MYRTLE BEACH NEVER PRETENDED TO BE FANCY

Myrtle Beach knows exactly what it is. This is not the trip for private butlers, silent infinity pools, or a resort where everybody whispers in the lobby. This is the beach trip where the kids want to do everything, somebody is looking for seafood, somebody else wants to shop, and nobody plans on spending the entire vacation sitting still. For generations of Black families across the Carolinas and the broader Southeast, Myrtle Beach has been an easy answer when somebody says, “We need to go somewhere.” You can drive in, split a condo or hotel room, bring the whole family, spend the day on the beach, hit an attraction that night, and still put together a vacation without financing your next three summers. That accessibility is a huge part of the destination's staying power.

But Black travelers should also know the history underneath the modern resort strip. Nearby Atlantic Beach became an important Black beach community during segregation, one of the places where Black families could actually enjoy this stretch of Carolina coastline when many surrounding beaches did not welcome us. The Black experience along the Grand Strand did not start when the resorts discovered diversity.

Today, Myrtle Beach is unapologetically commercial. There are amusement rides, golf courses, mini golf courses, dinner shows, outlet malls, beach bars, pancake houses, souvenir shops, seafood buffets and enough family attractions to destroy whatever itinerary you thought you had. It can be cheesy. That is kind of the point.

Our Top Myrtle Beach Hotels focuses on the properties that make this particular kind of vacation work best, whether you want an oceanfront balcony, enough pools to keep the kids occupied, a quieter escape from the main strip, or simply a clean, comfortable room that leaves more money for everything else.

Myrtle Beach isn't trying to impress you. It's trying to make sure everybody has something to do.