The best beach towns in South Carolina for families are Hilton Head Island, Myrtle Beach, Kiawah Island, Isle of Palms, Folly Beach, Pawleys Island and Edisto Beach, and which one you want comes down to whether your family would rather have plenty to do or nothing at all. Start with the number that surprised us. A kid-friendly 3-star room in Myrtle Beach runs $163 a night in August and $87 in late October, when the average high is still 75 degrees. No coastal town in our index offers a more affordable week that is still beach weather. South Carolina rewards the family that picks one thing a day and lets the rest go. By the end you will know which town suits your crew and what a week there actually costs in every season.
How We Ranked Them
Every price below comes from our own Sloth Value Index, where we check real rates by hand for kid-friendly 3-star hotels, same week and same filters in every town, now across four seasons. Two of the seven towns here are in that index, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head Island, and we have said so wherever a number appears. For the rest we ranked on the things that decide whether a week feels easy rather than busy. Calm water. Sand firm enough to push a stroller across. How much of the week disappears into a car once you have arrived. A town moved up this list when it let everybody do less.
South Carolina has one advantage most coastlines do not. Several of its beaches are hard-packed enough to ride a bicycle along at low tide, which turns the beach itself into the way you get around. That single feature does more for a lazy family week than any resort amenity, and it decided the top of this list.
The 7 Best Beach Towns in South Carolina for Families
1. Hilton Head Island
Hilton Head is the one we would book first, and it is not close. Twelve miles of flat, hard-packed sand run the length of the island, the water shelves gently enough that small children can wade a long way out, and the island is threaded with more than sixty miles of paved public pathways that are separated from the road. Families rent bikes on the first morning and genuinely stop using the car. Very few beach towns in the country let you do that.
The pricing has a quirk worth knowing. Hilton Head is a rental town rather than a hotel town, and our index shows it. A 2-bedroom rental runs $92 a night in late October, the most affordable of the 23 towns we track, and rentals come in under the island’s own hotels in three of the four seasons we price. If you have been defaulting to a resort room here, check the rentals first.
Plan it with our Hilton Head family hotels guide, the full budget breakdown, our resorts versus rentals comparison, or the 3-day itinerary.
Is today a good beach day?
Layz Beach is our free iPhone app for families. Join the waitlist for first access and the Founding Family launch offer.
One score for the day
Restrooms and healthy food
Made for families
One email at launch, no spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
2. Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach is the pick when doing nothing is not going to fly. The Grand Strand runs about sixty miles, the boardwalk has a Ferris wheel at the end of it, and there is enough mini golf, arcade and aquarium within a short drive that a rainy afternoon solves itself. Families who find Hilton Head too quiet are usually happiest here.
It is also the best value on this list, and by some distance. Our index puts a kid-friendly 3-star at $163 a night in August, already below the $174 median of the 15 towns ranked that week, and at $87 a night in late October. That October figure is the lowest of the seventeen towns we can rank that week, and no coastal town in the index gives you a more affordable week that is still beach weather in any season. The average high is 75.6 degrees. A family that can travel in the second half of October saves roughly $530 on the same week of lodging.
Plan it with our Myrtle Beach family hotels guide, the cost breakdown, the 3-day itinerary, or our activities guide.
3. Kiawah Island
Kiawah is what Hilton Head looks like with the shops taken away. Ten miles of beach, hard-packed and wide enough to cycle on, thirty-odd miles of leisure trails, and a barrier island that is still mostly maritime forest and marsh. Children who like animals do very well here. Loggerhead turtles nest on the beach in summer, and deer and alligators are a normal part of a bike ride rather than an excursion you book.
The honest caveat is that Kiawah is deliberately undeveloped. Most lodging is villa and house rentals rather than hotels, the shopping and restaurants sit in one small area at Freshfields Village, and there is no strip to wander along in the evening. That is precisely why some families love it and others get restless by Wednesday.
Plan it with our Kiawah family lodging guide, our activities guide, or the Kiawah beaches guide.
4. Isle of Palms
Isle of Palms is the answer for a family that wants a real beach week and a proper city within reach on the same trip. Downtown Charleston is about half an hour away, which is close enough for one afternoon and far enough that you are not sleeping in traffic. The beach itself is broad and gently sloped, and the county park at the end of the island has lifeguards, a playground and actual parking, which is the part that matters when you are arriving with a wagon full of gear.
Front Beach is a short walkable run of restaurants and rental shops rather than a full strip. Enough for an ice cream after dinner, not enough to entertain a teenager for a week. Plan it with our Isle of Palms family hotels guide, the island beaches guide, or our list of things to do there with kids.
5. Folly Beach
Folly is the most relaxed town on this list and the one with the strongest personality. It calls itself the Edge of America, it is about six miles long, and Center Street gives you a genuinely walkable few blocks of restaurants and surf shops leading straight down to the pier. Families who like a place with a bit of grit in it pick Folly over Isle of Palms every time.
Two honest warnings. Parking is the town’s weak point in high summer, so a rental within walking distance of the sand is worth paying for. And Folly gets a surf crowd, which means the water has more push to it than the calm shelf at Hilton Head. Fine for confident swimmers, less so for a toddler. Read our Folly Beach beaches guide, our activities list, and the resorts versus rentals comparison before you book.
6. Pawleys Island
Pawleys Island has described itself as arrogantly shabby for decades and means it as a promise. It is a narrow strip with a tidal creek on one side and the ocean on the other, almost entirely houses, with no high-rises and very little to do. The creek is the part families underestimate. It is shallow, warm and calm, which makes it better than the ocean for small children and for anybody who wants to paddle a kayak without a lesson first.
This is a rental-house town, not a hotel town, and it is the right pick only if a week of reading, crabbing and cooking sounds like a holiday rather than a punishment. It sits about halfway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, so a day out in either direction is easy. Start with our Pawleys Island family hotels guide, the beaches guide, or our activities list.
7. Edisto Beach
Edisto is the furthest from everything, and that is the entire point. There are no high-rises, almost no chains, and the drive in runs through miles of farmland and marsh before the road ends at the water. Edisto Beach State Park sits at one end with a campground, marsh trails and one of the better shelling beaches in the state, and the beach genuinely empties out in the evening.
Go in knowing that a big grocery run before you arrive is part of the plan, and that if somebody in the family needs an arcade by day three, this is the wrong island. For the right family it is the most restful week in South Carolina. We cover the island in our Edisto beaches guide, our activities list, and a resorts versus rentals breakdown for a town that is almost entirely rentals.
Charleston as a Base, Briefly
Charleston is not a beach town and we have not ranked it as one, but plenty of families base there and drive out to the sand, so it is worth saying how that works. The city’s beaches are Folly, Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island, all inside about forty minutes, and staying downtown trades daily beach access for walkable history, better food and a rainy day that takes care of itself. It suits families with older children far better than families with a toddler and a nap schedule.
We now price Charleston in two of our off-season weeks. A three-star hotel there runs a median $155 a night in late January and $237 at March break, with average highs of 59 and 70 degrees, so it is a city break in winter and a mild one in spring.
Start with our Charleston family hotels guide, our activities guide, or the Charleston beaches guide.
The Right South Carolina Beach Town for Every Season
Winter
Neither town we price is beach weather in late January. Hilton Head averages 61 degrees and Myrtle Beach 55.5, so this is a walking, cycling and aquarium trip rather than a swimming one. Hilton Head is the better winter choice of the two, both because it is the milder of them and because its bike paths work in any weather. A 2-bedroom rental there runs $101 a night in January, the most affordable of the 23 towns we track.
Spring break
Mid-March brings Hilton Head to 69 degrees and Myrtle Beach to 63.7. Pleasant for the beach, still cold for the water, and this is the one season where Hilton Head’s rentals cost more than its hotels rather than less, at $179 a night against $161. Myrtle Beach is the better value in March at $154 a night for a hotel, and it has the indoor attractions to cover an afternoon when the wind comes up.
Summer
August is unambiguous beach weather in both, at 88 degrees on Hilton Head and 86.5 in Myrtle Beach, and it is the busiest and dearest week of the year. Myrtle Beach still comes in at $163 a night, while the median across the 15 towns ranked that week is $174. On Hilton Head the rental route beats the hotel route again, $160 a night against $177.
Fall
Late October is the answer for anybody with the flexibility to take it, and it is not a close call. Myrtle Beach comes in at $87 a night with an average high of 75.6 degrees, and Hilton Head sits at 78 degrees with rentals at $92. Both are still comfortably beach weather, the crowds have gone, and for Myrtle Beach it is the least expensive of the three off-season weeks we price. If your children are not yet in school, this is the single best week to use.
What a Week Actually Costs
Lodging only, seven nights, from our Sloth Value Index. Hotel figures are the median of each town’s kid-friendly 3-star tier. Rental figures are the median of rentals with two or more bedrooms, before cleaning and service fees.
| Town | Season | Hotel week | Rental week | Average high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Myrtle Beach | Summer | $1,141 | $1,624 | 86.5F |
| Myrtle Beach | Fall | $609 | $791 | 75.6F |
| Myrtle Beach | Winter | $735 | $917 | 55.5F |
| Myrtle Beach | Spring | $1,078 | $1,099 | 63.7F |
| Hilton Head Island | Summer | $1,239 | $1,120 | 88F |
| Hilton Head Island | Fall | $931 | $644 | 78F |
| Hilton Head Island | Winter | $847 | $707 | 61F |
| Hilton Head Island | Spring | $1,127 | $1,253 | 69F |
The pattern worth taking away is that Hilton Head’s rental week beats its hotel week in three seasons out of four, and Myrtle Beach’s late-October week, at $609 for seven nights, comes in lowest of all 17 towns ranked that week. Both facts are easy to miss if you only ever price the summer.
FAQs About South Carolina Beach Towns for Families
What is the best beach town in South Carolina for families?
Hilton Head Island, for most families. It has twelve miles of flat hard-packed sand, water that shelves gently enough for small children, and more than sixty miles of separated bike paths that let you park the car for the week. Families who want more to do should look at Myrtle Beach instead, and families who want less should look at Edisto Beach or Pawleys Island.
What is the most affordable South Carolina beach town for a family?
Myrtle Beach, in every season we price. A kid-friendly 3-star room runs $87 a night in late October and $163 in August, and both sit below the median of the towns ranked those weeks, $174 across 15 towns in August and $134 across 17 in late October. Hilton Head is the more affordable of the two if you book a rental rather than a hotel.
When is the best time to visit a South Carolina beach town with kids?
Late October, if school allows it. Myrtle Beach still averages 75.6 degrees and Hilton Head 78, so it is genuine beach weather, and lodging costs roughly half what it does in August. Mid-March is the next best window, though the water is still too cold for most children to swim.
Which South Carolina beach town is best without a car?
Hilton Head Island, because of the bike path network rather than public transport. You will still need a car to reach the island, but once you have unpacked, most families genuinely stop using it. Folly Beach is the runner-up if you book within walking distance of Center Street.