Myrtle Beach is an overcrowded, expensive tourist trap so go here instead!

Myrtle Beach is an overcrowded, expensive tourist trap so go here instead.

Beach vacations on the east coast seem to always start with Myrtle Beach and that doesn’t always lead to a great experience for beachgoers.

With Thanksgiving now only a few weeks away and Christmas soon to follow, many vacationers are starting to look for spring and summer options for their vacations. Let’s face it, most of us are done being cooped up in our house and are ready to get some fresh air. Naturally, beaches are a pretty good choice because you can easily practice social distancing if we still need to.

On the east coast, Myrtle Beach tends to top the destination lists. It is located in the mid-Atlantic region, not too far south like Florida and not too far North where the gulf stream waters can still be chilly until mid-summer. No, Myrtle Beach is a near-perfectI location. Except that it really isn’t.

I live a short two hours from MB and have been there many times. For a week, for a weekend, for a  quick trip out of North Carolina for a day and back. Yet you can enjoy all that Myrtle Beach has to offer without overpaying and getting stuck in all the tourist traps that surround it.

As the title suggests, there is a better option and it is only a few more miles south. Garden City.

Years ago we ditched the Myrtle Beach stays and moved south to Garden City and haven’t looked back. The smaller town still has all the charm of what we think of when we dream of a Myrtle Beach vacation but with a lot more.

For starters, we need to know where Garden City actually is. Myrtle Beach is comprised of two areas, North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach. Just to the south is Garden City. Close enough to drive to Myrtle Beach and take in all the touristy stuff and yet outside the city limits enough to be quaint, quiet, and enjoyable.

To put this into better perspective, we stayed a week in GC several times over the last ten years during bike week no less and when we drove the 10 miles to Myrtle Beach we were inundated with motorcycles and more motorcycles yet once we got back into GC, it quieted down to the point we didn’t realize there was a “Bike Week” going on.

The beaches are just as nice if not better in Garden City. Long stretches complete with piers and nice surf. The best part, they are far from overcrowded. We rented a house on the beach and never had to deal with people cutting through the yard from the houses on the other side of the street, and never had to worry about noise at night.

Garden City itself has enough to keep you entertained but let’s be real if you are going to venture away from the beach paradise, you will be hitting Myrtle Beach. From gift shops to seafood buffets that line the strip there is a lot to do. But you don’t want to say there. Myrtle Beach is not cheap and the noise can be loud and the traffic worse.

If wildlife is your joy, there are a lot of dolphins off the Garden City beach line, sea turtles, and even sharks by the pier waiting for the fisherman to throw back their catches. The shell collecting along the shoreline is also really good especially at high-tide and immediately after it starts to recede.

Do yourself a favor and while you are planning ahead, take a look at making your Myrtle Beach vacation a short trip south instead to Garden City, you won’t regret it.