Travel Journal: All About Myrtle Beach/Charleston South Carolina !

 Like many newly-weds, me and my husband were young, broke, and full of dreams when we got married in 2018.  We wanted to have a honeymoon somewhere nice - especially somewhere we could walk right out of our hotel and onto some beautiful beach !

 It was a stressful time wedding planning and trying to get our careers going so we wanted to just get to chill. We ended up going to Las Vegas for a few days right after our wedding for a “mini-moon” which was fun (see other blog posts for Vegas tips!) but we still wanted that typical beach honeymoon. Since we got married in November we decided we would take our official honeymoon in June the next year. With a small budget - we started digging into some major research like “best budget beach destinations” and settled on somewhere we had never been before- Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It consistently came up as beautiful and budget friendly and the more we read and looked the more we thought- heck yes let’s give this place a try.

It turns out this place was an absolute gem and gave us the budget honeymoon of our dreams ! 

But what makes this place so great ? 

Well to start, like I said it’s definitely more affordable than a lot of other beach destinations like Hawaii or California. It features a 60 mile stretch of sandy beaches, diverse attractions and a friendly safe atmosphere. It has that classic beach with boardwalk vibe, southern hospitality and it’s so walkable ! We found so many great restaurants and unique shopping all right off the beach. We stayed at a hotel right on the beach and that meant it was super easy to walk to all the food, attractions and most importantly the beach itself. In June the water was so warm and welcoming and because the beach is so long, even when there was a lot of people it was easy to find a spot and have space. 

Because of its calmer waters and diverse attractions it’s also super family friendly. 

Aside from endless hours of walking, swimming and living it up on the beach - these were our favorite attractions and things to do: 


Broadway at the Beach: a huge entertainment, dining and shopping complex

https://www.broadwayatthebeach.com/

Hopswee Plantation: 

A National Historic Landmark that served as a Rice Planation in the Georgetown, SC Low Country. It was built in 1740 and was the home of Thomas Lynch Sr. And his wife Elizabeth Allston. As a plantation - it obviously has a very complicated history as its labor was all through enslaved African Americans. It serves an important role of educating on the atrocity that was slavery so that we learn from history rather than repeat it. Hopswee does a wonderful job of showing the hard truth of history while also taking the grounds and making them a beautiful place to visit. There are craft demonstrations and a wonderful tea room where we had some of the best southern comfort food !


https://www.hopsewee.com/


The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk/Promenade: A 1.2 mile pedestrian path that runs along the ocean front of Downtown Myrtle Beach. This is your classic American Boardwalk on a beach and such a wonderful atmosphere. It is full of great shopping, dining and entertainment.


https://www.visitmyrtlebeach.com/things-to-do/attractions/boardwalk

Myrtle Beach State Park: A beautiful natural escape into hiking, camping and many opportunities to learn all about the local flora and fauna. This is an amazing state park that you will want at least 1 day in !


https://southcarolinaparks.com/myrtle-beach

Day trip to Charleston: Charleston is an easy 2 hour day trip from Myrtle Beach and we absolutely recommend it ! You could easily plan an entire trip in this city on its own too. We focused on the historic French Quarter and loved walking its cobble stone streets while admiring the architecture, and trying delicious foods ( I am a gumbo enthusiast when in the South). The French Quarter adds to its overall historic charm with many horse drawn carriage tours passing you by as you take it all in. We stumbled up the Provost Dungeon Museum - built in 1771 its been a commercial exchange, custom house, post office, city hall, military headquarters and now museum. Definitely don’t miss this one ! 



https://www.oldexchange.org/highlights


The Gay Dolphin: A supper unique, HUGE gift shop- they even claim to be the biggest in the nation- totally worth checking out and getting some souvenirs ! 


To this day this was one of our favorite beach destinations and we have our beautiful sea shells and Myrtle Beach shot glass among our travel collections. If you want a laid back, all American, classic boardwalk beach vibe and a trip to remember- make Myrtle Beach South Carolina your next summer vacation! 





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