Sometimes, a destination totally lives up to its name, and that is true with Garden City Beach, a small resort town located just ten miles south of Myrtle Beach! This quaint town is as charming as it sounds, and I highly recommend a visit to this unique Grand Strand neighborhood. Along the beautiful expanse of beach, you’ll find rows of multi-colored beach houses, many of which are available for rent! In town, there are amusements, an arcade, shopping, restaurants, and the heart of the community, the Pier at Garden City! This 668-foot fishing…

Socastee, South Carolina is located just west of the Myrtle Beach airport, around the junction of highways 707 and 544 in Horry County. This unincorporated section of Myrtle Beach has become a neighborhood unto itself in the past few decades, especially since the Air Force base closed in 1994. It was once a quiet community for soldiers stationed at the base (where The Market Common is located), but now it is a thriving community, with a large commercial center and rapidly-expanding residential areas. Socastee is situated along the Intracoastal…

Since its incorporation in 1964, Surfside Beach has had a reputation for being a “family beach,” and it certainly lives up to it. Surfside boasts quiet, tree-lined residential areas that will make you want to house shop and move on in. Beyond the obvious beauty and breathtaking ocean views, this town truly gets its charm from the residents and workers who call it home. Surfside’s beaches are cleaned daily and are under the watchful eyes of local police and life guards. Several beach access points offer restrooms and showers, and many provide…

Just a short drive west of the Intracoastal Waterway from Myrtle Beach is the master-planned community of Carolina Forest. This is a relatively new community that is booming with new construction, primarily residential, but you’ll also find some terrific restaurants, recreation centers, shopping and golf courses. Located between Myrtle Beach and Conway, you can easily access Carolina Forest off the 501 or from Robert Grissom where it turns into International Drive. Nearly half of this 25 square-mile area has been set aside for conservation, and…

What was that? No, I don’t mean “shag” the way the popular Austin Powers movies defined it, and I’m not talking about carpet. The shag is the official dance of South Carolina, and the Myrtle Beach area is the best place to learn the dance or at least watch skilled shaggers while you listen to beach music, some of the happiest music ever recorded (and not to be confused with Beach Boys-style “surf music”). The shag is a smooth, laid-back dance that has been called the “swing dance of the South,” and it is often described as “a slow jitterbug.”…