Enjoy Myrtle Beach, SC
Plan your Vacation

As of 2007, nearly 14 million visitors return to the Myrtle Beach and Grand Strand area of South Carolina year after year. Our 60 miles of beautiful coast, stretching from Little River to Georgetown, is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the US, and has been voted Best Family Beach several times. The top reasons people love Myrtle Beach are, of course, the beach and golfing. The third reason is shopping, followed by dining in our fine restaurants. The Grand Strand is well-known for its fresh seafood, but you will find something for everyone: Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and even restaurants specializing in vegetarian menus.

Miniature golf courses are popular for the entire family and it's difficult to drive down any main street without passing one. Other family activities include Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing.

The Grand Strand offers a wide area to explore. Choose Things to Do, find the restaurants locals love, pick a place to stay, and view some photos. Start now to Enjoy Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!

Where the Carolinas meet, the sun smiles on the charming fishing village of Little River. Nestled beneath the twisted arms of weathered oaks, you'll discover an unhurried and uncommon side of the Grand Strand. From clutches of cheerful shops, an unexpected array of merchandise spills forth. You can also schedule a deep-sea fishing excursion, take a cruise down the Intracoastal Waterway or hang around and chat with tanned dock workers while they haul in a day's catch. Restaurants, marinas and fresh seafood abound. Water is the undisputed king, and everyone is subject to its rule. Like the rest of the North Strand, Little River is growing rapidly, but it's still possible to discover marvelous pockets of solitude in this historic fishing village.

Each spring, thousands of people make a pilgrimage to Little River on the weekend in May when the horseshoe area of the beloved waterfront hosts the famous Blue Crab Festival. This weekend event showcases live entertainment, arts-and-crafts displays and an abundance of fresh, delectable seafood.

North Myrtle Beach, proud home of the state's official dance, the Shag, makes up the largest section of the North Strand. The city was established in the 1960s after legendary South Carolina Congressman John Jenrette (then a state legislator) argued that the four smaller communities of Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, Crescent Beach and Windy Hill would prosper if they merged into a single municipality. One of the North Strand's many delights is Barefoot Landing, a top-ranked tourist attraction. On U.S. 17 and inland from Windy Hill Beach, this charming variation of a shopping center includes shops nestled around a 20-acre freshwater lake. Barefoot Landing is home to more than 100 specialty and retail shops, factory direct stores, more than 1,000 feet of floating dock, a boardwalk and a handful of waterfront restaurants. Attractions include the Barefoot Princess Riverboat, The Alabama Theatre, Alligator Adventure, and the House of Blues. The North Strand wraps up with the Grand Strand's famed Restaurant Row, an impressive selection of restaurants lines either side of U.S. 17. Seafood, of course, is the area specialty, but steaks, ribs, Italian favorites, Japanese options and even down-home country cooking can be found along this strip.

Cherry Grove, just south of Little River, is one of several communities that compose North Myrtle Beach. Sea Mountain Highway is the only way into Cherry Grove from U.S. 17, so watch the signs carefully. Cherry Grove has its share of new high rises, oceanfront condominiums and motels, but away from the ocean you'll find rows of houses on pilings lining serpentine channels and inlets. Many Cherry Grove residents and tourists handpick this section of the Strand because they relish the joys of catching, cleaning and cooking their own seafood.

Nestled beneath the twisted arms of weathered oaks, you'll discover an unhurried and uncommon side of the Grand Strand called Little River. From clutches of cheerful shops, an unexpected array of merchandise spills forth. You can also schedule a deep-sea fishing excursion or take a cruise down the Intracoastal Waterway. Restaurants, marinas and fresh seafood abound. Water is the undisputed king, and everyone is subject to its rule. Like the rest of the North Strand, Little River is growing rapidly, but it's still possible to discover marvelous pockets of solitude in this historic fishing village.

Each spring, thousands of people make a pilgrimage to Little River on the weekend in May when the horseshoe area of the beloved waterfront hosts the famous Blue Crab Festival .This day-long event -- Little River's finest -- showcases live entertainment, oodles of arts-and-crafts displays and an abundance of fresh, delectable seafood.

Myrtle Beach

The Grand Strand revolves around the city of Myrtle Beach. The resort area first became popular here, and everything seems to spiderweb outward from Myrtle Beach. Though Pawleys Island was a long-standing resort for the wealthy, it was Myrtle Beach that made the Strand accessible to the general population. The largest, most developed and most popular of the beaches, Myrtle Beach is so dominant that most locals refer to it simply as "The Beach."

In years past the area has been billed the Golf Capital of the World, the Campground Capital of the World and the Miniature Golf Capital of the World. Myrtle Beach even home to the world's largest sand sculpture in June, 2007.

The tourism experts say that Myrtle Beach's greatest attractions are still the Atlantic Ocean and the beautiful beaches. But in the past few years so many other things have sprung up that it is hard for even locals to keep track of the latest attraction and the new towers of condominium high-rises. In addition to shopping, amusement parks, miniature golf, water parks, waterway cruises, golf and the live entertainment theaters, there is a constant quest among promoters to find more ways to satisfy visitors and residents alike. Whether it is the golfer's paradise, the country music and live-entertainment haven, the family beach, the food, the shopping, the amusements, the attractions ... whatever the draw, Myrtle Beach seems to provide something for everyone.

Unofficially, Myrtle Beach is divided into four areas. The south end of the Boulevard is a solid line of accommodations - some large, some small. The mid-portion of the Boulevard features venues for entertainment and activities, including the Myrtle Beach Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum. Beginning around 32nd Avenue N., there is an exclusive residential district where permanent and summer residents coexist in beautiful, moderately expensive homes. From 52nd Avenue northward to the city limits, motels and condominiums dominate the beachfront. About 3 miles from the ocean you will hit U.S. Highway 17 Bypass; locals know it as simply the Bypass, and many have come to call it the "former Bypass" because of traffic backups. On 21st Avenue N., between Oak Street and the Bypass, you will find Broadway At The Beach, one of the most significant developments at Myrtle Beach during the past decade. The newest shopping center, Coastal Grand Mall boasts Dillards. Belk, Sears along with Costco, Best Buy and an entire score of restaurants including Longhorn, Dead Dog Saloon, Red Lobster, Sticky Fingers and more.

Beaches of the Grand Strand are all public; in fact, law specifically designates how many feet apart public beach access areas must be, based on development density. Thanks to the vision of Myrtle Beach officials, many of the city's public access areas have parking available. The city has erected blue and yellow signs along the Boulevard to help visitors recognize these access sites. Handicapped access to the beach is also provided; through the efforts of several area civic clubs, beach services now offer specially designed wheelchairs that are easy to maneuver on the sand. Here's a link to the locations of Public Free Beach Access locations.

Myrtle Beach hosts many annual festivals. Two of the most popular are the Sun Fun Festival, usually held the first full weekend in June, and the Canadian-American Days festival, held in March.

South Strand

The South Strand includes Surfside Beach, Garden City Beach, Murrells Inlet, Litchfield Beach and Pawleys Island. Compared with the rest of the Grand Strand, the South Strand subscribes to a more leisurely pace and lifestyle, with less neon and glitter as well as a low key nightlife with just as much allure. Many praise this stretch of land, with its rich marshland, uninhabited beaches, bountiful inlets.

The town of Surfside was incorporated in 1964 with 881 residents. Today, having officially changed its name to Surfside Beach and billing itself as "the family beach" you'll find streets lined with restaurants, beach shops and attractions, including the Legends In Concert show of celebrity impersonators. Accommodations along Surfside's oceanfront differ somewhat from those in Myrtle Beach. Fewer high-rises tower above the sun-drenched beaches, and cottages and condominiums treasure comfort.

Directly south of Surfside Beach, Garden City Beach is a family-oriented retreat sporting hundreds of residential homes, summer cottages and condominiums. Surf fishing reels in many participants along this beach, which is also a favorite retreat for beachcombers. It's still free to walk the pier , located in the heart of Garden City Beach.

South of Garden City is Murrells Inlet, the oldest fishing village in the state. Murrells Inlet is home to anglers, writers, poets and more legends and ghost stories than any other part of the Grand Strand. Before his death, Mickey Spillane, who created the detective character Mike Hammer, used to live in Murrells Inlet, along with many other nationally known novelists, poets and musicians, all of whom love the small-town atmosphere. Fishing in the creeks and waterways of Murrells Inlet has been a way of life for generations, and the quiet community trumpets itself as the Seafood Capital of South Carolina. Best known for its seafood restaurants, Murrells Inlet also is home to the lovely MarshWalk, numerous antiques shops, fresh seafood markets and Captain Dick's, one of the Grand Strand's best marinas.

The journey south on U.S. 17 from Murrells Inlet to Litchfield is a quick trip. Densely wooded areas line the highway and give a sense of traveling back in time, a sensation deliberately cultivated by locals. The popular resort of Litchfield Beach takes its name from Litchfield Plantation, a rice plantation on the Waccamaw River. The manor house is one of the few still-standing plantation homes surrounded by majestic oaks and is open as a country club and lodge.

Litchfield's quaint shops, outstanding restaurants and various accommodations are reasonably new compared to the historic resort of Pawleys Island, slightly south of Litchfield. The beaches of Litchfield and Pawleys are among the widest, most litter-free and best-preserved on the South Carolina coast. Although much of the property is private, you'll still public beach access. Pawleys Island proclaims itself as the oldest resort area in America. Even in the 1700s the tiny barrier island was a summer retreat for wealthy plantation owners and their families. Despite storms and the ravages of time, many of their cottages, weather-worn and rustic looking, still remain. Hence, for many years, locals have termed their island "arrogantly shabby." In fact, bumper stickers, T-shirts and tourism brochures for Pawleys Island all have adopted that description.

Today Pawleys is known for its low-key lifestyle, handmade hammocks and sightings of the famous ghosts - Gray Man. Alice and sometimes Bluebeard! The cherished lifestyle is carefully protected by islanders. The 2-mile island was incorporated as a town in 1984 and in recent years has made for one of the most colorful political stories in South Carolina's history, with their struggle to restrict local building codes and prevent construction of high-rise condominiums and hotels. They have been successful. A few bed and breakfast inns flourish, offering a taste of beach living as it used to be: simple, unassuming and perfectly tranquil. This area is also famous for Huntington Beach State Park and Brookgreen Gardens.

Contact Information: Copy and paste e-mail address into your e-mail program: info@enjoymyrtlebeach.com
Linking Partners