While planning her family’s summer vacation, Margaret Lee worried whether her kids were old enough to enjoy a snorkeling boat trip on the Napali Coast of Kauai. Then she saw the price.
“Whoa, seriously?!” gasped Lee.
A snorkeling excursion from the north side of the island nearer to the famed coastline would cost approximately $300 per person—a cost that dropped to $189 for the much longer boat ride from the south shore. The price tag for a family of four sealed the deal: “The kids can play at the beach,” she said.
Indeed, travelers all over the country are realizing that the cost of vacationing in 2023 seems to be higher than it was before the pandemic—whether that’s because vacationers haven’t traveled for a while, economics are making activities more expensive or tour operators are banking on the knowledge that Americans will spend whatever it takes to have a fun summer trip.
In the table below, The Standard compiled the current price for a variety of bucket-list tourist activities for the San Francisco Bay Area and the West to give California travelers a reality check on the price tag for their dream trips—or whether they, too, would be better off simply playing at the beach.