Start from 24 curated places around Pawleys Island, SC, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Bistro 217
Chef Adam Kirby's flagship is the kind of place locals book for birthdays and anniversaries — eclectic lunch and dinner menus that pull from Asian, Mediterranean, and Southern larders without losing coherence. The Monster Bistro Burger at lunch has a cult following, and the dinner seafood changes with the catch. Worth the reservation wait.
Frank's & Frank's Outback
A Pawleys Island institution dating to the 1930s building — two venues under one roof: the formal inside room for white-tablecloth dinners, and the casually festive Outback patio strung with lights under live oaks. Globally inspired menus with consistently fresh local seafood. One of the best spots on the whole Grand Strand for a special occasion.
Trails & outdoors
Sandpiper Pond Nature Trail
A two-mile out-and-back boardwalk trail through Huntington Beach State Park that crosses spartina marshes, coastal forest, and arrives at a saltwater pond with elevated observation platforms. The birdwatching here is legitimately exceptional — this is one of the top birding sites in South Carolina, drawing serious birders from the whole eastern seaboard during migration.
Waccamaw Neck Bikeway
An 18.6-mile paved multi-use trail running from Pawleys Island north through Litchfield and Murrells Inlet to Garden City — flat, shaded in sections, and one of the best recreational paths on the Hammock Coast. Connects beach access points, restaurants, and parks without a car. Popular with cyclists, walkers, and inline skaters of every ability level.
Things to do
Murrells Inlet Live Music Scene
The MarshWalk restaurants collectively host live music almost every night of the summer — blues, beach music, country, and original artists at Creek Ratz, Wicked Tuna, Dead Dog Saloon, and Drunken Jack's. It's one of the most consistently lively evening scenes on the South Carolina coast, and you don't need a reservation to enjoy the music from the boardwalk.
Brookgreen Gardens Evening Events
Throughout the year Brookgreen hosts special evening events — Halloween Nights of Brookgreen, holiday lights installations, outdoor concerts, and the annual Atalaya Arts Festival in the fall. The sculpture garden by twilight is genuinely stunning, and the family programming around holidays is among the best in the region.
Landmarks & sights
Brookgreen Gardens
A 9,100-acre National Historic Landmark that defies a single category — world-class outdoor sculpture garden, a working wildlife zoo, botanical gardens, and a 300-acre nature preserve with former rice plantations. Anna Hyatt Huntington's monumental bronze works are scattered through rooms of manicured gardens, and the pontoon boat tours through old rice fields and alligator habitat are genuinely spectacular. One of the top cultural destinations in the entire Southeast.
Huntington Beach State Park
Three miles of pristine South Carolina coastline — uncrowded even in summer by Grand Strand standards, backed by salt marshes that hold the best birdwatching in the state (osprey, herons, bald eagles, painted buntings). The 1930s Moorish-revival Atalaya Castle on the grounds adds a surreal architectural exclamation point. Considered by many naturalists the crown jewel of the SC state park system.