I agree with the others, Charleston is a great place and on the beach Isle of the Palms is a great place to stay. We live two hours away and have been there a few times when we first moved here 16 years ago. Haven't stayed there in some time now as we feel we did and saw what we wanted to see. We also stop by for ice cream in the city after going to Folly Beach on the motorcycle for the day.
With that said, it REALLY depends on what you are looking for. Looking for a historic city, city crowds, fine dining and site seeing? Plus of course a beach front hotel on Isle of the palms.
Charleston is the place.
Now I will tell you our favorite place that we go to, every year for what seems like the last 12 years.
We take other vacations as well but for at least 4 nights every year this is our go to chill place. Its great for us to have this less than 3 hours away and as just a getaway place the price is great, I will say this year, post covid things look a little more pricey but I think that is everywhere, still a bargain as far as I am concerned. We even went at the height of Covid in 2020! My brother and sis in law who live very close to N Myrtle Beach thought we were nuts and dangerous, they didnt even want us to come over! *LOL*
We go to this place for the beaches, dinner, boardwalks, Outlet stores, EVERYTHING is within a 15 minute drive, tons to do but a more relaxed but "happening" beach type resort setting which is what we like, and at the same time still has the whole tourist feel, which we love, lots going on but not all crowded like a crammed in feeling but definitely a vacation town feel, this is our type of place/thing for a quick getaway.
We stay in the same resort every year, which is on the beach, in the same "tower" of the resort every year for gosh over a dozen years now? For us its the perfect getaway, price very reasonable. Its right on the beach and if you stay in the NORTH TOWER your room/condo will have a balcony overlooking the ocean and multiple pools.
Since you mention that the purpose of the trip is the beach, this place in on the Atlantic Ocean has it and quite a bit of it, its not sandwiched between hotels like a lot of places but isnt by any means isolated which we love.
Great private parking garage too, your "lady" can watch the ocean waves roll in from your room and whatever else going on outside. Since that would be important to you I would try to stay on or around floor 9, it goes up to 16 floors but a more up close feel, we like around floor 9 but I stress it wont matter to you whatever is available. Make sure its the North Tower if it still available. These are condo like units, we get the one bedroom, has a small kitchen and living eating area and sliding doors to the balcony. Some will be super updated others just nice, clean and functional. Other close buy traditional hotels are the Hilton and Embassy Suites. We walk down the beach every night past them all. We have stayed at the Embassy many years ago too, had a nice room, corner suite.
Ok, enough said, I KNOW my posts are ALWAYS long. *LOL*
The area is NORTH MYRTLE BEACH. Do a search things to do in North Myrtle Beach and of course you can still walk the Boardwalk (barefoot landing too) in N Myrtle as well as Myrtle.
This is the place, we only stay in the North Tower because we know the views, rooms and never been let down.
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By the way, we like the North Gulf Coast of Florida (Gulf of Mexico). Destin, we actually have a place booked/rented in the Sandestin Beach and Golf Resort this summer, you may have a challenge getting a beach view room or beach front post covid if you wait much longer.
Sandestin is a tropical feel for sure with awesome blue green color water and sand so fine it crunches like corn powder when you walk on it, a word of caution, we read in the news sometimes (certain years) about cloudy and algae water issues certain time of year in the Northern Gulf, we never ran into it but sometimes its on our minds.
We like this place too, stayed a few times, home emergency caused us to cancel last year but we have a place booked and will be there again in a couple months. Even though we have booked this place, )its always our intention for our other vacation to go to N Myrtle Beach mentioned above two different experiences)
We always stay in Luau at Sandestin with a beach pool view, if you want to be directly on the beach you would need to stay in Beachside 1 or 2. (most likely booked up by now but you never know)
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Another option is the Florida Gulf coast is Panama Beach, there is a "newish" Holiday Inn Express on the beach which we liked. Only stayed there once.
Another - St Augustine (Atlantic Ocean) as some one else mentioned, stayed there once, a while ago, just asked the wife, she said it was nice, I cant remember it as vividly as other places other then we liked it. To me if I remember correctly didnt have the same feel as the N Myrtle Beach area but still nice for sure, it all depends what each individual is looking for.
