Which Hawaiian Island Is the Cheapest to Visit?

Oʻahu is the cheapest of the four big islands on both of the state’s measures. In 2025 its hotels averaged $284.12 a night, the lowest island rate in the state’s hotel survey, while Maui County’s averaged $536.80, nearly twice as much. Oʻahu’s visitors also spent the least per day of the big four, $238 each. Molokaʻi’s visitors spent less still, $191 a day, but only 23,482 people went there all year and the survey has no hotel rate for the island. Lānaʻi is the expensive end, at $629 per visitor per day.

These are DBEDT’s final figures for 2025; DBEDT also publishes the hotel survey, which STR runs.

On Oʻahu, the least expensive tour among the ones listed here is Hawaii Glass Bottom Boat’s trip along the south shore: from $43 as of October 2026, rated 4.5 from 1,710 reviews. It leaves Kewalo Basin Harbor in Honolulu and heads toward Lēʻahi (Diamond Head), over live reef and a shipwreck that you watch through viewports in the hull. Nobody has to swim. Bottled water is included, and the operator lets you bring your own drinks.

What a visitor spends, island by island

DBEDT’s per-day figure divides what visitors spent on an island by the days they spent there.

DBEDT 2025 Annual Visitor Research Report, final figures; the week column is our arithmetic.

The small islands differ. HTA’s 2026 plan for Lānaʻi says nearly all overnight visitors stay at its two resorts, both run by Four Seasons. On Molokaʻi about three-quarters of the places to stay are vacation rentals, and HTA’s plan for that island asks for prepared, respectful visitors, with guided access where it is needed.

Hotel rates by island

STR hotel survey as published by DBEDT, December 2025 and August 2026 reports.

Waikīkī holds about 84% of the hotel rooms the survey counts on Oʻahu. The resort coasts are where a room gets expensive: Wailea’s 2025 average was nearly three times Waikīkī’s. On the Big Island, rates rose 9.0% in the first eight months of 2026, and 13.7% on the Kohala Coast, while Oʻahu’s barely moved.

The survey leaves out properties under 20 rooms, vacation rentals and timeshares, and it has no rate for Lānaʻi or Molokaʻi, where the sample is too small. Cheaper beds exist outside it; no official source prices them.

The 2026 taxes on a room

On 1 January 2026 the state’s transient accommodations tax (TAT) rose from 10.25% to 11%, under Act 96, known as the Green Fee. The higher rate runs through 2030, and it is a tax on lodging, not a charge per visitor. Each county adds its own 3%, which takes the lodging tax to 14%, and a business may pass on general excise tax at up to 4.712%. Passed on in full, taxes add about 18.7% to the room rate before any resort fee. At 2025 averages, an Oʻahu night of $284.12 becomes about $337 and a Maui County night of $536.80 about $637.

What else moves the total

Getting around

None of our sources prices a rental car. Lonely Planet’s budget guide says Oʻahu has the best public transit of the islands, though Honolulu’s Skyline trains, which serve the airport, stop at Middle Street in Kalihi, short of Waikīkī.

Entry and parking fees

Non-resident rates as of October 2026:

• Hanauma Bay: $25 per person aged 13 and over plus a 2.35% online fee, children 12 and under free, parking $3 in cash. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
• Diamond Head: $5 per person and $10 per car, by advance reservation.
• Pearl Harbor National Memorial: no entrance fee. The USS Arizona Memorial program is booked on Recreation.gov for $1 a ticket, and parking is $7.
• Haleakalā: $30 per car for three days, plus a $1 reservation to enter for sunrise. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes also charges $30 per car.

The $100 non-resident surcharge that started at 11 mainland national parks in 2026 does not apply at either.

Flights between islands

Hawaiian and Southwest fly the main routes between islands, and none of our sources prices them. Two small routes have reported fares: $66 one way for a non-resident adult on the Māʻalaea to Lānaʻi ferry (Maui Now, September 2026), and $169 one way, taxes included, on Lānaʻi Air’s Molokaʻi to Honolulu flight when it launched in August 2026. The bigger cost of a second island is the second hotel, since an average Maui County room cost nearly twice an Oʻahu one in 2025. Island hopping covers the connections.

The money questions

Is Maui cheaper than Oʻahu?

No. Maui’s visitors spent $305 a day in 2025 against Oʻahu’s $238, and a hotel night in Maui County cost nearly twice an Oʻahu one. Over a week at those averages the gap comes to $469 per person.

Is Kauaʻi or Oʻahu cheaper?

Oʻahu, at $238 a day against $282 and $284.12 a night against $416.69. Kauaʻi does beat Maui on both counts, by $23 a day and about $120 a night.

Is $1,000 enough for a week in Hawaiʻi?

Not at average prices. $1,000 is $143 a day. Seven nights in an average 2025 Oʻahu hotel room cost $1,988.84 before tax and about $2,361 with the full 18.7% added, so even two people sharing would each pay about $1,180 for the room alone. A bed outside the hotel survey might cost less; no official source says how much.

Is $5,000 enough for a trip?

For one person, $5,000 is more than a week at the 2025 average on every island, Lānaʻi included ($4,403). For two people, $2,500 each beats a week at the average everywhere except Lānaʻi. DBEDT’s figures count what visitors spent; the flight to Hawaiʻi is a large cost that none of our sources prices.

How expensive is a 7-day trip?

At 2025 averages it ran from $1,337 a person on Molokaʻi to $4,403 on Lānaʻi, with $1,820 statewide. Those are averages of what people spent, not budgets.

How do you do Hawaiʻi cheaply?

• Stay on one island. Lonely Planet’s budget guide (updated 25 August 2026) says one island is cheaper, “especially Oʻahu”, and U.S. News gives the same advice for tight budgets.
• Sleep in Waikīkī, the lowest rate in the survey, rather than on a resort coast.
• Use the places with no entrance fee: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, the Maunakea Visitor Information Station, Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park and Molokaʻi’s Pālāʻau State Park.
• Go in the shoulder months. Lonely Planet says early and late spring and fall are cheaper; no official source names a cheapest month (the best time to visit has the seasons).

The least expensive tour on each island

Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check; operators use seasonal pricing, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Each island has its own page with a featured tour and calendar: Oʻahu, Maui, the Big Island and Kauaʻi.

Sources: DBEDT (visitor report and hotel survey), the State Department of Taxation, NPS, DLNR and the City and County of Honolulu; tour details from the listings. Checked October 2026.