Myrtle Beach vs. Hilton Head vs. Charleston: What’s the best beach in SC? Here’s what locals say

We asked you where to find the best beaches in South Carolina. Now that it’s finally warm enough to consider maybe possibly taking a dip in the water, we’re very excited to share with you the results of this highly dramatic and highly crucial poll.

Forget political campaigns. We’re trying to plan spring and summer trips to the water.

The poll was broken up into categories, including best beach for families, quietest beach and best surfing. We also asked participants to pick their favorite “collection” of beaches, and we put Hilton Head, Charleston and Myrtle Beach head-to-head-to-head to see who would win it all.

Here are the results of the more than 600 votes. Hopefully it will help you decide where to spend your spring and summer vacations.

What’s the best beach for families?

1. Hilton Head
2. North Myrtle Beach
3. Myrtle Beach
4. Surfside Beach
5. Edisto Beach

Hilton Head was by far the most popular beach in this category, with 28% of voters picking it, nearly 10% higher than its next closest competitor, North Myrtle Beach, which was chosen by 19% of voters.

What’s the quietest beach, the best for avoiding the crowds?

1. Hunting Island
   
   
2. Edisto Beach
   
   
3. Hilton Head
   
   
4. North Myrtle Beach
   
   
5. Pawleys Island
   
   

This competition was much closer. Only Hunting Island won over more than 20% of voters, and Hilton Head and North Myrtle Beach tied at 15%.

What’s the best beach for surfing?

1. Folly Beach
   
   
2. North Myrtle Beach
   
   
3. Hilton Head
   
   
4. Myrtle Beach
   
   
5. Surfside Beach
   
   

Ready to hit the waves? Folly Beach sailed away with 25% of votes.

What’s the best beach near Charleston?

1. Isle of Palms
   
   
2. Folly Beach
   
   
3. Kiawah Island
   
   
4. Sullivan’s Island
   
   
5. Seabrook Island
   
   

The top three here were nearly tied, receiving 29%, 28% and 27% of the votes, respectively.

What’s the best beach in the Grand Strand?

1. North Myrtle Beach
   
   
2. Pawleys Island
   
   
3. Cherry Grove
   
   
4. Surfside Beach
   
   
5. Myrtle Beach
   
   

Myrtle Beach, arguably the most famous of the Grand Strand’s beaches, just squeaked into the top five “best” out of eight competitors. North Myrtle, meanwhile, secured 21% of votes in this category.

What’s the best beach near Hilton Head?

1. Hunting Island
   
   
2. Coligny Beach
   
   
3. Folly Field Beach
   
   
4. Islanders Beach
   
   
5. Burkes Beach
   
   

Hunting Island has quite a few fans, having topped the “quietest beach” list, as well. It tops of the best of Hilton Head list with 32% of votes in the category.

What region has the best collection of beaches?

1. The Grand Strand: 47%
   
   
2. Hilton Head: 33%
   
   
3. Charleston: 20%
   
   

If this were an election, the Grand Strand would’ve been really close to avoiding a runoff. However, it’s a hard competition — the Grand Strand has much more space than Hilton Head or Charleston. As the local Chamber of Commerce always reminds visitors, there are 60 miles of beach. Plenty of room to spread out.

Chase Karacostas

The Sun News

Chase Karacostas writes about tourism in Myrtle Beach and across South Carolina for McClatchy. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2020 with degrees in Journalism and Political Communication. He began working for McClatchy in 2020 after growing up in Texas, where he has bylines in three of the state’s largest print media outlets as well as the Texas Tribune covering state politics, the environment, housing and the LGBTQ+ community.