Ep. 206: Is Hawaii Still Worth Visiting in 2026?

206_Is Hawaii Still Worth Visiting In 2026?

[00:00:00] Bryan Murphy: Is Hawaii still worth visiting in 2026? Like most questions about Hawaii, the honest answer is, well, it depends. It depends on how you’re traveling, who you’re traveling with, and how much planning you’re willing to do before your trip. Now, Hawaii hasn’t lost. It’s magic, but a lot has changed. So today we’re breaking down what’s different, who Hawaii still works great for, and how to avoid the budget and planning shock that’s catching a lot of people off guard

[00:00:33] Bryan Murphy: Loha and welcome to Hawaii’s best podcast, helping you plan an unforgettable trip to Hawaii. I’m your host Brian Murphy, and today is Aloha Friday. Happy aloha Friday, wherever you are. I hope your day is great. As we head into the weekend today, we’re gonna be talking all about the big question.

[00:00:54] Bryan Murphy: Is Hawaii still worth it in 2026 now?

[00:00:58] Bryan Murphy: I just got back from a trip with my family just last week, and overall it was a good trip. There was a lot of rain in the forecast and when we got there, there was quite a bit of rain. We stayed on Oahu. We were out in, uh, Colina on the west side, and the rain had forecast in it for the whole week prior to checking.

[00:01:19] Bryan Murphy: And when we were there, it rained Sunday and Monday, and then the rest of the week it was. Nice where we’re at. We were at the resort most of the time, honestly, because we all got the flu. So there’s seven of us in the last, uh, couple weeks. Five outta out of the seven of us, all got the flu. Um, including myself coming in on Sunday landing.

[00:01:43] Bryan Murphy: Man, I felt like my ears were gonna explode and then I just got slammed with the fever, blah, blah, blah. So it wasn’t a fun first couple days of the trip, but it ended pretty well and Hawaii was, was beautiful. It was still an incredible trip. So I hope by the end of this episode, it’s my goal at least, that you’ll be able to know if you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, you’ll know how to fix it.

[00:02:07] Bryan Murphy: So you have clear expectations. I think fewer surprises and a much. Better chance of enjoying Hawaii the way it’s meant to be experienced.

[00:02:18] Bryan Murphy: Let’s start with the biggest shift, I think, and that is why Hawaii is no longer a wing it trip. You can’t just play it by ear. If you’ve been to Hawaii before, especially at say in the last five to 10 years or so, this is where things start to feel a bit different.

[00:02:34] Bryan Murphy: For a long time, Hawaii was the kind of place where you could just book a flight. Grab a hotel and figure out the rest when you land. Honestly, that’s a lot in how we still travel, but we’re having to be a, a lot more intentional in, uh, reservations and booking and talk about that in a moment. But that version of Hawaii and just kind of that wing it vibe is mostly gone, especially if you have a long to-do list, a lot of things you want to get done, and maybe you’re not even thinking about booking a beach.

[00:03:06] Bryan Murphy: Parking spot three weeks in advance. Well, that is a new reality in some places. Some popular beaches have parking reservations, for example, in KeHE on Maui, you can go to park maui.com for more info on that. I’m not gonna get all into that right now. There’s also more state parks requiring advance entry and some experiences sell out weeks in advance.

[00:03:29] Bryan Murphy: Leaving you just kinda stuck if you were hoping to do Han Bay, for example. So this is kind of, I guess what I call the homework era of vacation planning for Hawaii. The thing is, the frustration isn’t from bad trips, it’s from bad or unclear expectations. Travelers show up expecting kind of that old version of Hawaii where you just wing it and when things feel harder or more expensive, they assume something’s.

[00:04:00] Bryan Murphy: Wrong. And what’s happened here is that people are trying to travel the old way in a new system In Hawaii, we, we started seeing this new system kinda roll out post COVID I era. Once you understand that Hawaii now rewards intentional planning, the whole trip starts to feel different. Instead of fighting the rules, you work with them, you understand them, you, you know what to expect.

[00:04:25] Bryan Murphy: Instead of just scrambling, you’re able to prioritize. And what you want to get done. This shift alone explains why some people come back saying Hawaii felt stressful, and while others say it was still one of their favorite trips ever. So really we need an unpack what’s driving all of this. Let’s talk a little bit about the cost.

[00:04:46] Bryan Murphy: The cost reality for traveling to Hawaii in 2026. Honestly, this is usually when people start to feel uneasy. They hear Hawaii is more expensive now, but no one really explains why. It feels like every year Hawaii gets more and more expensive. That is a reality going into 2026, but what’s actually happening, it’s a bit more layered in why it feels more expensive.

[00:05:12] Bryan Murphy: First, there’s higher lodging taxes, so as of January. First 2026, we added a 0.75% green fee to fund climate resilience. So that green fee is now on top of the base transit accommodations tax. Now 11%. Plus you got county surcharges, which are zero to 3%, and the general excise tax of four to 4.5%. So when you add all that up, I’ll go ahead and do the math for you.

[00:05:44] Bryan Murphy: You’re, you’re looking at 15 to 18.5% in taxes before resort fees. Let me give you an example, kind of a real number On a $5,000 hotel stay, you’re now paying roughly around $825. In taxes and a few years ago, that same stay costs about 750 to 775 or so in taxes. Now, second is probably the, the quiet one that.

[00:06:15] Bryan Murphy: Don’t really hear much about, but you definitely feel it. And that’s shipping cost. Hawaii relies almost entirely on shipping and Young Brothers, the company that’s the primary inter island shipper, and they implemented a 25 point 75% rate hike. So this isn’t just like shipping random things. This affects everything from groceries, restaurant food, hotel supplies.

[00:06:41] Bryan Murphy: You don’t always see it listed out, but you definitely feel it once you’re there because that cost needs to get passed on to somebody. And the third thing why Hawaii feels and is more expensive is because of access fees. So in 2026. There are now over 14 state parks that require non-resident fees and they range from $5 per person for entry and about $10 per vehicle for parking.

[00:07:09] Bryan Murphy: For example, you got places like Rainbow Falls on the big island of Hawaii wa, Lua River State Park on Hawaii, and Tanus on Oahu. They all added fees recently. Now, none of these individually alone are outrageous, but when you stack them day after day and together, they throw off a budget, that was more than likely, probably already pretty tight.

[00:07:32] Bryan Murphy: You know, you’ve, you’ve saved for a while for this trip, and the budget is what the budget is. And then you start adding all these kind of little paper cuts, it can lead to a lot more stress or just, well, you’re gonna need to decide like, okay, we can do this, but we can’t do that type of things and or find more free options.

[00:07:51] Bryan Murphy: This is why I’ve heard a lot of people, and some people have told me, we, we didn’t do anything crazy. Like we didn’t do a ton of things. We didn’t do all the crazy excursions, but the trip still cost way more than we planned for or expected most of the time. People, they didn’t overspend really, they, they just plan with numbers that really no longer match reality of what it costs to travel to Hawaii.

[00:08:17] Bryan Murphy: And really, here’s the important part. Higher costs don’t automatically mean a worse trip. Usually needs to change isn’t the. Destination is just the expectation. Maybe you plan fewer paid activities. Maybe you mix in grocery runs, Costco and food trucks, instead of eating out every single night. Once your budget, I think, matches the current reality, Hawaii starts to feel hopefully more enjoyable again, instead of stressful, at least you know what to plan for instead of being surprised.

[00:08:50] Bryan Murphy: I think that’s the biggest key right there, just knowing what to plan for and not being surprised once you’re there. That’s really the intent of this. Episode.

[00:08:57] Bryan Murphy: And you know, also, I wasn’t planning on getting too much into this, but if, if you’re wondering about, there’s Antit tourist rhetoric, the, you know, videos maybe you’ve seen on TikTok.

[00:09:08] Bryan Murphy: I, I kinda wanna address that a little bit about the online narrative I, I guess versus the on the ground reality in Hawaii. And really there’s a big difference between the online narrative and what actually happens on the ground. Online, you know, especially social media, you’ll see extreme takes, angry comments, viral videos, posts that make it sound like every visitor will be side eyed or confronted and not welcome.

[00:09:34] Bryan Murphy: But in reality, that’s not what most travelers experience. Honestly, I’ve never have experienced this. Day-to-day. Interactions across the islands are still neutral to warm, especially when visitors show basic respect, saying, hello, aloha, following posted rules, not trespassing. Just being aware of other humans.

[00:09:55] Bryan Murphy: Basically, what people often interpret, I think, as Antit tourist sentiment is usually something else. It’s not that. People don’t want you there. It’s that the parking lots are packed and the trails are crowded, and these places were never built for today’s volume of travelers. When visitors follow the rules in these, in these places, usually most of that tension disappears.

[00:10:20] Bryan Murphy: What’s interesting is that Hawaii still largely relies on tourism. Local businesses still want respectful travelers to come, and the key word is respectful for the land, the rules for the people who live there year round. So really, if you approach Hawaii with humility instead of defensiveness, the expectation almost always feels better.

[00:10:39] Bryan Murphy: I just kinda wanted to get that out there as you, you’re thinking about that as you’re, for your, your next trip.

[00:10:44] Bryan Murphy: The big question still kinda looms is that, is Hawaii still worth it in 2026? And honestly, I think it is, if you have solid expectations on what to expect, what the costs are, what reservations are needed, I still think that Hawaii is definitely still worth it in 2026.

[00:11:03] Bryan Murphy: Hawaii works well right now for visitors, travelers willing to plan ahead, set realistic expectations, and be intentional at how they spend their time and monies. So if you’re okay doing a little homework up front, Hawaii still can be incredible. Now, on the flip side, Hawaii might not be the best fit if you’re hoping for a last minute, totally spontaneous trip.

[00:11:26] Bryan Murphy: Or if you’re expecting prices to be flexible and feel like they did years ago, that could be a setup for a maybe a bummer of a trip. And really this is where choosing the right island matters more than you think. Right now, Oahu and the big island tend to have more flexibility as far as pricing and availability, whereas Maui continues to feel more premium and more expensive, though still amazing if it fits your budget.

[00:11:57] Bryan Murphy: UA is beautiful, but planning matters a lot more there as far as parking, reservations and timing that can make or break the experience. When you’re clear on your budget, you have these expectations, your priorities, and you know what actually matters to you. Hawaii is still. Incredible. And really the tricky part is turning all of this into an actual plan.

[00:12:19] Bryan Murphy: And this is a lot where a lot of people get stuck. They know what they want in theory, but they’re still guessing when it comes to numbers, timing, trade off. Should I do this, should I do that? Should I not do that? And that’s exactly why I built this new Hawaii trip calculator. For 2026, and it’s designed to help you plug in your real trip details and see a more realistic picture of what a Hawaii trip could look like right now, not five years ago.

[00:12:49] Bryan Murphy: And it, so it accounts for the lodging tax burden, it accounts for the shipping increases and all those. Fees that can surprise people. So now you just know a calculator can give you some clarity, but again, it’s a tool that can be helpful in at least giving you an idea of what to budget for. The calculator can’t give you the context.

[00:13:10] Bryan Murphy: It won’t tell you which island makes the most sense for your trip, for your family. It won’t tell you which experiences are actually worth the money and it won’t tell you where you can simplify. And still have an amazing trip. That’s where one-on-one planning really helps. So if you run the numbers and you think, okay, this is doable, but I don’t wanna mess this up, that’s exactly when a planning consultation makes sense.

[00:13:36] Bryan Murphy: And we can walk through your trip together, cut out what doesn’t matter, focus on what does what your goals are, and make sure that your Hawaii vacation feels like a vacation and not a logistics project. So if you wanna check out the calculator, you want to check out my one-on-one planning consultation, you can check those out in the show notes below.

[00:13:57] Bryan Murphy: Both of those links are there.

[00:13:58] Bryan Murphy: But really at the end of the day, Hawaii in 2026 isn’t about chasing every highlight. It’s about planning with intention, understanding what’s changed, and giving yourself the space to actually enjoy being there. If you’re willing to do it, put in the work or get a little help along the way.

[00:14:15] Bryan Murphy: Hawaii is. Still one of the most meaningful places you can visit. So if you wanna run those numbers, I’ll link the 2026 YE Trip calculator in the show notes below. And if you want help turning that into a clear stress-free plan, you can book a one-on-one planning consultation with me as well. So thanks again for spending some time with me today on this Aloha Friday.

[00:14:35] Bryan Murphy: Hope you have a great weekend, and until next time, as always, live with Aloha. Mahala for listening to this episode of Hawaii’s. Best to stay up to date on future episodes. Hit follow on your podcast app.