About Myrtle Beach

Accommodations

Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand offer a relaxing getaway with a large variety of condos, vacation homes, hotels, and resorts. Choose a holiday travel destination that offers luxurious living while making the most of the beautiful beaches at affordably priced rates.

View our Myrtle Beach Vacation Rentals or Myrtle Beach Resorts

Activities

Aside from the natural beauty of the beaches, Myrtle Beach has one of the most diverse selections of musical venues on the Grand Strand. Concerts are available nightly at the House of Blues, and in 1986, Calvin Gilmore opened The Carolina Opry musical variety show featuring all genres of music and, in recent years, has featured Broadway in its new 2,200 seat auditorium. Myrtle Beach Speedway has been the training grounds for some of NASCAR’s biggest stars, including Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. All four generations of Petty's and all three generations of Earnhardt's have taken a green flag around the .538 mile asphalt oval.

Events

The Myrtle Beach Speedway hosts two nationally televised Hooter's Pro Cup events each year in June and October. Held in May, Myrtle Beach Bike Week is the largest motorcycle event in the Carolinas and the third largest in the US. Loris is located 35 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach and the annual Loris Bog-Off, a festival and chicken bog cooking contest, draws huge crowds each year. The Myrtle Beach Fourth of July Concert offers a wonderful night, full of great music and booming pyrotechnics.

Water Sports

Myrtle Beach offers a wide variety of water sports, including swimming, scuba diving, snorkelling, boating and sport fishing. Myrtle Beach is also home to water parks, canoe and kayak rentals and tours, and two State Parks that are on the coast.

Golfing

The Myrtle Beach area is heaven for the golfing fanatic. After hurricane Hazel destroyed some areas, a golf boom began and still continues; today, the number of courses total 115.

History

The Waccamaw and Winyah Indians were the area's first inhabitants, living off the land and the bounty of the local waters. The Spanish, led by Lucas Vasques de Allyon, founded the first colony in North America here in 1526, but the settlement was ravaged by disease, and the colony was abandoned within a year. English colonists established Georgetown, the state's third oldest city, in 1730 and grew rice and indigo on plantations. In 1900, Burroughs & Collins Company, a timber and turpentine company with extensive beachfront holdings, began developing the resort potential of the Grand Strand by constructing a railroad to the beach. The company built the first hotel, the Seaside Inn, in 1901.

Development began in earnest after the 1954 hurricane Hazel destroyed many buildings and trees along the Grand Strand, clearing the way for newer hotels and homes. A great many golf courses, theaters and family attractions were also constructed during this period. Myrtle Beach is where The Gatlin Brothers, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap, Legends In Concert, and Alabama began their careers during the 1970s playing at various locations on the Grand Strand.