Myrtle Beach: 5-Day Itinerary

Five days is where golf and North Myrtle Beach earn a slot. This plan takes the 4-day itinerary whole and adds a fifth day built around a round of golf and Barefoot Landing, deliberately slowing the pace rather than cramming more in. Longer stays keep extending the same spine: see the 6-day and 7-day versions. Background on the destination sits in the Myrtle Beach guide .

Book these before you go

Day 1: Arrival and the Boardwalk

Drive in if you can, this is overwhelmingly a drive-to market (Spirit exited MYR in May 2026). Check in, beach for the afternoon. Learn the flag system: green calm, yellow caution, single red don’t swim, double red closed, blue for marine life, rip currents are the real hazard. From Memorial Day through Labor Day only circular umbrellas 7.5 ft or smaller are allowed, and alcohol and glass are banned on the beach everywhere on the Strand, year-round.

Evening is the Boardwalk & Promenade, 1.2 free miles, a 2010 rebuild after Hurricane Hazel destroyed the original in 1954. Ride the SkyWheel (around $21 adult, $17 child) at dusk.

Day 2: Broadway at the Beach and Murrells Inlet

Beach in the morning, Broadway at the Beach in the afternoon, a separate district about two blocks off the Boardwalk. Ripley’s Aquarium (around $43 adult, $27 kid) or WonderWorks (around $43) is the headline stop. Dinner on Murrells Inlet’s MarshWalk, about 20 minutes south: Dead Dog Saloon, Drunken Jack’s, Wahoo’s, Bovine’s, the Wicked Tuna, the Claw House. Expect roughly 11.5% added to the check inside city limits.

Day 3: Brookgreen Gardens and a live show

A full morning at Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park, about 18 miles south. Brookgreen (around $25, ticket valid 7 consecutive days) pairs the country’s largest outdoor sculpture collection with the Lowcountry Zoo, included in admission. Huntington Beach State Park (around $8) adds Atalaya Castle and serious birding, and it’s a separate park from Myrtle Beach State Park in town (around $5). Beach in the late afternoon, then a live show at night: Carolina Opry, Alabama Theatre, Legends in Concert, or Pirates Voyage (a Dolly Parton production also running in Tennessee and Florida).

Day 4: A slow morning and mini golf

Sleep in, spend the morning and early afternoon on the beach with no plan, and save the day’s one outing for the evening: mini golf. With 50+ courses, Myrtle Beach earns its “Mini Golf Capital of the World” tag honestly. Hawaiian Rumble’s 40-foot erupting volcano and Mount Atlanticus’s five-story course are the two worth choosing between.

Day 5: Golf and North Myrtle Beach

If you play, this is the morning for it. 80-90 courses run along the Grand Strand, “the Golf Coast,” not the “100+” figure that gets thrown around. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, The Dunes Club (host of the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic) and TPC Myrtle Beach lead the list, and stay-and-play packages are how most golfers here book. Not playing? Swap in another slow beach morning instead.

In the afternoon, head up to North Myrtle Beach, quieter and more residential than the main strip, and stop at Barefoot Landing on the Intracoastal Waterway for shopping and the Alabama Theatre, founded by the band. This stretch, Ocean Drive specifically, is the birthplace of the Shag, South Carolina’s official state dance since 1984, the Shag is the dance, “beach music” is the genre it’s danced to, not the same thing. Take the evening slow, no third stop layered on.

Day Focus What it actually costs (USD, pre-tax)
1 Beach, Boardwalk, SkyWheel SkyWheel around $21 adult / $17 child
2 Beach, Broadway at the Beach, Murrells Inlet dinner Aquarium around $43 / $27 kid; dinner plus ~11.5% city tax
3 Brookgreen Gardens, Huntington Beach SP, a live show Brookgreen around $25; Huntington SP around $8
4 Beach all day, mini golf in the evening Mini golf pricing varies by course
5 Golf (or beach), North Myrtle Beach, Barefoot Landing Golf priced by stay-and-play package; Barefoot Landing browsing is free

Is five days too long for Myrtle Beach?

Not if you actually slow down, which is the whole point of the extra day. Five days fits the beach, the Boardwalk, Brookgreen Gardens, a live show, mini golf and a round of real golf without ever stacking more than one outing into a single day. If golf isn’t your thing, this day converts easily into a second unstructured beach day instead, nothing about this plan requires you to play.

One concrete tip: book tee times and the live show before you travel, not after you land, both routinely sell out on peak-season weekends.