip or 2 its easily doable 
  • North shore was easily my favorite place to go, they have so many cute restaurants/cafes/shops and it’s the best place to watch surfers and has some of the prettiest beaches. Waimea bay was one of my favorites and they have a cliff jump everyone jumps off definitely still fairly touristy though if you want a beach thats not touristy I recommend Kaaawa beach was also one of my favorites. We saw a seal sunbathing on the beach and there were very few other people there and the water was crystal clear and not as rough as Waimea.
Sunrise Shack
Sharks Cove
North Shore
Koko Head
Hanola Blowhole
Kaaawa Beach
Waikiki Beach

My recommendations 

  • Shark diving with blue eco tours in Haleiwa
  • Sunset dinner Luau cruise – we did this on thanksgiving and and they did a luau show and served a nice 3 course meal which was amazing, sunset was gorgeous to watch from the boat and they served drinks which were very good and not too overpriced 
  • Restaurants: Sunrise shack, Farm to barn, Haleiwa bowls, 
  • Hikes: diamond head, Koko head stairs, Manoa falls(easy hike to waterfall), Waipuilani falls.
  • Beaches: Halona Blowhole, Sunset Beach, Waimanalo Beach, Kaneohe, Lanikai, Sharks Cove(snorkeling)