Things to Do in North Myrtle Beach: Real, Named Attractions
North Myrtle Beach's attractions are specific and verifiable -- an 800-plus-alligator wildlife park, a museum dedicated to South Carolina's official state dance, one of the largest retail-and-entertainment complexes on the Grand Strand, and a nearly untouched barrier island just across the inlet. This page names each with real, sourced facts rather than generic 'fun for the whole family' language.
Alligator Adventure
Alligator Adventure, located on Highway 17 South directly adjacent to Barefoot Landing and next door to House of Blues, is a 15-acre wildlife park home to more than 800 alligators, per the park's own materials, along with a range of other reptiles and exotic animals including birds and mammals. Handlers conduct alligator feedings roughly every other hour of park operation between mid-April and mid-October, per the park's own schedule. As of this research pass, reported admission pricing was $38.99 for adults, $27.99 for children ages 4-12, and $36.99 for seniors 62 and older -- prices that should be confirmed directly at alligatoradventure.com before visiting, since admission pricing changes over time.
Barefoot Landing
Barefoot Landing, at 4898 US-17 South, is the area's largest retail and dining complex -- over 100 shops and roughly 15 restaurants arranged around a 27-acre lake connected to the Intracoastal Waterway, redeveloped into its current larger form in 1988 from the earlier Village of Barefoot Traders. Beyond shopping and dining, the complex is directly adjacent to the Alabama Theatre and House of Blues, and includes Barefoot Landing Marina on the ICW, making it a genuine multi-purpose destination combining retail, live entertainment, dining, and boating access in one location.
House of Blues and the Alabama Theatre
House of Blues, at Barefoot Landing, hosts live concerts from nationally touring artists, along with dinner theater and a gospel brunch, alongside its own restaurant and bar, per the venue's own materials. The Alabama Theatre sits on the same Barefoot Landing property. This page does not state a current concert schedule or ticket pricing for either venue, since those change constantly -- check each venue's own site directly for current shows.
The Shaggers Hall of Fame and the Carolina Shag
The Shaggers Hall of Fame, a nonprofit museum preserving the history of the Carolina Shag -- South Carolina's official state dance -- operates with free admission inside the Ocean Drive Beach & Golf Resort in the Ocean Drive section of the city. The Hall of Fame displays member photographs and biographies documenting the dance's history, with new members inducted annually. Ocean Drive is widely credited as the shag's birthplace, and the Society of Stranders (SOS), the shag community's own social organization, runs two major annual events centered there: a Spring Migration (reported 2026 dates: April 17-26) and a Fall Migration (reported 2026 dates: September 18-27), drawing thousands of dancers to named venues including Fat Harold's, Ducks, Duck's II, OD Arcade, and Pirate's Cove for roughly a week and a half of dancing, classes, and live beach music each. Confirm current-year SOS dates directly at sosdancing.com, since they shift from year to year.
Cherry Grove Fishing Pier
Cherry Grove Fishing Pier, first built in the 1950s and owned by the Prince family since 1965, is a real attraction beyond its fishing function -- it holds South Carolina's only all-tackle world-record fish catch (Walter Maxwell's 1,780-pound tiger shark, caught in 1964), and offers a pier-walk experience over the Atlantic even for visitors who aren't fishing, alongside its own on-site restaurant. It is covered in more depth on this site's dedicated Fishing Guide page.
Waties Island: A Real, Undeveloped Barrier Island Nearby
Just across the Little River Inlet from North Myrtle Beach sits Waties Island, an undeveloped barrier island extending nearly three miles to the South Carolina/North Carolina border -- a genuine contrast to the developed oceanfront just south of it. Roughly a third of the island was bequeathed to Coastal Carolina University in 1995 by Anne Tilghman Boyce and is now protected as the Anne Tilghman Boyce Coastal Reserve under a Nature Conservancy of South Carolina conservation easement, with additional acreage moving toward eventual South Carolina state park status through the Open Space Institute's ongoing work. This page does not state current public access rules or how to visit, since those specifics were not independently confirmed for this build -- confirm current access directly with Coastal Carolina University or the relevant conservation authority.
Golf at Barefoot Resort and Beyond
Golf is a real, substantial part of what there is to do in North Myrtle Beach specifically, not just the broader Grand Strand -- Barefoot Resort & Golf, inside city limits, offers four championship 18-hole courses individually designed by Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Davis Love III, and Greg Norman (the Dye Course operates semi-privately), and Tidewater Golf Club, also nearby, is frequently packaged with Barefoot tee times by area golf-travel operators. This sits inside the Grand Strand's broader identity as home to more than 80 golf courses along its 60-mile corridor, historically nicknamed the 'Golf Capital of the World.' This page does not state current green fees, since rates change seasonally -- confirm directly with each course.
The Beaches Themselves
Beyond named attractions, North Myrtle Beach's Atlantic-facing beaches across its four founding sections -- Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, Crescent Beach, and Windy Hill -- are, straightforwardly, the primary draw for most visitors, maintained through the real, federally funded renourishment program covered in depth on this site's Beach Erosion Reality page, which most recently placed fresh sand along roughly 9 miles of city coastline in February 2026. This page does not state specific public beach-access point locations, parking availability, or lifeguard coverage schedules, since that level of current, address-specific detail was not compiled for this build -- the City of North Myrtle Beach's own site is the correct source for current public beach-access information.
What This Page Does Not Cover
This page names the specific, sourced attractions this research could verify -- Alligator Adventure, Barefoot Landing, House of Blues, the Alabama Theatre, the Shaggers Hall of Fame and SOS migration events, Cherry Grove Fishing Pier, Waties Island, and Barefoot Resort's golf courses. It does not attempt a comprehensive list of every shop, tour operator, mini-golf course, or seasonal pop-up attraction in the city, since a complete, current directory of that kind was beyond this research pass's scope and this site's standard is to name only what could be verified rather than pad the list with plausible-sounding but unconfirmed entries. For a fuller, continuously updated attractions directory, consult the City of North Myrtle Beach's own visitor resources or Visit Myrtle Beach's site directly.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Facts used: Alligator Adventure's own materials (alligatoradventure.com) and MyrtleBeach.com/Tripadvisor coverage confirming its 15-acre size, 800-plus alligator population, mid-April-to-mid-October feeding schedule, and reported admission pricing as of this research pass. Barefoot Landing's own materials and Wikipedia confirming its address, size, shop/restaurant count, ICW-connected lake, 1988 redevelopment history, and adjacency to Alabama Theatre, House of Blues, and Barefoot Landing Marina. House of Blues' own materials confirming its concert, dinner-theater, and gospel-brunch offerings. Shaggers Hall of Fame's own site and multiple sources (Ocean Drive Resort, SC History Trail) confirming its free admission, Ocean Drive Beach & Golf Resort location, and shag-history museum function. Society of Stranders' and multiple area resorts' own materials confirming SOS Spring and Fall Migration events, approximate 2026 dates, and named venues. Cherry Grove Pier's own site and SC Picture Project confirming its history, 1965 Prince family purchase, and Walter Maxwell's 1964 world-record tiger shark catch. Coastal Carolina University's and Open Space Institute's reporting on Waties Island's geography, 1995 bequest, and conservation-easement status. Barefoot Resort & Golf's own site confirming its four designer golf courses and Tidewater Golf Club package relationship; general Grand Strand golf-tourism reporting on the area's 80-plus-course footprint. Not independently confirmed and explicitly not invented here: current concert schedules or ticket pricing for House of Blues or the Alabama Theatre; current public access rules for Waties Island; and current golf green fees at any named course. Confirm current hours, pricing, schedules, and access rules directly with each named attraction before planning a visit. Nothing on this page is a paid recommendation or endorsement.