12 Best Things to Do in Myrtle Beach
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Myrtle Beach rewards a slow pace better than a packed checklist: pick one of these per day and let the beach fill the rest. Here are 12 things to do along the Grand Strand, from the free and simple to the full-day trips.
1. Walk the Boardwalk and ride the SkyWheel
The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk runs 1.2 miles along the oceanfront and costs nothing to walk, though it’s newer than it looks: the current version opened in 2010, a rebuild after Hurricane Hazel destroyed the original in 1954. The SkyWheel, an observation wheel roughly 187 to 200 feet tall with climate-controlled gondolas, sits right on it (about $21 for an adult ticket, check the current price before you go).
2. Cast a line off Apache Pier
Apache Pier stretches 1,206 feet into the Atlantic, the longest wooden fishing pier on the East Coast. The 2nd Ave Pier and Cherry Grove Pier in North Myrtle Beach are quieter alternatives if you just want ocean views without the crowds.
3. Spend a half-day at Broadway at the Beach
Broadway at the Beach is a 350-acre entertainment district about two blocks off the Boardwalk, a separate place from it despite the name confusion. Ripley’s Aquarium (about $43 adult) and WonderWorks, the upside-down building, anchor it, alongside the Hollywood Wax Museum and Legends in Concert.
4. Ride the coasters at Family Kingdom
Family Kingdom Amusement Park sits oceanfront and is free to enter, with pay-per-ride tickets or a roughly $45 wristband. Its Swamp Fox wooden coaster has run since 1966, and 2026 marks the park’s 60th anniversary with a new coaster opening that summer. Splashes and Myrtle Waves cover the water park side if you need to cool off.
5. Play a round of mini golf
Myrtle Beach calls itself the Mini Golf Capital of the World, with 50-plus courses along the Strand. Hawaiian Rumble, with its 40-foot erupting volcano in North Myrtle Beach, and the five-story Mount Atlanticus Minotaur Golf are the two most photographed.
6. Tour Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park
About 18 miles south near Murrells Inlet, Brookgreen Gardens pairs a major sculpture garden with the Lowcountry Zoo, included in the roughly $25 admission and good for 7 consecutive days. Across the highway, Huntington Beach State Park holds Atalaya Castle, the Huntingtons’ 1930s Moorish-style winter home, plus some of the best birding in the state, for about $8. It’s a separate park from Myrtle Beach State Park in the city, so don’t mix up the two.
7. Have seafood on the Murrells Inlet MarshWalk
The MarshWalk is a half-mile boardwalk over the marsh lined with restaurants, the one stretch of the Strand where naming specific spots holds up: Dead Dog Saloon, Drunken Jack’s, Wahoo’s, Bovine’s, The Wicked Tuna, and The Claw House all sit along it.
8. Tee off on the Golf Coast
Roughly 80 to 90 golf courses line the Grand Strand, earning it the nickname the Golf Coast rather than an official Golf Capital, which belongs to mini golf. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, The Dunes Club, host of the PGA TOUR’s Myrtle Beach Classic, and TPC Myrtle Beach are the standout names. Most visitors book a stay-and-play package rather than one-off tee times.
9. Catch an evening show
Carolina Opry and Alabama Theatre, the latter at Barefoot Landing, cover country and variety acts most nights. Pirates Voyage runs a dinner show, though it’s a Dolly Parton production also staged in Tennessee and Florida, not exclusive to Myrtle Beach.
10. Learn the Shag in North Myrtle Beach
North Myrtle Beach’s Ocean Drive neighborhood is the birthplace of the Shag, South Carolina’s official state dance since 1984. The Shag is the dance itself, and beach music is the genre it’s danced to, worth knowing before you ask a local about either.
11. Get on the water
Kayaking and paddleboarding through the marshes and creeks around the Intracoastal Waterway are widely available for rent, a calmer alternative to ocean swimming on days when the surf or the flags say otherwise.
12. Day trip to Charleston or Georgetown
Charleston is about two hours south and deserves a full day of its own rather than a rushed add-on. Georgetown, South Carolina’s third-oldest city, is a closer 35-mile drive and stacks easily with a Murrells Inlet or Huntington Beach State Park stop on the same southbound loop.
Read more: see our full Myrtle Beach travel guide for when to go and how to get around, or start planning with the 4-day itinerary , which fits several of these in at one outing a day.
One concrete tip: book Ripley’s Aquarium or a Brookgreen Gardens ticket online before you go in July, since both sell timed-entry slots that run out by early afternoon in peak summer.