Myrtle Beach Recommendations

[Logan]

The girlfriend and I will be taking some time off in Myrtle Beach next week. Going to be getting there late afternoon Monday, leaving Friday. I'm requesting tips from the good people of FOFC. What are the best restaurant options? How about bars for a younger crowd (we're both 23)? Stuff to do during the day? I know she's going to want to see the Ripley's aquarium, which I've heard is pretty cool.

We'll be staying at the Beach Colony Resort. Knowing nothing about the city, can we walk to the more popular locations (I've heard Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Island are the touristy spots, but I know nothing about them besides that)? Or should we be taking cabs to get around?

Any and all input is of course accepted. In return, if you ever need tips for a fantastic Central Jersey experience, I'm your man. Thanks.

[Wolfpack]

It's been a while since I've been down there, but we used to go frequently when I was younger. My recollection is generally that Myrtle Beach is very spread out and diffuse (the entire area is known as the Grand Strand). It's almost five distinct areas, really. There's the main heart of Myrtle Beach where much of the hotel development is, but then there's the strip of development just inland along Kings Highway which is quite commercial with a lot of restaurants, T-shirt shops, and things of that nature. There's Broadway at the Beach out on the US 17 bypass which is a big shopping/entertainment area, including a Hard Rock (there used to be an All-Star Cafe and a Planet Hollywood, but I think those have gone under). Then there's Restaurant Row north of downtown, which basically begins after the Kings Highway and the bypass merge together and has (had?) a ton of Calabash-style (buffet) seafood restaurants. Go further north and you end up in North Myrtle, which is actually a separate town altogether. Going south will lead you to the airport, Surfside, Georgetown, and Pawley's Island. My impression was this area was much more residential (and more high-end at that) than other parts of the Strand. Golfing in just about every form (regulation, par-3, mini-golf) is all over the place all along the Grand Strand. Won't do you much good if you don't care about golf, though. :)

In short, I don't think you can hoof it to a lot of the places because we're talking about probably 10 miles long and a few miles wide just for the area that really can be called "Myrtle Beach" and it's about 20-25 miles all told from North Myrtle to Surfside. Where you are, you're only a couple of miles from Broadway and a few miles southwest of restaurant row, but I can't say it's very walkable.

[Easy Mac]

I recommend turning around.

[B & B]

http://www.funtasticnovelties.com/itemsimages/t%20teeth%20bubba.jpg

[Butter]

Myrtle Beach is very spread out, you will need to take cabs for sure.

As for eating, I recommend greatly avoiding most of the buffets. They're cheap, but most of them are awful. In most cases, you really do get what you pay for. I really enjoyed Crabby Mike's which is a bit south of the main Myrtle Beach area, but is very, very good for a buffet. But it also gets crowded fast, so if you can stomach it, go early for the early bird special.

As for what to do during the day... it's a beach! Lay in the sun, splash around, etc. The water is not what I would call pristine, but the weather is usually pretty nice down there.

[CU Tiger]

For a nice dinner, try Pier 14. It in the Yachtsman condo building. Nice dining on the ocean. Goes from lsandwich and bar lunch to fine dining at dinner. Food is hard to beat.

As said really spread out. Barefoots landing is probably 5 miles from the strip with broadway being 15 miles or so down the bypass.

Hard rock, planet hollywood (still there), and more of the chain touristy restaurants (margaritaville, key west grill, fat tuesdays daiquiri bar etc. are at Broadway, it can be fun at night. Plus club kryptonite is on the grounds. It is cool for the 18-24 scene but can be too crowded. Think 5000 people in a huge multi level.

I have a house about 10 miles north of myrtle in cherry grove and we go down several times a year/ let me know any specifc questions I might ccouldd help with.

Oh yeah, if you have never been. Spend one night walking the strip (if you are at Ripleys you ae pretty much there) and just be amazed at the 13-16 year old sluts...

[Kevin]

SWMBO and I are going next week as well. With us it's all about golf and relaxation. The long range forecast doesn't look like great beach weather with the possible exception of late in the week for one or two days.

[Logan]

Thanks for the tips so far.

Oh yeah, if you have never been. Spend one night walking the strip (if you are at Ripleys you ae pretty much there) and just be amazed at the 13-16 year old sluts...

Done.

[Thomkal]

Welcome to the Grand Strand. :) Couple sites that might help are:

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/living/travel/visitors_guide/
http://www.discovermyrtlebeach.com/
http://www.myrtlebeachinfo.com/cvb/guide/stay-play.html

And those are just the tip of the iceberg. :)

You will definitely need to either take a cab, or use the tourist bus system (not a very extensive operation-should have schedules for it at the resort). There are three main north-south drives on the Strand. Ocean Blvd where your and many other hotels are. Closest to the ocean obviously. 17 Business is further inland, and 17 Bypass further inland more. They all run for several miles. So on foot just won't work. But most of the touristy spots can be found on or near these three roads, so you should be able to find them easily enough (though you will have traffic)

Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing (BL is further to the north) are both outdoor malls. Lots of water, bridges, and all sorts of stores and entertainment spots. Especially Broadway as they have some themed nightclubs there I believe. There is also the Coastal Grand Mall which you will see as you leave the airport. Biggest mall in South Carolina, and some good restaurants. (I recommend Sticky Fingers-a rib/barbecue place)

There is one amusement park if you like that kind of thing, but they just tore down the other, the historic Pavillon which has left a lot of people bitter. If you like minor league baseball, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans season is about to start and likely will be in town at some point during your stay.

I will disagree with Butter somewhat about the buffets. Almost all of them are seafood buffets, and if you love seafood (I don't), you have to go to one. Seafood is a definite speciality of the area. There are a lot of medium/upscale restaurants in a place called Restaurant Row in the northern part of the area, and a great number in a town called Murrels Inlet to south (wave as you go by me on the Bypass :) )

Other fun places to eat are Medieval Times, Dolly Parton's Stampede, Planet Hollywood (which is still open, and I think the All-Star Cafe is too), Margaritaville, and Hard Rock Cafe. Medieval Times and Dolly Parton's are shows/food combined. There is also a Nascar Cafe and Nascar Theme Park where they have all sorts of different racetracks and cars. If you are into country music/shows you might like the Carolina Opry and/or Alabama Theatre, but they tend to be for the older folk. Legends in Concert might be fun if you like celebrity singing impersonators but again more for the older folk.

Ripley's Aquarium is a must-see and there's a Ripley's Believe it or Not near the old Pavillion site. And you can barely walk five feet without running into a mini-golf course if that's your type of thing. There's an Imax theatre at Broadway too. And if you want to embrace your inner geek/Harry Potter love there's Magic-Quest. :) And there's a couple Hooters around too. :)

Looks like the weather is going to take a nose dive end of this week, It's been in the 80's past couple days, hopefully it will get back to that while you are here. If I can be of any more help let me know.

Oh and everything touristy is expensive, so bring lots of money, and be on the lookout for discount coupon books when you first get here.

[Logan]

Awesome work...thanks.

All these sites sell those VIP cards for $10...will I be able to get the same deal when I'm down there?

[Thomkal]

Hmmm unsure about the VIP card being available for the same price or not. You might ask on the message board at the discovermyrtlebeach site though it doesn't look like it gets much traffic.

Forgot to mention there are visitor centers throughout the area including one at the airport, so I'd stop there for sure. And entertainment wise there is also a House of Blues and an Alligators Adventure nature entertainment area that would be fun if you are into nature.

[Thomkal]

So Logan and Kevin,

Just curious if you enjoyed your time at the beach? Where did you go?

[Logan]

I'll let you know next week when I return :). Leaving for MB tom. Thanks for the tips, they'll be put to use.

[Logan]

Got back from MB late last night. We had a really good time. Got into the area around 6pm on Monday (we actually drove down -- saw some flying references in what you wrote). The hotel (Beach Colony) was really nice and the suite was huge with a great balcony overlooking the ocean.

Since we were both tired from the drive, we just wanted to grab a quick dinner and relax in the room after. So my girlfriend basically cemented her "keeper" status by saying we should have our first meal at Sonic. Quick side story...Sonic's effective marketing in the NY area (without having a location close by) resulted in me and my buddies from school being obsessed with their food. So to finally eat there was a magical experience.

Tuesday was a nice day, a little cool with the breeze but we spent the day on the beach. I got burnt to shit. We went to Cagney's for dinner cause I heard they were famous for their prime rib, and that's the girl's favorite meal. We both got the house cut and it was excellent. Their french onion soup was great too. Back to the hotel for a nap and then went to Broadway for the night. Had a couple drinks at Fat Tuesday's, Senor Frog's for an hour or so, and then went to Malibu (? - something like that, I was pretty drunk) for the rest of the night. We had a really fun time.

Wednesday, as expected, was shitty weather so we went to Ripley's which was very cool -- although obviously insanely crowded. Walked around BatB for a little bit when the rain let up, had a drink at that side bar by Margaritaville and then had dinner at Hard Rock. I had the grilled buffalo chicken sandwich (rare to find that kind of sandwich grilled and not fried, so I was really happy) that was honestly one of the best sandwiches I've had in a very long time. Still slightly hungover from the night before, we took it easy afterwards.

Thursday was a perfect beach day. Got out there early and stayed out til around 2. We then drove over to Barefoot Landing and walked around for a couple of hours, very cool place although a lot of the shops get a bit repetitive. But it was a nice day so we didn't care. After that, went back to Broadway to do some more walking and then had dinner at Liberty Steakhouse. Thought it was really good...excellent spinach & artichoke dip and I had a seafood pasta with tons of shrimp, scallops and crabmeat. The girl loved her burger, which was probably the steal of the trip at $6. At night, we basically repeated Tuesday night and had a blast again.

Friday was checkout day so we got up early, packed up and then hit the beach for a little bit (not wanting to get too drained by the sun before having that drive). Beautiful weather again. Had a quick lunch and then hit the road.

Overall, we had a great trip with the perfect balance between relaxing and having a good time going out. Thanks for the suggestions, although for disclosure, I'll admit that my dumb ass forgot my page of notes I took of places to hit. :)

[Dutch]

I was at Myrtle Beach last summer with my folks. Of course, we went the same week as Black Biker Week which made the drive into Myrtle quite a fascinating adventure since the traffic was so conjested. We made a lot of new friends before we even got across the bridge. Good times.

But we don't stay in Myrtle anymore, we stay at hotels down south. In the 70's as a kid, my grandfather would rent beach houses at Myrtle. Those were awesome, but many of the ones we would stay in have been washed away or torn down after a few of those hurricanes wrecked havoc there.

[Thomkal]

Glad you had a good time Logan-guess I should have warned you to bring lots of sunscreen. :) And dumbass for forgetting your notes. ;)

Interestingly enough my brother and family were down from NY the week before and they too wanted to go to Sonic because of all the ads there. Papa John's pizza too was a must for them. They had a bunch of free comps to Planet Hollywood so we went there for dinner one night. I now cannot recommend that place. I had forgotten how loud it is-I hate restaurants where you have to yell to be heard. But the turkey club I had was very dry and the bacon was hard, and three of us including myself were not feeling good the next day. Oh and those wanting to go to Magiquest. Be prepared to stand in line for a long long time with no benches or chairs nearby before you get to actually go in the building.

Do they still have the Mars exhibit at the Aquarium? That was quite bizarre. An exhibit about another planet at an Aquarium? I think they were desperate to pull people in. And I can't believe you didn't play one game of mini-golf. :)

[Logan]

While my girlfriend was lathering up on the sunscreen, I was utilizing the moronic reasoning of "the sun isn't strong so I don't need it." She laughed at me for the next two days.

Sonic was awesome, and I was happy to report back to my college friends that it was everything we expected. We have a couple Papa John's around here but I've had no interest in that. And actually, I'm disappointed in your family of NYers that they wanted chain pizza over I'm sure the great stuff they have around where they're from. :)

Hard Rock was definitely loud which was a little distracting, but then again it was just me and Jaime talking so it's not like we were screaming across tables or to another person 4 seats down. I usually don't like the touristy restaurants but I'm still thinking about that buffalo chicken sandwich, so that should tell you something. Oh, and that Liberty place's brewed beer was really good. I had their red ale, and Jaime liked whatever she had, and she's normally just a Miller Lite drinker.

Honestly, can't tell you if the Mars exhibit was there. We didn't see it, but we also had a feeling that we missed out on a couple things because the place was so packed that it was a pain moving around.

And no, we didn't play mini golf. I take my mini golf seriously, and I just can't tolerate it when you need to stand around waiting before holes because we're behind a couple 7 year olds are whacking the ball around. My mini golf needs to be played on a damn near deserted course. Luckily, Jaime feels the same way so she doesn't think I'm a horrible, insane person.