You have just landed at MYR, a one-terminal airport 3 miles from the sand — the Grand Strand is one 60-mile beach with Myrtle Beach at its middle: a 1.2-mile Boardwalk, the SkyWheel and Ocean Boulevard's towers. This guide covers the 10-minute ride in, where to sleep from a Grande Dunes resort to a Boardwalk motel, the 12% lodging tax and the resort fees on top, a first plate of Calabash seafood, and the boats that fill day two.
You just landed in Myrtle Beach. The airport sits 3 miles from the Ocean Boulevard strip — a taxi or rideshare puts you on the sand in about 10 minutes, with an Airalo eSIM live for the ride in, the 12% lodging tax priced in before you book, and the dolphin boats and marsh tours that sell out first worth booking ahead through GetYourGuide.
Find your arrival stop, hotel, and first meal. Stays, sights, and landmarks in Myrtle Beach — live hotel prices plus the key places from this guide.
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Touch down at MYR and the holiday starts fast: the terminal is 3 miles from the sand, the ride in takes minutes, and the only decision is which stretch of Ocean Boulevard you booked.
Set up data before you leave home — an Airalo eSIM loads in minutes, so maps and ride apps work from the arrivals hall. For a longer US trip, compare Saily and Yesim.
The arrival checklist, in order:
If a delayed or cancelled flight wrecked the arrival, AirHelp checks whether the airline owes you compensation — worth five minutes.
Journey times are approximate and refer to the listed stop — not necessarily your hotel. Allow extra time for waiting, walking, and connections.
Route 15S links the airport stop on Jetport Road with Market Common, Kings Highway and the downtown transfer station; exact cash fare $1.50, or tap a contactless card for $1 a ride capped at $3.50 a day; transfers 25 cents
Metered cabs wait outside Door 6 at baggage claim, first come first served; fare trackers put the run to the central Boardwalk strip at about $18 before tip
Request the ride after you collect your bags and meet it in the designated commercial lane across from Door 5; fares surge on summer weekends and after big events
Eight national brands share the on-site Rental Car Center, open until midnight; a car earns its keep along the 60-mile Grand Strand, and most oceanfront hotels charge for parking
MYR sits just inland from the south end of the strip: 3 miles to the central Boardwalk, about 10 minutes by road off-peak. The rides in from MYR:
Choose the bus with light bags and daylight to spare; choose a taxi or rideshare when you land late, loaded or in the rain. A car only pays once your plans leave the strip — for the 60-mile Grand Strand, it is close to essential.
Prefer to be met? A Kiwitaxi transfer or a Welcome Pickups driver puts a name board in arrivals at a fixed price. Driving yourself, price the airport pickup on AutoEurope, and budget for hotel parking — most oceanfront towers charge nightly.
In town, Coast RTA runs the Strand: routes 15N and 15S cover Ocean Boulevard and Kings Highway from 82nd Avenue North to Market Common, at $1.50 exact cash or $1 by contactless card, capped at $3.50 a day. There is no rail.
Start on the Boardwalk, the 1.2-mile oceanfront promenade from the 14th Avenue Pier to the Second Avenue Pier. Halfway along, the SkyWheel turns 187 feet above Plyler Park — ride it once, early, to learn the shape of the Strand.
Eat a first hot dog at Peaches Corner, the Ocean Boulevard stand that has faced the beach since the old Pavilion days, then drift up to Broadway at the Beach, the ring of shops, bars and attractions around its lake off 21st Avenue North — best after dark.
Give a quieter morning to the south end: Market Common, the village built on the old air base beside the airport, then Myrtle Beach State Park, where a fishing pier and a maritime forest trail survive inside the city.
Browse GetYourGuide for the boat days and show tickets, and compare Klook when stacking activities.
Stay at 8400 Costa Verde Drive, the Grande Dunes flagship — 405 rooms behind a wide, quiet beach, the Hibiscus Spa, dining at Ocean's on 82nd, and pools with a waterslide. Book it for the fullest resort version of the Strand.
Stay at 1801 South Ocean Boulevard, a 230-room oceanfront tower on the south end — free hot breakfast, lazy rivers and indoor and outdoor pools, the airport about 7 minutes away. Book it for a dependable chain base on the sand.
Bed down at 400 North Ocean Boulevard, a classic motel-resort "on the Boardwalk" itself — kitchenettes, balconies, a lazy river and a 24-hour desk, the SkyWheel a few minutes' walk up the promenade. Book it for the old-school Myrtle Beach stay at motel money.
Pick your stretch first. The central Boardwalk blocks put the SkyWheel, the arcades and the widest food choice on foot. Grande Dunes, at the north end, is the quiet resort enclave — bigger properties, wider sand, a drive to everything else. The south end, toward Market Common and the airport, is calmer and often cheaper.
Book ahead for summer weekends, bike weeks and holidays, when the Strand fills end to end. Add the 12% lodging tax to every quote, and ask about the nightly resort fee — the big resorts charge one; many small motels do not.
Eat seafood, the Lowcountry way. The Strand's signature fry is Calabash style — lightly breaded and fried, named for the fishing village over the North Carolina line — with shrimp and grits and she-crab soup around it. Three first stops:
Eat at the oceanfront institution in a converted beach house — she-crab soup first, then whatever the boats brought, with the Atlantic in the windows. Book dinner; lunch is the walk-in play.
Graze the waterfront boardwalk 20 minutes south, where the self-styled seafood capital of South Carolina lines its creek with restaurant decks — pick the longest local queue and order the catch of the day.
Eat where the fish market meets the kitchen — a local favourite for fried shrimp baskets and oysters, away from the boulevard lights; arrive early, it fills with locals first.
For food tours and dinner shows, browse the Myrtle Beach listings on GetYourGuide and book a slot for your first free evening.
Three escapes leave the beach behind: a speedboat chasing dolphins, a paddlewheel dinner cruise on the Intracoastal, and a biologist-led boat through the Murrells Inlet marsh. Carry sunscreen and a light layer — the breeze cools fast on the water.
Two hours from Little River, about 25 minutes north: a narrated cruise up the Intracoastal Waterway, then out through the jetty at speed to find dolphins, and a fast run home along the coast. Rated 4.8 from 183 reviews, from about US$33. Check availability →
Two hours from North Myrtle Beach aboard a 70-foot paddlewheel riverboat: dinner and dessert included — chicken bog and pork tenderloin on the menu the night we read it — live entertainment, indoor and open decks. Non-refundable, so book a settled evening. Rated 4.3 from 271 reviews, from US$69. Check availability →
Two hours from Crazy Sister Marina: a certified marine biologist works the touch tanks while the crew pulls a dredge from the creek bed, then the boat beaches for a shelling walk. Free cancellation to 2 days out. Rated 4.8 from 99 reviews, from US$32. Check availability →
Leave a spare day for Charleston, two hours south — the one full day trip the Strand cannot imitate.
April to May and September to October are the sweet spot: air in the high 70s Fahrenheit, the sea still swimmable, golf season in full swing and the crowds gone. October is the honest shoulder — warm days, cooler evenings, an ocean sliding from the low 70s toward the high 60s, and the tail of hurricane season, which runs to 30 November. June to August is peak: hot, humid, busy and priced for it. Winter is quiet and cheap.
A budget day — a Boardwalk motel, Coast RTA rides and a fried-shrimp basket: US$70 to 100. Mid-range — an oceanfront tower room, a dolphin cruise and a MarshWalk dinner: US$200 to 300. A splurge day at Grande Dunes passes US$450. The same room can cost half as much again in July as in October.
The Strand is 60 miles of towns, and Myrtle Beach proper is its middle. If your hotel sits in North Myrtle Beach or Surfside, the sand is the same — only the drive times stretch.
Tap items to check them off — your list is saved on this device.
Pack for a beach that starts at the hotel door: sun, sand and one air-conditioned evening. This is the full list:
Add the Myrtle Beach extras: a dry bag for boat days, a light layer for the evening breeze, and a swimsuit that lives in the daypack.
! Check visa requirements before you fly
English runs the Strand, warm and unhurried, and the local phrases are mostly courtesies. Four do most of the social work:
Sort your entry paperwork before you book anything non-refundable. Most visitors from Visa Waiver Program countries enter on an ESTA: $40.62, applied for on the official CBP site or app, in hand at least 72 hours before you fly. Nationals of other countries need a B1/B2 visitor visa instead, which takes far longer.
United States citizens flying in domestically need no passport — a driver's licence or other accepted ID covers the flight. Everyone else: MYR has no international arrivals, so your passport is stamped at your first US airport.
Do not pay a third-party site for the ESTA. Unofficial sites charge many times the $40.62 fee for the same form — apply only through CBP. An ESTA is not a guarantee of entry: the officer at your first US airport decides, and stays run to 90 days.
Rip currents are the Strand's real danger, and lifeguard cover is seasonal: stands thin out after Labor Day and most are gone by October. Swim near a staffed stand in season, never alone out of season, and if a rip pulls you out, swim parallel to shore until it releases.
The season runs 1 June to 30 November, and a named storm can close the beach, flood the low inlet roads and cancel every boat in this guide. Check the forecast daily in autumn, follow Horry County alerts, and never drive through flooded causeways.
The boulevard is the city's front porch and its busiest road at once — summer traffic, cruising cars and legal golf carts on the side streets. Use the marked crossings and look twice at night.
October still burns: sunscreen before the boat, water through the day, and go easy on the deck drinks. For anything serious, call 911 and give your beach access number.
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The AmericasThe short ride in, the 12 percent tax and the October sea, in short.
Fares checked against Coast RTA and 2026 airport fare trackers, October 2026; lodging taxes against the City of Myrtle Beach tax pages; entry rules against US Customs and Border Protection.
It is only 3 miles. Taxis from the rank outside Door 6 run about $18 metered, rideshares about $12 to $20 from the Door 5 lane — both about 10 minutes. The budget ride is Coast RTA Route 15S from the Jetport Road stop: $1.50 cash or $1 by contactless card, about 40 minutes.
The central Boardwalk blocks for a first trip — SkyWheel, arcades and food on foot. Grande Dunes for resort quiet and wider sand. The south end near Market Common for calmer streets and the fastest airport run.
Lodging inside the city carries 12% in taxes: 5% state sales tax, 1% county sales tax, 2% state accommodations tax, 0.5% city accommodations tax, 2.5% hospitality fee and the 1% Tourism Development Fee. Many large resorts add a nightly resort fee — ask for the total first.
April to May and September to October: warm air, a swimmable sea, golf season and thinner crowds. June to August is the hot, busy, expensive peak. Winter is quiet and cheap, with some attractions on reduced hours.
Yes — the sea runs from the low 70s Fahrenheit early in the month toward the high 60s by its end. But lifeguard cover is seasonal and mostly gone by October, so treat the water as unguarded, and if a rip pulls you out, swim parallel to shore until it releases.
Not for the strip itself — Ocean Boulevard is walkable and Coast RTA buses run its length for $1.50. Rent the car when your plans spread along the 60-mile Grand Strand: Murrells Inlet, the state park and the golf courses are all drives, not walks.
Fares change — the airport, Coast RTA and your ride app always win.
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Airport name, code and the 3-mile distance against the airport's Wikipedia entry and its own ground transportation pages. Taxi and rideshare figures against 2026 fare trackers (taxis outside Door 6, rideshare at Door 5). Bus fares and the contactless cap against Coast RTA: fixed routes $1.50 a ride, Route 15S serving the airport, contactless $1 capped at $3.50 a day, transfers 25 cents. Lodging taxes against City of Myrtle Beach tax pages and a resort's published breakdown — 5% state sales, 1% county sales, 2% state accommodations, 0.5% city accommodations, 2.5% hospitality fee, 1% Tourism Development Fee: 12% in total; resort fees vary by property and sit outside it. ESTA fee of $40.62 against US Customs and Border Protection. GetYourGuide products opened and read October 2026 — titles, durations, ratings and from-prices as printed there; the Sea Screamer sails from Little River under a Myrtle Beach title. Hotels against the properties' own sites. Expedia returned rate limits during this build, so hotel URLs are empty pending the confirmation pass. Photo credits as in the guide data. Last verified October 2026.
Affiliate disclosure: hotel names, transfers, experiences, and products linked in this guide may earn After You Land a commission at no extra cost to you. Prices and times were checked in Oct 2026 and change often — confirm before you book.