Myrtle Beach
The centre of a sixty-mile stretch of South Carolina coast called the Grand Strand, with around ninety golf courses behind it.
Saved in this browser only - no account, nothing sent anywhere. See your map
The Grand Strand runs about sixty miles of near-continuous beach from Little River down to Georgetown, and Myrtle Beach is its centre - a resort of high-rise hotels along the sand with a boardwalk, a 57-metre observation wheel and the usual arcade strip. What sets the area apart economically is golf: roughly ninety courses within the Strand, built from the 1960s onward on the flat sandy ground behind the dunes, making it one of the largest concentrations of courses anywhere and the source of a very large package-holiday trade. Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing are the big retail and entertainment complexes. Spring brings motorcycle rallies that fill the coast road.
What you actually see
- A sixty-mile strand - near-continuous beach, Myrtle at the centre.
- Around ninety golf courses - behind the dunes.
- A boardwalk and observation wheel - the resort centre.
- Large entertainment complexes - Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing.
When to go
April to October; shoulder months are quieter and cheaper. A full day.
Honest expectations
It is heavily developed and commercial - this is a mass resort, not a quiet coast. Summer traffic on US 17 is very slow. Rally weekends fill everything. Hurricane season affects late summer.
Nearby
Brookgreen Gardens is south; Pawleys Island is between.
What to pack for Myrtle Beach
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.