An Honest Review of Myrtle Beach, SC

Last updated: January 6th, 2024 | Originally published: March 9, 2023
Things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina

Myrtle Beach sees 14 million annual visitors. It is home to 90 golf courses, 425 hotels, and a multiverse of shops and attractions. The strip is thirty miles of action and entertainment, so the question is, how will you decide what things to do in Myrtle Beach SC? Or better yet, after reading our honest conclusion, will you find Myrtle Beach worth visiting at all?

A 20-Second History

Myrtle Beach’s first hotel was built in 1901. Oceanfront lots sold for $25 at the time.

In 1920, a group of businessmen established the city’s first resort, and several more resorts were added over the next thirty years.

It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the town really boomed, tripling in population.

New construction of attractions, homes, and retail shops steadily increased throughout the 1980’s, paving the way for another tremendous expansion in the early 1990’s.

The Obligatory Warning

Make no mistake: The town will entertain you or die trying. You’ll be dining with pirates one moment, then find yourself staggering down the boardwalk with a crudely-sloganed t-shirt and an armload of tickets before you know what happened. A lot can go wrong in Myrtle Beach.

We’re here to keep your head from spinning. There are some good things to do in Myrtle Beach SC that get lost in the hurtling neon raceway. We hope you enjoy our honest assessment, all the way to our conclusion at the end. You’ll want to read the conclusion.

Must Do: Myrtle Beach Things to Do

1. Brookgreen Gardens

Things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina

One of the most highly regarded sculpture gardens in the United States is Brookgreen Gardens, SC. If you love sprawling botanical arrangements and/or spectacular sculptures this floral gem is an absolute must-do on the Carolina coast.

This estate was founded in 1931 by Archer and Anna Huntington.  The gardens feature the work of Anna Hyatt Huntington, as well as a vast collection of figurative sculptures by other American artists.

It is one of very few places to have earned accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and designated as a National Historic Landmark.

The sculptures are amazing and over 500 of them adorn the parked-out, 350-acre setting. To read more about this incredible place to visit, check out Brookgreen Gardens SC. We give it our strongest recommend possible. It is the best Myrtle Beach thing to do.

Should Do: Myrtle Beach Things to Do

2. Huntington Beach State Park

things to do in myrtle beach sc

Archer and Anna Huntington built their southern getaway on a 9,000 acre beachfront plot in the early 1930’s. The centerpiece of the land was their residence, called Atalaya Castle.

Archer was a wealthy, New York philanthropist with a profound love of Hispanic culture. He was also a fan of Moorish architecture and designed Atalaya to reflect the style.

Atalaya means “Watchtower” in Spanish. Central to the castle is an elevated tower (shown above) that lends a look of the landscape in 360 degrees.

At Huntington Beach S.P. you can tour the home and grounds of Atalaya Castle for two dollars. There is also a phenomenal Nature Center, a salt marsh full of large birds and educational materials, a campground, a playground, playfields, and a lengthy strip of perfect beach.

You can read more about Atalaya Castle if you like!

3. Wheels of Yesteryear

Things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina
things to do in myrtle beach sc

Wheels of Yesteryear is a vintage auto museum focused on the 60/70’s muscle-car era. Here you can see all your favorites models up close and personal in a time capsule setting bursting with Americana.

Over the years Paul and Carol Cummings have built an enviable collection of original and restored classic rides. About one-hundred cars are on display at a time, and each summer the Cummings family will drive in different makes and models to keep the inventory fresh and the customers coming back.

Read more about Wheels of Yesteryear here.

4. Pick a Beach, Any Beach

Things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina
Myrtle Beach Things to Do

One of the best things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina is to spend the day at the beach. We’ve heard several folks tout North Myrtle as the place to be, and others say South Myrtle. No one ever says, “Just step off the boardwalk and pull up some sand,” but all of it is good.

From top to bottom, the beaches along the coast of Myrtle Beach are very similar in wave and sand quality (map of beaches).

North Myrtle Beach is the more expensive part of the city and sixteen miles from the center of town.

The Boardwalk beach area can be obnoxious if that’s not your thing.

We mostly enjoyed Garden City and Surfside Beach (an autism-friendly beach town).

If you love to travel, we have something we would like to give you. It is our professionally designed e-book and it is FREE of charge. We think it’s pretty great, and we’re hopeful you’ll like it, too. It’s called, “Cultivating a Lifetime of Travel”. Click HERE. and we’ll send it on over!

Could Do: Myrtle Beach Things to Do

5. Broadway at the Beach — Myrtle Beach Things to Do

Things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina
Is myrtle beach worth visiting?

This is where we break from the original Myrtle Beach things to do and get into the more common touristy stuff that can be found in similar beach towns.

Broadway at the Beach is an abomination that your children will love. It is the leviathan of Myrtle Beach attractions.

Imagine a man-made lake surrounded by shops, restaurants, and tourist attractions galore. Now picture a massive speedboat roaring up and down the lake, and big fat carp fish begging for dog food beneath the boardwalks.

Next you’ll want to pretend you are surrounded by an Aquarium, Wonderworks Museum (our favorite), Dinopark, Le Grand Cirque, Broadway Theatre, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, a Zipline, some Carnival Rides, and an Escape Room.

And finally, bury yourself beneath fifty restaurants and a million overpriced stores. Huzzah! You’ve just traveled to Broadway at the Beach in your mind! Would you like a Xanax?

6. Benjamin’s Calabash Seafood Buffet

things to do in myrtle beach sc

As you drive up and down the strip in Myrtle Beach you’ll notice the unusual word “Calabash” thrown around on restaurant signage. It means lightly fried seafood served buffet-style, but feel free to use it as your new favorite adjective for whatever you like.

The best of the Calabash Seafood Restaurants is Captain Benjamin’s Seafood Restaurant. There are bigger places with bigger signs — one stretch has three massive Calabash restaurants in succession, which is super weird — but Benjamin’s has the best food. And that’s why we go to restaurants. Map.

7. The Gay Dolphin & Boardwalk Shopping

Things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina
Myrtle Beach Things to Do

This is the beating heart of the town — albeit this particular heart has cardiomyopathy and an ejection fraction around 20%. Not a doctor …

The calabash boardwalk of Myrtle Beach is considered one of the best Myrtle Beach SC things to do by those who love souvenir shops, mediocre food, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and ticket-producing games. There is a quality Ferris wheel, and the inimitable Gay Dolphin Gift Cove is absolutely worth a stop.

The Gay Dolphin is four to six stories (its hard to tell) of stuff you can buy. There is nothing calabash about it, yet the awesome volume of it creates a spectacle.

You know what else makes a spectacle? Loud, shirtless people that smell like marijuana. Surround yourself with enough of them and you’ll be wondering if Myrtle Beach is worth visiting at all.

If you’re looking for Myrtle Beach attractions, this is as classic (and obnoxious) as it gets.

8. The Murrells Inslet Marsh Walk

Is Myrtle Beach worth visiting?

Located between Huntington Beach S.P. and Garden City (south of Myrtle Beach a few miles) is the small town of Murrells Inlet (map). Here the ocean flows inland and creates a calabash back-bay atmosphere with fishing boats along a salt marsh.

At Murrells Inslet you will feel miles removed from the bustle of Myrtle Beach attractions.

The marsh walk is one of the best Myrtle Beach things to do. It behaves like a date-night hot spot, with a half-dozen sporty restaurants and a prominent, scrollable boardwalk along the salt marsh.

Here you will find the usual salt marsh birds: Pelicans, heron, egrets, and gulls. The Murrells Inslet Marsh Walk is best at sunset.

An Honest Conclusion for Myrtle Beach Things to Do

Things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina
things to do in myrtle beach sc

This is a calabash destination built to handle massive crowds. There are so many restaurants, putt-putt courses, and three-story, neon beach stores, it will make you eyes roll back until they ache.

We will only allow ourselves to be over-catered and overstimulated to an extent.

Many beach towns succumb to this fate, but do it with a modicum of taste. This town behaves like we haven’t the sense or self-worth to recognize and refuse the fourth-class, spastic behemoth they’ve set loose on the landscape. Myrtle Beach is the honey badger of greedy, tourist trap beach towns.

In addition to an insulting demeanor, it would seem Myrtle Beach’s heyday was decades ago and is now beyond the expiration date. Did they stop pressure washing in the 1990’s?

Perhaps society has moved past the idea of garish carnival towns, yet there stands good, old Myrtle Beach, slapping the cymbals and boinging the mouth guitar for the dubious crowd.

Myrtle Beach Things to Do

Is Myrtle Beach worth visiting?

We won’t be coming back, for sure.

Brookgreen Gardens is spectacular, so if it means you must suffer the mind-numbing antics of Myrtle Beach, it’s probably worth it for a night. Grab some calabash seafood in the evening, put in your earplugs, and move along in the morning.

However, if you isolate this anomaly from the other 99.9% of Myrtle Beach attractions up the road, the answer is a fairly certain, “No.” Myrtle Beach is not worth visiting. There. We said it.

No offense to Atalaya Castle and Wheels of Yesteryear — two solid Myrtle Beach attractions — but honestly, they aren’t enough of a draw to bring us here.

If you would like to learn about actual worthwhile things to do on the coast of South Carolina, check out our Complete Guide to Charleston and surrounding areas. Other South Carolina ideas include:

South Carolina Beaches and Coastal Things to Do

South Carolina Islands to Visit

Thank you for stopping by our website! We are the Hoffmann family, a full-time RV family that has split residence in Seattle, Washington and San Antonio, Texas. We have special needs children that we homeschool, and work travel assignments for the Veteran Affairs Hospital. If you would like to learn more about us, check out our Start Here and Biography pages. In the meantime, God bless and travel happy!

2 responses to “An Honest Review of Myrtle Beach, SC”

  1. Raimundo Vasconcelos says:

    Good morning, and a very beautiful city with beautiful people, congratulations

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