When I think of Hawaii I think of cruising along the coast in a vintage kombi with a surfboard strapped to the roof, don’t you?
As long time van lifers it’s no shock that one of the first things we did when we arrived in Honolulu was google ‘van rentals Oahu’. This is where we found the legends at Hawaii Surf camper. Not only do they have a fleet of beautifully restored vintage campers but they have an in-house genius mechanic so you can rest assured that the vehicles are in tip top shape before you head off.
Meet Honey - our home on wheels in Oahu
Honey is a 1972 vintage Kombi with plenty of years experience as an adventure vehicle. Honey sleeps 2 adults and one child comfortably with a hidden hammock style bed in the pop top. She has a basic camper fit out featuring a sink with running water, outdoor shower, gas cooker, pantry with cooking utensils and an esky (cooler) for your food. Whilst the interior is basic its honestly all you need for a Hawaiian road trip.
Camping on Oahu
With your booking, Hawaii Surf Campers provides you with an interactive map listing points of interest, state park campgrounds, private campgrounds as well as possible free camp spots. As I mentioned before we are experienced van lifers that love nothing more than a free cheeky beach camp so we thought we would test them out and let you know how we go. We camped Saturday and Sunday night at different beach parking lots with no issue. We had read that rangers might pay you a visit around 6am and issue either a warning or a fine so I made sure I was awake before 6am but there were no rangers to be seen. We shared the parking lot with at least 5 other campers at each destination which helped keep our nerves at bay. Free camping or cheeky camping is an awesome way to save some $ and also to get the opportunity to fall asleep to the sound of the waves and wake up to sunrising over the ocean but please make sure you are respectful and NEVER leave a trace of your stay.
State campgrounds
This is a great affordable option however, unless we have it wrong, you need to pre book these spots. The way I believe it works is they offer 3 or 5 day bookings meaning you can not just book select days. All bookings start on a Friday and end on either Monday or Wednesday. Here is where we had some issues. We picked up our camper on Saturday so I thought we could book into a site once we had collected the van but the online only allows you to book up to the Thursday before, and therefore we could only book the following week even though there were availble sites. We did drive past some of the state park campgrounds and they were quite basic but would have been fine. One of the campgrounds is in the Ho'omaluhia botanical gardens and that would have been lovely. State park campgrounds are $38 for 3 days and $52 for 5 day bookings making them an affordable option if you know where you want to stay in advance.
Private campgrounds
We didn’t visit any of the private campgrounds however, I think there is 4 or 5 on the island. I did check a few of them out online and they looked great but the pricing was roughly $9USD/pp making it quite expensive on top of van rental fees.
Where we went
We picked up our van in Wahiawa which is located kind of in the middle of the island about 50 minutes north of Waikiki. Hawaii Surf rentals offer a van deliver service or a passenger transport however at $150USD its much cheaper to uber yourself there ($45USD).
Now no American road trip can start without a trip to Walmart, right? After a quick stock up of essentials like pasta, beer, bagels it was time to hit the road. We took the scenic H3 across the island to Kaneohe where we could hug the beautiful coast line all the way up towards the iconic North Shore pipeline. We managed to cheeky camp in a little beachside car park known as kawela Bay where we were joined by a few locals who stayed up all night with their massive fishing rods setup.
The following morning we cruised around to a few different beaches trying to dodge the rain but ended up at Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden. The botanical garden are home to some of the best views but funnily enough its their driveway that makes this place insta-famous (they are very strict on the whole no photos on the driveway these days but you can google to see why it's so famous).
After a few hours exploring the gardens we headed south down the coast to Makapu'U beach for a quick dip and to enjoy the views of Mañana Island. The wind was up but Nyah made some friends so we held out and let the kids have fun before the sun started to set. As the sun started to set we packed up our gear and drove in search of Sandy Beach.
Sandy Beach was probably our favourite spot on the island. Waking up in the morning to the sun shining and beautiful blue water was the perfect way to end our vanlife experience in Hawaii. Nyah made friends with a locals dog named Stella and rolled around in the sand while Spencer made Coffee and I got a little me time. It was picture perfect 🤩
Summary
So wether you’re an experienced van lifer like us or you just want to give it a go I highly recommend jumping into a rental and cruising the island. Hawaii Surf rentals are $179USD/night (plus some fees, taxes and insurance) but they have kindly offered you all a discount for your next booking, just enter LIFEOFATRAVELFAMILY at checkout. Also tell Lucas and the team I said Hi!
Be sure to follow our adventures over on instagram @lifeofatravelfamily
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