We visited Myrtle Beach in May 2025 as part of our May Carolinas loop.

Flashy Myrtle Beach is an hour-and-a-half drive and a world away from laid-back Oak Island. I hadn’t been since college beach week and had no idea what to expect. We were bracing ourselves a bit for a tacky touristy or obnoxious underage drinky (definitely not based on prior experience) scene, but the town was fairly quiet on an early May Tuesday and we had an enjoyable visit.

Myrtle Beach, located in the middle of a sixty-mile stretch of beach called The Grand Strand, is crammed full of surf shops, restaurants, bars, golf and mini golf courses, water parks… anything you need for an active beach vacation. We focused our energy on exploring close to our campground, just a mile from the heart of the Myrtle Beach action along Ocean Blvd and the Boardwalk.

Note that we didn’t actually go to the beach while at Myrtle Beach. We enjoyed looking at it, though! It’s a wide, soft-sand beach, and while it’s probably jam-packed in the summer, it was mellow in early May (in the interest of a peaceful visit, we made sure we wouldn’t overlap with any college beach weeks or bike weeks).

Campground

We splurged on the Myrtle Beach KOA Resort for it’s central location (we also considered the campground at Myrtle Beach State Park, but for a quick visit decided to stay closer to the main drag) and MAN is it a big and fancy RV park. Our site had a sweet sitting area where we ate some meals and had some down time between adventures. Upon checking in, we learned the campground has street-legal (within four miles of home, and only on roads posted 35 mph or under) golf carts for rent!! And so that’s how we got around for the next 24 hours.

Food

We spotted Wicked Tuna while golf carting around town and thought it looked nice for dinner with an ocean view. It was! Our table overlooked the pier, and we had a decent seafood platter and a sushi roll.

In the morning, wanting to take our golf cart for one last spin, we motored to Hi Fi Coffee Bar in the bustling “downtown” area of Myrtle for a breakfast sandwich and latte.

Drink

While tootling in our golf cart, we did a little bar hopping. Our first stop was RipTydz, a huge oceanfront restaurant with a rooftop bar and a terrible name. We love a rooftop bar, and looking out over the beach was a treat. Best/most amusing part: valet parking for our golf cart!

Heading back inland, we spotted a shady patio at River City Cafe and stopped for a drink. Over-the-top burger joints are not typically my scene, but it was a pleasant place to relax for a bit mid-afternoon.

Myrtle has several breweries, and J picked out New South Brewing as the most promising brewery close to home. The golf cart ride there was slightly hairy but the once safely at the brewery we liked the beers and the outdoor space and wished for the millionth time we had our dog with us.

Before dinner, we stopped at 8th Ave Tiki Bar for a pain killer. We’d carted past it earlier and I’m a sucker for a tiki bar. It was a cool spot and a yummy cocktail!

On the way home we stopped at Thorny’s, a sports bar right around the corner from the KOA, to watch the Caps and the Cavs games. Nothing fancy, but very convenient.

Myrtle was fun for a night, but I highly recommend going outside of peak beach season! And I also highly recommend renting a golf cart; we really got a kick out of driving it around.

Next stop: Charleston, 2.5 hours farther down the coast.