From deep-sea fishing to beach volleyball, there’s always something exciting going on at beautiful Litchfield Beach. Whether you jet ski through the sparkling waves, parasail high above the ocean or scuba dive into the ocean depths, there’s something amazing for everyone to do and see. If you want to walk, play golf, go sightseeing or eat the best seafood on the coast; your vacation rental options position you within easy access of your favorite choices. Here is a list of the top 11 Litchfield Beach vacation rental locations to help you zero in on your vacation paradise.
1. Litchfield Beach
Litchfield Beach is a family-oriented beach, which makes it a great place to stay if you have children. Besides the typical beach vacation activities featuring sand, the sun, and frolicking in the surf, the area includes art galleries and parks. Gallery 57, Island Art Gallery, and Cheryl Newby Gallery feature creations by local artists, modern paintings, antique prints, and maps. Your vacation rental also gives you access to historical landmarks, including Atalaya, an American castle that was built as the winter home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington. They left Huntington Park and Brookgreen Gardens as their legacy.
2. Murrells Inlet
Your hardest task in Murrells Inlet will be deciding what to do next. Express Watersports offers catered sunset cruises, scuba diving tours, snorkeling tours, dolphin tours and guided kayak tours. If you want more speed, you might try their parasailing, banana boat rides, and jet ski rentals. For a change of pace, Brookgreen Gardens encompasses lovely gardens, sculptures by American artists and the Lowcountry Zoo. Walking paths wind among butterfly gardens, past tranquil fountains, and through live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. The zoo exhibits many wild and domesticated animals living in natural habitats, including foxes, hawks, owls, and otters. When you work up an appetite, Bovine’s on Murrells Inlet Marsh Walk invites you to revel in breathtaking views of the inlet as you dine on wood-fired steaks, seafood or brick-oven pizzas.
3. Garden City
Garden City is all about that beach. Village Surf Shoppe rents surfboards, paddleboards, kiteboards and the rigs for windsurfing. Their experienced instructors teach private surfing lessons and offer surfing camps for the kids. On any given morning picture yourself stepping out the door of your vacation rental onto the beach with your morning coffee, strolling down to the water’s edge and watching a glorious sunrise in a few moments of complete tranquility and solitude.
4. Surfside Beach
At Surfside Beach, you can choose some one-of-a-kind adventures, including mermaid classes at Myrtle Beach Mermaids. Kids and adults alike can experience mermaid or pirate dress-up sessions, portraits and beach photography. The kiosk is located inside Wild Water and Wheels water park, which features water slides, water rides, go carts, bumper boats and a miniature golf course. When you’re ready to soar above the water, Shoreline Watersports offers parasailing adventures that fly guests single, tandem and triple. You ride a banana boat out into the deep ocean where the crew launches you up to 300 feet above the water. After a day like this, imagine the exciting conversations with the kids before bedtime at your vacation rental.
5. Myrtle Beach
Vacation means relaxing, having fun, and renewing bonds with family; Myrtle Beach offers innumerable opportunities to do it all. As the hub of the 60-mile stretch of beaches known as the Grand Strand the beachfront boardwalk features arcades, souvenir stands and restaurants. One of the most well-known features of the boardwalk remains the old-fashioned Family Kingdom amusement park that features SkyWheel, one of the country’s tallest Ferris wheels. There’s still the beach for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, jet skiing and fishing when you want to get off the boardwalk.
6. Cherry Grove
The Cherry Grove neighborhood in North Myrtle Beach features the Cherry Grove Pier, which was built in the early 1950s. The pier’s Tackle and Gift Shop offers rod rentals and sales, souvenirs, beach accessories and cold drinks. Besides fishing at the pier, your vacation rental gives your family a great place to play. Kids of all ages can break out the flip flops and trek down the beach for a dip in the ocean or some sunbathing. With a beach chair or a beach towel, you can kick back and bask in the sun while the kids work on their sandcastles. Frisbee and volleyball make great beach games with the kids when you’re ready to join in.
7. Atlantic Beach
Atlantic Beach is a small town where you can take it slow and easy, or leap out the front door of your vacation rental for a wet and wild adventure. You can sign up for surfing lessons for yourself and the kids, or just rent surfboards from Jack’s Surf Lessons and Board Rentals. When you’re ready to rev up the pace, Salt Shaker Boat Tours offers an hour-long guided tour along the waterway. The tour covers about 10 miles and includes some time for you to play with the two-person power boat.
8. North Myrtle Beach
Your vacation rental in North Myrtle Beach positions your family in the midst of more family activities, water adventures, entertainment, arts and restaurants than you can shake a pirate’s cutlass at. Pirates Voyage Dinner & Show invites kids to dress up as pirates and join Blackbeard in a battle for lost treasure. It’s an exciting dinner theater that features acrobatics, aerial feats, sea lions, tropical birds and mermaids while your family enjoys a four-course meal. Other major entertainment venues in town include the Alabama Theatre and the House of Blues. When you’re ready for some outdoor excitement, Hawaiian Rumble Minigolf features an amazing layout with a 40-foot-tall volcano that erupts every 20 minutes. If your family loves horses, Inlet Point Plantation offers trail rides, beach rides, sunset beach rides and pony rides.
9. Georgetown
When you book your vacation rental in Georgetown, be prepared for small-town charm and Southern hospitality in low country tradition. You can stroll along the harbor walk, which offers easy access to the main street shops and restaurants and lovely views of boats in the harbor.The South Carolina Maritime Museum displays the original Fresnel lens of the North Island lighthouse along with many documents, artifacts, photos and interactive exhibits.
10. Red Hill, Conway
If there’s an avid golfer in your family, the Red Hill community in Conway makes an ideal place to book a vacation rental. It is less than a six-mile drive south to Myrtle Beach National, home to three courses that feature signature designs of Arnold Palmer. The West Course offers a professional challenge from the back tees where golfers must negotiate doglegs, natural hazards and fairway bunkers. SouthCreek features just 6,400 yards from the back tees, making golfers strive for accuracy rather than distance. King’s North receives high rankings from Golf Digest.
11. North Santee
South Carolina coastal towns are steeped in history predating the Revolutionary War, including the small town of North Santee. Thomas Lynch, Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born at Hopsewee house. The Lynch family built low country rice plantation house about 40 years before the Revolutionary War. Visitors enjoy guided tours through the house from the attic to the cellar and around the grounds. About five minutes up the road from the plantation, you can get a taste of pure nostalgia at the Carolina Country Store, a 1920s restoration. Whether you want to sit down to a country meal in the dinner, browse the crafts and furniture made by local artisans or visit the chickens outside, it’s a quaint little place full of warmth and hospitality. When you want to combine some exercise with exploring, the Santee Coastal Reserve features nature trails and sandy roads for hiking and biking. The reserve lies about 10 miles south of town.