5 Things You Must Do At Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

This past April, the good folks of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina hosted my husband (Ryan) and me on a weekend trip. It was my first time in South Carolina, in fact! We packed in a TON of experiences over just a few days, so I have rounded up our most memorable moments for this post. I hope you enjoy it.

5 Things You Must Do In Myrtle Beach

Visit the Museums.

Guys, there are a ton of museums at Myrtle Beach. It’s like a tourist’s dream. These museums are great fits for all ages, too, and are sure to keep your family busy, busy, busy.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. Believe it or not (see what I did there), I had never been to one of these museums before. It included weird and unusual facts, exhibits, and stories. You know Ripley’s drill. Not for the faint of heart and some kiddos may get scared, but I loved it.

Ripley’s Aquarium. Sharks, stingrays, and exotic fish, to name a few. Not the grandest of aquariums, but the kids will dig it.

Hollywood Wax Museum. Okay, so not quite up to Madame Tussauds’ standards, but still fun to walk through and take silly photos. What I did like about this museum is that it included a neat (and quite hard) mirror maze and zombie-themed adventure towards the end of the tour, which totally justified the fee the enter.

WonderWorks. This is more of an amusement park, really, and I found out later (when I saw the same museum in Orlando, Florida) that it is actually a chain of four or so scattered around the U.S. You’ll take part in several hands-on activities, rides and exhibits, including laying on a bed of nails (as seen above). This place is a lot of fun and kids could easily spend hours upon hours going through each area.

Kayak.

Another first for me and I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it, honestly, but I was open to giving it a whirl.

With the help of Black River Outdoors, Ryan and I kayaked the Cypress Swamp, which is the blackest, darkest water I have ever seen. Our tour was set to be a couple of hours long but ended up being close to three. The beginning of the tour was very mellow and relaxed. I got the hang of kayaking pretty easier. We saw snakes, birds, and turtles, lots of them, and our guide was extremely knowledgeable about each one. He even jumped out of his kayak to give us a closer look at a snake, ha! After a couple of hours in, I will admit that my arms were beginning to get very tired since I am not used to this activity, but I really enjoyed kayaking itself. There is a relaxing, therapeutic quality to it. If I lived near the water, I would totally own a kayak.

Ride the Skywheel.

The Skywheel is definitely a must-do. It is a huge enclosed (and even air-conditioned) Ferris wheel located on the Boardwalk (which also hosts Ripley’s Museum and a ton of restaurants) right on the beach.

The views from the Skywheel are outstanding.

The ride is pretty long, so you have plenty of time to take in the beach views.

Eat.

You cannot travel to any new location and not get a good feel for the food, am I right? As you can imagine, there were plenty of chain restaurants in the area and we did hit a few of those that we hadn’t tried before, like the Tupelo Honey Cafe. I have to say, this was BY FAR the best food we had during our stay. I fell in love with this place.

I had a fried chicken sandwich (something I totally never order, but they specialize in Southern cooking, so) that was out of this world.

We loved it so much, in fact, that we tried to visit it a second time, but it was completely booked up with reservations. No worries though, we ended up next door at King Grille for a tasty lunch and cold beer over our favorite team’s basketball game. It was fate, I tell ya!

Another great spot was visited was a quaint little ice cream shop near the Boardwalk called Kirk’s Ice Cream. Definitely a mom and pop shop with no frills, just ice cream. They were even kind enough to make me a fresh pot of coffee and bring it to our table. That ranks pretty high with me. 🙂

There are also a slew of restaurants in the “Broadway at the Beach” area, which soon became our go-to joint for entertainment (we caught the movie “It Follows” while visiting), fun and eating. One thing to keep in mind for the surrounding restaurants – some are only open for dinner, so make sure you check the hours before taking the trip there.

Play Miniature Golf.

As we were driving to our hotel from the airport, we noticed a recurring theme – miniature golf courses. We passed one, then two, then five! WHAT THE HECK WAS GOING ON WITH MINI-GOLF HERE? I turned to Google to find out. I learned that there were around 25 mini-golf courses in Myrtle Beach. In fact, there was an entire professional miniature golf tournament that Myrtle Beach hosts, too. WHAT? This was one of our favorite activities during our stay and we got VERY competitive, too. Also, this is our youngest son’s dream place (mini-golf is by far his fav thing to do), so my husband is actually taking him this summer to just hit all the courses. So much fun.

So, those are my top five. I know that I didn’t mention the actual beach at Myrtle Beach, but this is mostly because it was a little too cold and overcast when we visited to get in and near the water. I am definitely a beach girl and plan on doing more lounging in the sand during my next trip out. From what I saw, it was quite lovely.

A big THANK YOU to Myrtle Beach for having us out. Learn more about Myrtle Beach at visitmyrtlebeach.com.

Have you ever visited Myrtle Beach?

Amy @ Mom Spark

For 16 years, I have been the creator & full-time blogger of Mom Spark. I’ve also created content for numerous outlets such as Good Housekeeping, Better Homes & Gardens, & Huff Post.