I took a weekend trip to Myrtle Beach with my friend Natalie earlier this summer. It was our last weekend get-a-way before she moved to Chicago, so it was a little bittersweet. However, having never been to the Carolinas I was excited to check a new state off my list. We “chose” Myrtle Beach was because we were offered a super cheap weekend for participating in a time share promo. We had to go to a “2 hour” presentation about Hilton Honors time share program (more on that later) and by doing so they put us up in one of their condo properties on the Embassy Suites grounds for 4 days, 3 nights for under $120 total. It was too good of a deal to pass on, so we packed our bags and set off for Myrtle Beach.
We were put up in the Kingston Plantation Condos. The condos were old and dated, but clean and spacious, which was all I really cared about. It was about a 15 minute walk to the beach and pool at the Embassy Suites, which were were granted access to for the weekend. We made a stop at Kroger on our way from the airport to get snacks and booze, to save money over the weekend, so having a full kitchen and fridge was helpful.
The Embassy Suites has two separate pool areas, which were nice with ample lounge chairs. There is also a restaurant/bar and an entertainment area with a DJ who supplied tunes while we relaxed in the sun. Signs around the pool area said no coolers were allowed, but thankfully they were pretty easy going about people bringing coolers and their own drinks. However, if you are a strict rule follower and don’t want to bring a cooler, there is waiter service so you won’t go thirsty. After all, who wants to lounge in the sun on vacation without a cocktail?!?!
To get around, we used Uber throughout the weekend, rather then renting a car. It likely would have been comparable in price to rent a car, but since we don’t drive regularly and planned on having cocktails all weekend, we didn’t want to worry about it. Uber was easy and we had the NICEST drivers. Everyone was so helpful and gave us recommendations for restaurants and places to go, which just wouldn’t happen in NYC.
Top 5 – Myrtle Beach
Broadway at the Beach is an area with lots of shopping, restaurants and different kinds of entertainment. We wandered around the shops, where I finally was able to visit a Ron Jon Surf Shop (high school dreams coming true). We stopped for a wine tasting at Boardwalk Winery. The wines were waayyy too sweet for us, but I always love a wine tasting. We had dinner at Liberty Brewery and Grill, which is a brewery and restaurant. They have nice outdoor seating (if you can handle the humidity) and a menu with a variety of options. It was moderately priced and the food was decent, not spectacular.
The best parts of Broadway at the Beach in my opinion were:
1 – The Friday night fireworks display, which was fantastic.
2 – Pick-a-Pearl, a shop where you actually pick out an oyster from the tank, shuck it open and get to take the pearl from inside. Just the pearl cost $17, but if you decide to make it into a piece of jewelry the pearl is included in the cost of the item. They told us they actually x-ray the oysters to ensure there is a pearl inside so you won’t get stuck with an empty oyster. It was super random but fun. My pearl was purple-y pink, while Nat got a “super rare” (according to the shop employees) blue-ish green pearl.
2 – Barefoot Landing
Barefoot Landing is another area of shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment. This area seemed much less crowded than Broadway at the Beach, but there was still a decent amount of options for things to do. A bunch of piers connects the stores and restaurants, as it is mostly built over water, which was something I haven’t seen before. We wandered through the shops and ended up stopping at Stillhouse BBQ for dinner. It was a low-key, simple restaurant (paper plates, styrofoam cups, etc) but the food was pretty good. Oddly we were the only ones in the restaurant at 8pm on a Saturday night, which was super weird to us, considering even restaurants in our small town in Indiana are usually still hopping around that time on the weekends.
3 – The beach….obviously
No trip to Myrtle Beach would be complete without some quality time spent on the beach. The beaches are clean, the water was warm and sunshine is plentiful. There are lots of water activities (kayaking, paddleboarding, parasailing, etc.) to keep you entertained as well.
4 – Shopping at the Tanger Outlets
There are two Tanger Outlets in Myrtle Beach. They have tons of great stores and deals to take advantage of. We didn’t have room to pack things to take back with us so we were limited on what we could buy, but otherwise we would have done some damage. I recommend the Lululemon Outlet and The Cosmetics Company Store. Leggings and make up…two things which I can not get enough of!
5 – Dinner Theaters
If you have extra time, check out Medieval Times or any of the many other dinner/theater type places around (Pirates Voyage, The Carolina Opry, Legends in Concert). We didn’t have time to check any of them out this trip, but I have been to Medieval Times before and LOVED it. It’s such a fun show and the dinner is delicious! It’s a great way to spend a night out on vacation.
If you remember, we were required to attend a “2 hour” time share presentation as part of the deal for this weekend away. Well it should be noted that we managed to get out of the presentation in 54 minutes, which I have to assume is some kind of record. We did our research on how to get out of a presentation quickly, without getting suckered into buying the package, and it worked! My advice….act super uninterested (respectfully) and ask zero questions. They will get the point and won’t want to waste their time on you. That being said, the Hilton timeshare package is actually kind of an awesome deal if you have an extra $10,000 laying around. At this point in my life that’s not exactly something I can swing, but I’m definitely going to keep it as an option in the future. I think it would be worth the money if you are someone who travels multiple times per year.
Myrtle Beach is an easy weekend getaway if you want to spend some time at the beach and have some fun in the sun. Pack some sunscreen and your swimsuit and head out to make some memories on a great family vacay or a fun girls trip!
NOW BOARDING: 