Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head With Kids: Two Very Different South Carolina Beach Weeks

By Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel · Updated October 2026

South Carolina’s coast has two family beach destinations that could not be more different. Myrtle Beach is sixty miles of high rises, arcades, pancake houses and the biggest mini golf collection on earth. Hilton Head is quiet, green, planned, and everyone rides a bike. Both work. The question is which family you are.

Myrtle Beach

The Grand Strand has a beach that runs forever and hotels with indoor water parks that make the shoulder season work. The boardwalk has the SkyWheel, arcades and Ripley’s. Broadway at the Beach is a lake ringed with restaurants, the aquarium, a wax museum and rides. The mini golf courses have volcanoes and pirate ships. Family Kingdom is an old school amusement park on the beach. Brookgreen Gardens south of town is the calm counterpoint with sculpture, a zoo and a boat ride. Huntington Beach State Park next door has a castle and alligators in the marsh. Kids between five and twelve think Myrtle Beach is heaven.

Hilton Head

An island of resorts and plantations, in the gated community sense, with twelve miles of hard packed beach you can bike on at low tide and sixty miles of paved paths through the trees. Coligny is the beach with the shops and the playground. Harbour Town has the striped lighthouse to climb, a marina and a playground under the oaks. Dolphin cruises leave from every marina. Pinckney Island wildlife refuge is a flat bike ride to alligators and birds. Kayaking in the salt marsh with an outfitter for kids over about six. Sea Pines and Palmetto Dunes are the resorts with the most for families. Savannah is forty five minutes away for a day trip.

Where to stay

In Myrtle Beach, an oceanfront condo with a kitchen and a pool in North Myrtle or the south end away from the boardwalk noise. In Hilton Head, a villa in Sea Pines or Palmetto Dunes with bikes included, or the big resort hotels on the beach.

Cost

Myrtle Beach is one of the cheapest beach weeks on the East Coast. Hilton Head is a step up but still reasonable outside summer and the villas split well among a big family.

Season

Both are best in late spring and early fall. Summer is hot and crowded. Myrtle’s indoor water parks make it a spring break option too.

Pick

Kids who want rides, arcades and noise, Myrtle Beach. Kids who want bikes, dolphins and a calm beach, Hilton Head. Families with both kinds, Hilton Head with a day at Myrtle on the drive.

Planning South Carolina with kids? Start with the full South Carolina family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.