Myrtle Beach looks simple on a map until you start building a family week around it. The beach is right there, the airport is close, and every attraction seems “just a few minutes away” in the same way every child is “almost ready” while still missing one shoe. Some links in this article are Amazon affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you buy through them at no extra cost to you.
Quick answer: do you need a rental car in Myrtle Beach?
You do not need a rental car for every Myrtle Beach trip. If you are staying oceanfront near the Boardwalk and planning a short beach-and-pool trip, you can probably skip it and use rideshare or taxis a few times.
We would rent a car for most family trips, especially for a full week with groceries, Broadway at the Beach, Myrtle Beach State Park, Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, North Myrtle Beach, or restaurants outside walking distance.
The real question is not, “Can we survive without a car?” You probably can. The better question is, “Will skipping the car make the trip easier or just make every snack run, dinner plan, and rainy-day pivot more annoying?”
| Trip style | Our rental car call | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Weekend oceanfront stay near the Boardwalk | Skip it | The beach, pool, snacks, and a few restaurants can be walkable. |
| Full family week | Rent it | Groceries, attractions, and restaurant choices spread out fast. |
| Staying in North Myrtle Beach but visiting central Myrtle Beach | Rent it | The Grand Strand is longer than it looks when everyone is sandy and hungry. |
| Mostly resort/pool/beach with no day trips | Maybe skip it | Put the money toward a better location instead. |
| Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, Market Common, or Myrtle Beach State Park | Rent it | These are much easier on your own timing. |
| Flying in with car seats, bags, and beach gear | Strongly consider renting | The airport transfer may be easy, but the whole week matters more. |
When we would skip the rental car
We would consider skipping a rental car if the trip is short, the hotel is oceanfront, and the plan is basically beach, pool, boardwalk, repeat.
This works best if:
- you are staying in central Myrtle Beach or directly on the oceanfront
- your hotel has enough food options nearby
- you are comfortable using rideshare or taxis for a couple of dinners
- you are not trying to visit North Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Brookgreen Gardens, or a long list of attractions
- you are flying in and packing light enough that the airport transfer is not a family-strength puzzle
If your dream is to check in, unpack once, walk to the sand, and let the kids rotate between beach and pool until everyone smells faintly like sunscreen forever, skipping the car can make sense.
The catch is that Myrtle Beach is spread out. A car-free trip works better when you are honest about keeping the trip compact.
When we would absolutely rent a car
We would rent a car if the trip includes more than one or two bigger outings. Myrtle Beach is not just one strip of hotels. It is part of the Grand Strand, and the good stuff is scattered enough that a car starts to feel less like a luxury and more like a sanity tool.
We would want a car for:
- a grocery run after arrival
- beach-hopping between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach
- Broadway at the Beach
- The Market Common
- Myrtle Beach State Park
- Brookgreen Gardens
- Murrells Inlet and the MarshWalk
- restaurants that are not within easy walking distance
- a rainy day when the whole plan changes at 9:17 a.m.
That last one is the one people underestimate. Family beach trips do not follow the cute itinerary you made at home. Someone gets sunburned. It rains. The kids suddenly decide the beach is “too sandy,” which is both technically accurate and deeply unhelpful.
A rental car gives you options when the trip stops behaving.
The airport makes renting pretty straightforward
Myrtle Beach International Airport is one of the easier beach airports for this decision because the rental car setup is right there. The airport says its Rental Car Center is a short walk from the terminal and includes eight national rental car companies.
That matters with kids. There is a huge difference between “we walk over, get the car, and leave” and “we wait for a shuttle, then wait again, then someone needs a snack that does not exist.”
Rideshare and taxis also serve the airport, and Coast RTA has public bus service with a stop at MYR. Those can work, especially for adults or simple trips. For a family carrying bags, car seats, beach gear, and at least one mysteriously sticky water bottle, we would still compare the total week of rides against the rental cost.
Our rule: do the full-trip math, not the airport-transfer math. The transfer may be cheap. The fourth rideshare of the week, less so.
Central Myrtle Beach is the easiest car-light version
If you want the best chance of not renting a car, stay where walking actually solves things.
Central Myrtle Beach gives you the Boardwalk, beach access, restaurants, shops, arcades, and the SkyWheel area in one zone. Visit Myrtle Beach describes the Oceanfront Boardwalk and Promenade as 1.2 miles long, running from the 14th Avenue to 2nd Avenue piers, with ocean views, shops, restaurants, and the SkyWheel.
That is the kind of area where you can fill a day without loading everyone into a vehicle.
The tradeoff is energy. Central Myrtle Beach is lively. That can be fun with kids, especially if they want lights, snacks, rides, and action. It can also be the wrong fit if your family wants quiet mornings and early bedtimes without hearing vacation happening outside the window.
If you stay central and skip the car, we would still plan one or two rides for bigger outings instead of pretending the whole week will be walkable.
Broadway at the Beach is not the same as the Boardwalk
This is one of those details that matters when you are planning without a car.
The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk is oceanfront. Broadway at the Beach is a separate entertainment area with restaurants, shops, attractions, and plenty of kid-friendly distraction. Visit Myrtle Beach notes that Broadway and the Boardwalk are two different places.
That sounds obvious until someone books a hotel thinking they will stroll from one to the other every night. You might be close enough for a short drive, but it is not the same as walking downstairs to the beach.
If Broadway at the Beach is on your must-do list more than once, a rental car becomes much more appealing. Same goes for The Market Common, which is great for a calmer meal or shopping break but is not magically attached to every oceanfront hotel.
Can you visit Myrtle Beach without a car?
Yes, you can visit Myrtle Beach without a car if you choose your hotel location carefully. The easiest car-free version is a central oceanfront stay where the beach, pool, Boardwalk, restaurants, and small entertainment stops are already close.
The part that gets people is expectation creep. A no-car Myrtle Beach trip works when you are willing to keep the trip compact. It gets annoying when the plan quietly grows into “let’s do Broadway at the Beach twice, maybe Brookgreen Gardens, and also a grocery run because the kids have started treating snacks like a competitive sport.” That is when every movement becomes a separate cost and decision.
If you want a no-car trip, we would book the room around that plan from the beginning instead of trying to force a car-free week from a location that needs a car.
Is Uber enough in Myrtle Beach?
Uber or other rideshare can be enough for a simple Myrtle Beach trip, especially if you only need airport transfers and a couple of dinners. It is less appealing when you are moving kids, beach gear, car seats, groceries, or damp humans who have lost the will to be patient.
We would price rideshare honestly. Add the airport ride, dinners, a grocery stop, Broadway at the Beach, one rainy-day attraction, and maybe a state park or Murrells Inlet outing. If that number starts getting close to the rental cost, we would rather have the car and stop re-deciding transportation every day.
The day-trip problem: Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, and the state park
The strongest argument for a rental car is not the hotel-to-beach routine. It is everything outside that routine.
Brookgreen Gardens is one of the easiest examples. It is a beautiful day away from the loudest parts of Myrtle Beach, and it pairs well with families who need a break from boardwalk energy. But it is not a quick walk from your resort.
Myrtle Beach State Park is another good car argument. If your family likes a quieter stretch of beach, trails, the pier, or a picnic that feels less commercial, it is worth having a way to get there on your own timing.
Murrells Inlet and the MarshWalk are the same category for us: great if you want a different dinner scene, not ideal if every movement requires pricing out another ride and then hoping everyone is still in a good mood when it arrives.
The more your itinerary moves south or north along the Grand Strand, the more we would rent the car and stop fighting the geography.
The parking math is annoying, but so is not having a car
The main argument against a rental car is not philosophical. It is parking.
Some hotels charge for parking. Some areas are easier than others. Peak-season lots can feel like a competitive sport where the prize is carrying towels for three blocks.
Before renting, we would check:
- hotel parking cost
- whether parking is included in resort fees
- whether your room includes a garage or assigned spot
- parking near the attractions you actually plan to visit
- whether your group needs car seats or boosters
If parking is expensive and the trip is mostly beach/pool/Boardwalk, skipping the car may win. If the week includes groceries, day trips, and multiple restaurant areas, parking annoyance may still be worth the flexibility.
This is vacation planning at its least glamorous: not “what memories will we make?” but “where will this vehicle sleep?”
Gear changes the decision more than people admit
A car is less necessary when everyone is carrying one beach bag and a hotel towel. It becomes much nicer when you want to bring your own chairs, cooler, umbrellas, snacks, drinks, and enough sunscreen to protect a small village.
We like bringing the boring useful stuff from home because Myrtle Beach is exactly the kind of place where small purchases multiply. A couple of drinks here, a forgotten chair there, a beach-shop panic purchase because someone is uncomfortable, and suddenly your “cheap beach day” has developed opinions.
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For road trips, a real cooler is also one of those things we never regret having.
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Here is how we would make the decision:
- Weekend trip, oceanfront hotel, mostly beach and Boardwalk: skip the car and use rideshare/taxis as needed.
- Full week with kids, groceries, restaurants, and attractions: rent the car.
- North Myrtle Beach stay with plans in central Myrtle Beach: rent the car.
- Central Myrtle Beach stay with no day trips: maybe skip it.
- Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, Myrtle Beach State Park, or Market Common on the list: rent the car.
- Flying in with car seats, bags, and beach gear: strongly consider renting unless the hotel shuttle setup is excellent.
Our bias is pretty simple: for a family trip, we would rather have the flexibility and then use the car less than expected than spend the week negotiating every movement.
But if you are truly building a sand-and-pool week, do not rent a car out of habit. Spend that money on a better room location, easy breakfasts, or one dinner where nobody has to argue about nuggets.
Myrtle Beach can be either kind of trip. Just choose the transportation plan that matches the week you are actually planning, not the imaginary version where everyone happily walks everywhere in wet swimsuits.