dforquer

I am holding a 3 bedrm oceanfront condo rental in Garden City Beach, SC for the week of May 8 and just discovered it's Biker Week in Myrtle Beach at that time. This is the only week we will be able to travel and am wondering if anyone knows how much it will affect the Garden City Beach area re: rowdy, obnoxious behavior. Should we cancel or go with the flow?!?!

Shane

In Myrtle Beach in May, there will be two bike weeks. One is for Harley Drivers and predominately white redneck. The second is more of a bullet bike week and is predominately black. One concern for you is that many, if not a majority, of Myrtle Beach stores close for the bullet bike week. I would gather that both weeks will be feature many drunken men wandering the streets and zipping along in their bikes. Bikers of either race aren't known for their manners. That said, Myrtle Beach is large and bikers tend not to be the beachcomber sort. I would go ahead and just not hit any bars.

dforquer

Thanks, Shane. Looks like they meet at Barefoot Landing which is further north so maybe it won't be much of a problem (other than horrendous traffic).
Anyone else been there during Bike Week?

capri767

Any way you can avoid the area altogether??There are SOOOOOOOOOOO many nicer places to visit in South Carolina.

dforquer

capri767, nicer places in SC? Any recommendations? We are 40+ parents of two college students who are each bringing a friend for much-needed R&R the day after final exams. The 3 bedroom/3 bath oceanfront unit is only $800/wk which I thought was a great deal. I thought the location would be good so we could veg out if we wanted and the kids could head to Myrtle Beach for day trips if bored. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd appreciate it. We've never been to the area (driving from Ohio). Thanks!!

SugarPlum

Further south, Hilton Head is much nicer than the Myrtle Beach area. Good beach, good restaurants, good golf, and much tougher zoning (think no t-shirt stores or tacky signage). I don't know how the rates will compare to what you've been quoted for GCB.

Other areas to consider are around Charleston -- Isle of Palms, Folly Beach, and Kiawah.

Good luck!

cd

dforquer
If I might suggest, do a search here on the Outer Banks. We've had many family weeks there but you will probably pay more then 800.00 for the week.

Shane

Actually, I recommend Topsail Beach, North Carolina. It is 90 miles northeast of Myrtle and is cleaner and you'll have the whole beach to yourselves during the week. I've been going there for 35 years. You can rent a cottage on the oceanfront, 3 bedrooms, for $600-$1000. The island even sports three excellent restaurants and a pretty good Italian place. You'll enjoy it and not have to worry about bikers.

bookhall

I don't think college students would be thrilled with the Outer Banks in May.

Might want to consider Ocean City MD. It won't be wide-open yet, but you'll get off-season rates. And you 40+ folks can slip up to Rehoboth Beach for a bit of civilized behavior.

The other alternate is Dewey Beach DE. It's kind of a suburb of Rehoboth, but it's much more the college-age hangout.

capri767

Hilton Head is great,never been to Isle of Palms but heard good things,and Charleston is amazing.Personally, I hate Myrtle Beach...lots of buffets,imo cheesy shows,lousy shopping and lots of tacky tourists traps.Hilton Head has lots to offer and good stuff for kids and young adults.If a deal sound too good to be true, it usually is....

Litespeed_Chick

I'm from SC. I LOVED Myrtle Beach as a child and teenager, gave it up in my very early twenties. So your kids are on the cusp of loving or hating it.

Charleston and it's surrounding beaches (Isle of Palms and Folly) are much more upscale places to be. You can find oceanfront for 800/wk at the Beach Cabins on IOP, they sleep 4, but it's only one bed room. Bigger newer places look to be more in the teens. If you don't have to have oceanfront, you could rent a house for less than a grand.

I understand that the nightlife in HH is somewhat slack these days. Heard the college kids go to Charleston to go out.

If you decide to hang w/ your Garden City res, I suggest aiming south whenever you go out. Have your dinners at Murrell's Inlet, tour Brookgreen Gardens, maybe a day tour of Georgetown, just don't cruise Ocean Bldv.

I accidentally went to MB Freshman yr in college during bike week and I survived it.

iceeu2

dforquer...go with the flow!! Each to his own. The week of Biker Week is going to be crowded throughout South Carolina. We rent our place in North Myrtle to a very successful Mary Kay sales director and her husband who is a distict manager of sales during that week...those rednecks ride their HD's...They usually ride to Charleston one day on a scavenger hunt.....so, even tho the Biker Week is in Myrtle they ride all over South Carolina coast during that week.
Now....if you had reservations for Memorial Day (the other Biker week Shane described), I would say CANCEL. The guy who lives behind our place is a Horry County policeman with 30 years on the force....and All of the law enforcement personnel work that week.

olivia

As another SC native, I HIGHLY recommend staying out of Myrtle Beach all together. You will not have a good time during biker week unless you are a biker. I am from Charleston and guarantee that you would enjoy Charleston so much more. Since you are bringing teens, I would not suggest Hilton Head. The pace is too slow. There is so much to do in Charleston for people of all ages and there's a beach, fine dining, not so fine dining, shopping and history.

I cannot stress enough how much you will absolutely HATE Myrtle Beach during biker week. For the sake of your vacation - stay away.

GoTravel

Shane, I don't know where you get your information but Harley Week in MB is NOT made up of rednecks. Considering the average price of one of these Harleys is around $20,000 and a custom bike can easily cost $100,000 the week attracts more white collar bike enthusiasts than anything else.

To dforquer, if you aren't a biker, I highly suggest you go elsewhere that week in May. We are bikers and stay the week and it is taxing to us by the end of the week.

Charleston gets the bikers on day trips but you should be fine on one of the beaches.

dforquer

Thank you one and all for your comments and suggestions!!

Although Topsail beach accommodations looked gorgeous, we were concerned that there wasn't enough activity for the kids (3 20-year olds and a 22 year old).
I'll have to check that out more thoroughly next go-around, though.

After much discussion, we decided to go with the flow and stay with the condo in Garden City Beach mostly because it has a large upstairs loft with a sundeck and 4 single beds which is pretty hard to find.

We'll just go into it with an open mind hope for the best! Actually we had a harley when my husband and I were first married (before kids) so we aren't anti-biker people; I was more concerned with the traffic and noise.

Thanks again; you guys are great!

LN

You all mentioned that there's TWO biker weeks in MB. Could someone kindly tell me when they actually are. It appears that one is the week of May 8th and I'd like to know when the second week is.

dforquer

Black Biker Week is May 27-31, 2004.

LN

Thanks

Enjoy your week in Garden City Beach.

Gretchen

The traffic in Garden City will not be that different. Black Biker Week is a whole 'nother thing--you would not want to be in MB for that week. Enjoy the best seafood on the SC coast in Murrell's Inlet, just below Garden City. Also Sara J.'s at the Garden City causeway and Conch Cafe on the north end of Garden City. The latter is the only place to eat right on the ocean.

dforquer

Thanks for the restaurant tips, Gretchen; I've written them down to take with me. We love seafood!!