Tavis and I have traveled all over the place, but there's something so amazing about Maui. It's perfect year round weather, luscious green terrain, lovely warm blue water, great snorkeling, the island is clean and kept up well, there's a nonstop flight from Seattle which is convenient. AND The kids LOVED it. Our daily schedule consisted of 1) watching Moana 2) beach 3) lunch and naps 4) beach again 5) sunset + dinner. A Hawaiian vacation is expensive no doubt, but I felt determined to not make it any more than it had to be. We didn't break the bank, didn't have any post-vacation overspending regrets.... but we still had SO much fun. Watch this video.... doesn't it look fun!?
One week in Maui for a family of 4 for $2000.
Here's how:
- Use a credit card with travel perks. Essentially, all of our flights felt "free" because we used miles. Our card also has a $350/year "travel allowance" which we used on our rental car... also felt "free" - We flew Hawaiian Airlines... highly recommend. They give a complimentary meal on each flight too!
- Stay in a Condo with amenities. full kitchen, laundry, and ours came with baby and beach items too (stroller, high chair, sand toys, beach chairs, body boards). So it was like a home away from home and we didn't spend ANY money on extra activities. (We stayed at the Aina Nalu)
- Make the beach your vacation activity. We went to the beach every single day. We took our snorkel gear from home, used the body board from our condo, and just played in the water and sand! There are lots of excursions on the island, but for a family of 4 you're looking at a min. of $150 to sign up for those, so we just decided to make the beach time our activity! :)
- Spend *almost* the same amount of money on food as you would at home. To do this, we had to eat every single meal at our condo. (excluding Starbucks... and we got a few treats that we all shared) For some, not eating out might take away from the vacation experience.... but I just bought some tropical island food at the store instead :) There's a costco right by the airport. The fruit generally is WAY more expensive than here, but they have those deli dinners which are very reasonably priced and yummy.
- Set a spending money allowance. We spent ours on a beach umbrella ($25), Dole Whip $5, Shaved Ice $5, Eating at a taco truck in Hana ($35), a 20 piece chicken nugget & large pop from Mcdonalds ($6) key chain souvenier ($1) Starbucks ($50) - priorities :)
- Don't buy any souvenirs. I'm not going to lie, when I walked past all the hawaiian attire at Costco I was tempted to get a cute new dress, but realized we didn't NEED anything. So my desire to save money outweighed my desire for new Hawaii wear, haha. If you DO want souvenirs, buy them at the Walmart by the airport for cheap.
- Don't pay for parking. There are a few paid parking for the beaches but you can usually find free parking nearby.
- Skip the tourist attractions + excursions. When we went to Maui in 2014 (not this time) we did a Luau and it was kinda cool... but not really worth the price. There are some free little hula shows at the Lahaina Cannery Mall. We have also paid for snorkeling excursions before but honestly, if you can swim, a self guided snorkel is way better! You're not surrounded by 50 people the whole time, you don't have to follow their schedule, and Tavis' #1 reason to not excursion: you don't have to get seasick on a tiny boat :)
- Don't pay full price. If you do decide to book an excursion or activity never pay full price... there is an online coupon for everything.
- Use the Yelp app to help you save: Example: The main tourist areas have restaurants for $20 min. per person.... if you look on yelp you can find hole in the walls for more like $10 a person, etc. Also, not this trip but on a different one we skipped the $200 hotel spa massages and got $30 massages at the Ahola Message School or something... totally worth it!!
Free Must see/do on Maui:
- Road to Hana- stop at the black sand beach at Wainapanapa State Park! And watch for rainbow Eucalyptus trees
- Walk in downtown Lahaina (along the water at sunset is fun) - for a treat our FAVORITE place is: Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice
- Visit the Banyan tree in downtown Lahaina
- Snorkeling at Black Rock (free if you bring your own gear)
Have fun!!
