Best Myrtle Beach Attractions
Along with the natural beauty of the beaches and the colorful local legends, Myrtle Beach has also sprung onto the scene as a major player in amusements, cultural activities, and nightlife. After playing all day on the beach, there’s a whole range of nightlife activities just getting started in town.
Ripley’s Aquarium
This is one amazingly wonderful aquarium. The tanks are gigantic, with glass tunnels through them, where visitors can walk and observe the marine life up close. There are 10-foot sharks in there, so get ready for some up-close encounters! There are dive shows every hour, along with a stingray petting area and educational shows. It’s open from 9 am 1o 11 pm …go late at night to avoid the crowds.
Build a Bear Workshop
This shop, located in Broadway at the Beach is probably the most unusual spot you’ll hit while visiting this spot. It’s not just a shop where you can buy teddy bears, but much much more. Definitely a family attraction, you will see many children here, creating their dream teddy bears, but look carefully and you’ll see all sorts of people of all ages picking out eyes, choosing voices and selecting clothing. Create your teddy bear, have it made up, and take away the best darn souvenir of all time.
Broadway at the Beach
Broadway at the Beach is a little like Epcot Center: it’s built around an artificial lake and features thematic villages around the shoreline. The three themes are the Caribbean, New England Fishing, and Charleston Boardwalk. It’s basically a huge outdoor mall, and you will never have time to even make a dent in the shops, restaurants, nightclubs, and minigolf courses. (Yes, courses, that’s plural. If you have time, check out the IMAX theater, which is like a regular movie theater on steroids. There is also an aquarium and a multiplex theater. Alas, it’s not really on the beach like the name says, but you’ll be so busy having fun you won’t even notice.
Family Kingdom Amusement Park & Water Park
The Family Kingdom is a bit cheaper than the Pavilion and claims to have a superior roller coaster than the Pavilion. (By the way, the Pavilion claims that their roller coaster is better, so who knows? You’ll just have to see for yourself.) This is the only water park right on the ocean.
South Beach Kidventure
This is an amusement park aimed at kids. There are safe rides and tame amusements for kids who aren’t quite old enough or tall enough for the big rides at other amusement parks. It’s located at the south end of Ocean Boulevard and it’s open from 1pm to 8 pm in summer only. Tickets are under $10 for toddlers and under $15 for ages 3-6 and under $20 for all other ages.
EdVenture Children’s Museum
Bring your tots here for some brain stimulation and tons of fun. Take a break from candy and amusement parks and give your child’s brain something to dig into, with interactive displays here at the Children’s Museum. They have all sorts of distractions and brain teasers that are lots of fun for kids. It’s located at the Myrtle Square Mall, which is across the street from the Myrtle Beach convention center. Admission is under $10, and they are not open on Sundays. Call ahead for hours, which are fewer in the offseason.
Myrtle Waves Water Park
Myrtle Waves Water Park is south of Broadway at the Beach. They claim to have the world’s highest tubular slide, the Turbo Twister. There is a gigantic wave pool, and river with inner tubes if you want to laze the day floating on the water. For little kids, there’s a toddler pool to splash around in.
Georgetown, SC
Hopsewee Plantation
Hopsewee was a bona fide rice plantation in the eighteenth century, for about eighty years, up until the beginning of the Civil War. It’s located about 12 miles south of Georgetown, and if you are in the area definitely try and stop at this historic antebellum site. The interior is furnished with antiques from the time, and the exterior is fabulously landscaped is reason enough to visit the site. One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Lynch, Jr., was born here.
Hampton Plantation State Historic Site
Another three miles down the road from Hopsewee, there is another plantation site, although this one has not been so carefully preserved. In fact, the interior is empty and ghost-like, but the tour is fun. The grounds feature beautiful old oak trees, which also captured the attention of George Washington when he visited here in the 1790s.
Rice Museum
Learn about the Rice growing industry as it existed during the antebellum era in the South and especially in Georgetown.
Kaminsky House Museum
This was built in 1769 as a townhome and is chock full of antiques from the 18th and 19th centuries. The surrounding land is beautiful, overlooking the Sampit River. You can take a guided tour, which runs every hour. There’s a museum shop where you can pick up good books on Georgetown, as well as arts and crafts.
Joseph Hayne Rainey historic home
This is one of the major historic homes in a historic town. It’s located at 909 Prince Street and holds a bit of historical significance. Joseph Hayne Rainey was the first African American elected to the US House of Representatives and served from 1871 to 1879. You can get a brochure about the Joseph Hayne Rainey historic home at the visitor center on Front Street in town.
North Myrtle Beach, SC
Barefoot Landing
Barefoot Landing is the older version of broadway at the Beach, which is to say it was the hottest spot along the Grand Strand in its heyday decades ago. There are major attractions here (see below), but the attraction theme is to recreate the essence of an old fishing village on a lake. The lake is nice, and at 27 acres it’s no small pond. You can walk along the marshes on a boardwalk, view the weathered wooden buildings, view the turtles sunning themselves in the mucky mud.
Alabama Theatre
Part of Barefoot Landing, the Alabama Theater is a functioning theater that features live music and comedy theater. Read more about it on our Nightlife page.
House of Blues
Also part of the Barefoot Landing complex, this is a music house featuring some pretty big names from time to time. Go to the Nightlife section to read more about it.
Alligator Adventure
Located at the end of the boardwalk at Barefoot Landing, Alligator Adventure offers you a chance to see more alligators at one time than most people will see their whole lives. This alligator zoo is home to close to a thousand alligators, tropical birds, and reptiles.
Murrells Inlet, SC
South Strand Visitors Center
The South Strand Visitors Center is on Highway 17, just where the highway begins to divide. They are open from 8:30 to 5 pm during the week all year round. They are also open on the weekends, with limited hours in the offseason.
Huntington Beach State Park
Read more about this on our Parks page.
Brookgreen Gardens
Brookgreen Gardens is a magical place you won’t want to miss. The gardens are spectacular, and located on four former rice plantations joined together to make the gardens, in the 1930s. For under $15 you get to not only ramble along the garden pathways but also to view the largest collection of American sculpture in North America. There are over 500 works of sculpture here, in all media, including stone, marble, and metal. There are different sections of the gardens, with different themes such as the Children’s Garden and the Lowcountry Center. There are 9000 acres to explore! Luckily, you can purchase a seven-day pass because so you can come back the next day and the next, to see what you missed the first time around. Brookgreen is located on Highway 17 S, near Huntington State Park.
Pawleys Island, SC
Original Hammock Shop
Even if you’re not into shopping while on vacation, the Original Hammock Shop is more than just a shop. It’s a destination spot for visitors to the Myrtle Beach area. People come from all over to see the demonstrations of handmade hammocks being made. It’s open 9am to 6pm during the week and has weekend hours as well, although limited. It’s located on Highway 17, also called Ocean Highway.
Gullah Ooman Shop
The Gullah Ooman Shop has indigenous crafts such as quilts, dolls, and sweetgrass baskets. All indigenous from the African American Gullah tradition.
Pawleys Island Chapel
Pawleys Island Chapel is nondenominational and perched photogenically on the bank of a creek on the island. Sundays at 10 is the social event of the week in this sleepy quaint village. It’s located on Highway 17.
Visitors Center
You can get a map that shows historic places on Pawleys Island at the Visitor Center. It’s located on Highway 17 at Planter’s Exchange. hours are 9-5 during the week and Saturday, and noon to 2 pm on Sundays.