Huntington Beach State Park

If you're looking to enjoy the beautiful beaches of South Carolina without the crowds of Myrtle Beach, head just a few miles south to Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet.

We first stumbled across this South Carolina state park by accident. We were looking at camping at Myrtle Beach State Park, but it was completely booked. We were disappointed until we noticed another South Carolina state park just a few miles south... Huntington Beach State Park.

To that point, we had never heard of Huntington Beach or the nearby town of Murrells Inlet. It wasn't the famed Myrtle Beach, but it was a state park on a beach with availability, so we reserved a spot. Boy, are we happy that we did!

What we found at Huntington Beach State Park was a beautiful state park with four sections, all connected by good roads and easily explored by walking or biking. Two of the sections of the park have camping. The North Campground offers tent and 30amp electric/water RV sites with a few 30amp full hookup campsites. While the South Campground offers 50amp full hookup sites. The park recommends that the RV campsites are best suited for RVs 40' long or less.

Each of the campgrounds and the Day Use area have their own access to the 3 miles of beach located within the park boundaries. This means there is plenty of room to access the beach without it feeling too crowded (especially from the campgrounds if you are registered camper).

The fourth "section" of the Huntington Beach State Park is a saltmarsh. The boardwalks here make for great bird watching. You'll also find the park's Nature Center here with exhibits on the local plants and wildlife.

We barely missed an opportunity to watch a sea turtle egg count! Be sure to check with the park about any special programs that might be going on during your visit.

We Featured Huntington Beach State Park in This Video

Here's an excerpt from that video...

Unique Features of Huntington Beach State Park

We love the access to the beach, the variety of campsites, the Nature Center and the park store. But the most unique feature of Huntington Beach State Park is Atalaya Castle, a National Historic Landmark built in the 1930s by Archer and Anna Huntington. Self guided tours of the remains of this historic home are available daily. At the time of our visit, the tour price was $2 per person.

Overall, Huntington Beach State Park is a very clean and beautiful state park. It was a great first impression of South Carolina State Parks for us, and left us wanting to stay longer at this park and visit more of the parks around the state. The staff was friendly and helpful, our campsite was shaded, and we found some great restaurants just a few miles away.

We highly recommend Huntington Beach State Park!