8 South Carolina Beach Towns Locals Love (and 3 Tourists Overrun)

Ask a South Carolinian for their favorite beach and watch them stall.

They’ve got an answer.

They just don’t want you to have it too, because the best stretches of Carolina sand rarely show up on the billboards along I-95.

These are the South Carolina beach towns locals love, and those they’ve handed over to everybody else.

1. Folly Beach

Folly Beach sits a quick drive from downtown Charleston, and the folks who live there call it the Edge of America.

Surfers own the mornings.

The Washout draws the boards whenever a swell rolls in off the Atlantic.

Center Street is the main drag, a short strip of taco joints, dive bars, and Chico Feo’s backyard tables.

Walk to the northeast tip, and the old Morris Island Lighthouse stands out in the water, cut off from the shore.

Day-trippers from the city pack the county pier lot on weekends, so Folly regulars bike in and skip the fight for a parking spot.

2. Sullivan’s Island

Sullivan’s Island sits at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, and residents like it plain.

You won’t spot a high-rise anywhere on it.

Fort Moultrie sits on the west end, where palmetto-log walls soaked up British cannonballs back in 1776.

Edgar Allan Poe pulled guard duty here as a young soldier, then set his story “The Gold-Bug” in these dunes.

Poe’s Tavern pours the beer and flips burgers named after his tales.

Charleston insiders park along the numbered Stations and walk in, since there’s not a meter on the island.

3. Edisto Beach

Edisto Beach sits where the pavement runs out, about an hour south of Charleston, down a two-lane road with no traffic light in sight.

You won’t find a high-rise or a chain hotel out here.

Edisto Beach State Park runs along the south end, with campsites tucked under the live oaks.

Drive up to Botany Bay and walk its boneyard beach, where bleached dead oaks lie right on the sand.

Whaley’s serves cold beer inside an old gas station.

The same families rent the same cottage every July, sometimes 40 summers running.

4. Pawleys Island

Pawleys Island goes by “arrogantly shabby,” a barrier island on the Hammock Coast south of Myrtle Beach.

It ranks among the oldest resorts on the East Coast.

Rice planters built cypress cottages on Pawleys in the 1800s to escape the summer fevers inland.

A riverboat captain named Josh wove the first Pawleys Island rope hammock along the creek in the late 1800s, and the Hammock Shops still sell them today.

Frank’s handles the seafood side of things.

Creek-side or ocean-side, you claim your porch and settle in.

5. Litchfield Beach

Litchfield Beach stretches just north of Pawleys, a low-key run of houses and live oaks with no boardwalk and no arcade.

Huntington Beach State Park sits at its edge, where alligators sun themselves beside the causeway and Atalaya Castle stands over the dunes.

Across the road, Brookgreen Gardens displays sculptures among the moss-draped oaks.

Murrells Inlet and its MarshWalk hand you fresh shrimp and grouper a few minutes up the road.

Vacationers blow past Litchfield on their way to the neon, which suits the neighbors fine.

6. Garden City Beach

Garden City Beach hangs off the south end of the Grand Strand, where the houses perch on stilts right over the water.

The Garden City Pier runs out over the surf with an arcade and a bar at the far end.

Sam’s Corner sells chili dogs and crinkle fries by the sand.

Locals cast a line at the Point, where the ocean meets Murrells Inlet.

Weekenders miss it because they take the exit for Myrtle Beach first.

7. Fripp Island

Fripp Island sits at the far end of the Sea Islands past Beaufort, a gated barrier island named for an English sea captain.

White-tailed deer wander the yards and the golf cart paths in broad daylight.

You reach Fripp by crossing Hunting Island, the most-visited state park in South Carolina.

Hunting Island’s black-and-white lighthouse and its boneyard beach draw the crowds, while Fripp stays behind its gate.

The Ocean Point golf course runs right along the Atlantic.

8. Surfside Beach

Surfside Beach calls itself the Family Beach, a tidy town wedged between Myrtle Beach and Garden City.

Back in 2016, it became the first autism-certified travel destination in the country.

The rebuilt Surfside Pier stretches over the water again after Hurricane Matthew tore the old boards away.

Families rent the same beach block for a whole week and barely touch the car.

No high-rise hotels crowd the sand here.

Where the Crowds Take Over

Now for the three South Carolina beaches out-of-towners pack shoulder to shoulder all summer.

1. Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach sits at the center of the Grand Strand, which is 60 miles of hotels, mini golf, and pancake houses up the northern coast.

The SkyWheel spins over the boardwalk while traffic crawls down Ocean Boulevard.

Tour buses and T-shirt shops crowd Broadway at the Beach.

Millions of vacationers pour in every summer, and Carolinians plan their errands around the backup on Kings Highway.

2. Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head Island spreads across the far south end of the coast, 12 miles of beach wrapped in bike paths and gated resorts.

The red-and-white Harbour Town Lighthouse marks Sea Pines, and crowds pack the island for the RBC Heritage golf tournament every spring.

Sign rules on Hilton Head are strict, so you won't spot tall signs or bright chains, and newcomers wander around hunting for a brown-on-beige Publix.

Summer traffic backs up onto the bridge before anyone even reaches the sand.

3. North Myrtle Beach

North Myrtle Beach runs up the coast from its louder neighbor, home to Ocean Drive and the birthplace of the shag, South Carolina's official state dance.

Dancers still slide across the floors at the Ocean Drive clubs during the twice-yearly Society of Stranders weekends.

Cherry Grove Pier juts into the surf up north, and shoppers pour into Barefoot Landing by the busload.

Calabash-style seafood, breaded and fried and piled high, headlines the menus along Highway 17.