Advertiser Disclosure
Earlier this year, I filmed an SPG Amex video on the Big Island of Hawaii as part of my partnership with American Express and the Starwood Preferred Guest card from American Express. This is a partnership in its second year which has taken me to several cool Starwood properties including the W Hollywood and W Scottsdale plus the US Open in 2013 and also the 2014 US Open amongst several other properties.

This video was shot on the Big Island of Hawaii and myself and the crew stayed at the Sheraton Kona resort. This big and beautiful property is just a few minutes from the center of Kona and is a great base for exploring the Big Island.

Without a doubt, the video filming aside, the highlights of the Big Island were the Green Sand Beach, Volcanoes National Park and the helicopter tour above the erupting volcanoes; which was truly amazing!

The Green Sand Beach is about an hour or so drive from the Sheraton Kona. Once you reach the parking lot, so to speak, you have a 3-4 mile walk or you can pay a truck $20 to drive you out to the beach. Once you get there, you will be blown away it is so beautiful.

It’s hard to express just how nice this beach is. In fact, I named it one of the 30 best beaches in the world! That said, it is a fun hike up and down to get to a from the warm water below or you can just walk around the rim and take photos or just gaze. Get there early before all the tourists and you’ll be the only one there!

Volcanoes National Park was pretty cool. You can go and do a variety of hikes in and around the caldera and read and see all about the different volcanic activities that occur. However, it’s the views that make it awesome.

I could just stare for hours at the steaming ground below and in the distance and look at the awesome views like it was the Grand Canyon or something. It’s pretty cool and well worth the trip if you’re on the Big Island.

However, the helicopter tours out at Hilo which fly over the active volcanoes were the single highlight of the trip and one of the highlights of my travels. First, being in a helicopter is always cool. But imagine flying over a flowing volcano and seeing the magma boiling and then the lava flowing across the lava field.

Honestly, it was a highlight of my travels and the truth is the day we went was the first time the lava flowed since 2011. Yes that is right…how fortunate were we to go on that day. I feel blessed to have seen it and our pilot couldn’t have been better at taking multiple passes so everyone could see. He also took us to some secret waterfalls outside of Hilo; which was really nice of him.

So basically, I loved the Big Island of Hawaii.

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