Aug 19, 2026

9 Free Things to Do With Your Dog in Myrtle Beach, Starting With 60 Miles of Sand

Myrtle Beach is an expensive town to visit and a cheap one to visit with a dog, because everything a dog wants here is free. Nine of them, with the hours attached, plus the two paid attractions not worth trying.

Luis ZamoraCo-founder of PetCompass; Dog Dad to Banzo and Tuck

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina12 min readThings to Do

Myrtle Beach is an expensive town to visit and a cheap one to visit with a dog, because almost everything a dog actually wants here costs nothing. The beach is free. The boardwalk is free. Both dog parks in the city are free. The one thing that costs money, a ticket to an attraction, is mostly the thing your dog cannot come to anyway.

Here are nine things that cost nothing, with the rules attached to each so you do not turn up at the wrong hour.

The nine

#	What	Cost	The catch
1	The beach, off season	Free	None, from the day after Labor Day to 30 April
2	The beach, summer mornings and evenings	Free	Not 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from 1 May
3	The Oceanfront Boardwalk	Free	5 a.m. to 10 a.m. only, in summer
4	Barc Parc South	Free	Hours not published
5	Barc Parc North	Free	Hours not published
6	North Myrtle Beach dog park	Free	Rabies proof at the gate
7	Market Common, walking	Free	Patios cost money, walking does not
8	Murrells Inlet MarshWalk, walking	Free	No published pet policy, read the doors
9	Pawleys Island, evening	Free	Confirm the off-leash claim first

1 and 2. The beach, which is the whole point

Sixty miles of public sand, and none of it charges a dog. The only thing that varies is the hour.

Off season, from the day after Labor Day to 30 April, there is no time restriction in Myrtle Beach at all. Any hour of any day. That is more than seven months of the year, and it is the single best free thing on this coast.

In summer, from 1 May up to and including Labor Day, ordinance section 5-13 states "Animals are not allowed on the beach between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m." So you get the morning and you get the evening.

Surfside Beach runs the same clock. North Myrtle Beach closes from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from 15 May, so it reopens an hour earlier in the afternoon.

Keep the lead hand-held and under seven feet, clean up, and leave the glass, alcohol and grills in the car. Our beaches and national parks with dogs guide covers reading a shoreline rule patchwork like this before you travel.

3. The Oceanfront Boardwalk, at dawn

Free to walk, all year, with a narrow summer window.

From 1 May through Labor Day, dogs are allowed on the Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Boardwalk and Promenade "only between 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m." according to Visit Myrtle Beach. From the day after Labor Day through 30 April, at any time.

Take the 6 a.m. version. East-facing shoreline, sunrise over the water, an empty promenade, and decking that has not been in the sun. It is the best free hour the city has, and in July it is also the only comfortable one.

4 and 5. The two Barc Parcs

Both free, both fenced, both split by dog size.

Visit Myrtle Beach describes them as "free 'Barc Parc' playgrounds are complete with drinking fountains and fenced-in areas for dogs to run, with separate areas for large and small dogs," quoted as published.

Barc Parc South: 676 Mallard Lake Drive, in Market Common.

Barc Parc North: 5000 Claire Chapin Epps Drive, off 62nd Avenue near the U.S. 17 Bypass.

One honest gap. We could not confirm the opening hours for either. Call the animal control unit on (843) 918-1331, published on the police department's animal control page, or ask at your hotel.

Why they matter more than they look. Neither city allows off-leash on the beach, and both close the sand for part of the summer day. So a fenced dog park is the only place on this coast where a dog can run loose at two in the afternoon in July. Our dog park etiquette guide covers the rest.

6. The North Myrtle Beach dog park

Free, and the best documented of the three.

From the city's own page: it sits within the North Myrtle Beach Park and Sports Complex at 150 Citizens Circle, Little River, SC 29566, open 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., with separate fenced areas for small dogs under 25 pounds and large dogs.

The one thing to bring: the city requires "Proof of a current rabies vaccination." That is a document check at the gate, so the certificate needs to be with you rather than at home.

Other rules worth knowing before you arrive: no food in the park, dogs leashed until safely inside and again on the way out, voice control expected, children under 16 supervised, and no owners without dogs.

The rabies certificate is worth carrying anyway. South Carolina Code section 47-5-60 requires a pet owner to have their pet inoculated against rabies at a frequency providing continuous protection, and makes a certificate signed by a licensed veterinarian the designated evidence. Our pet health and vaccination tracker keeps the dates in one place.

7. Walking Market Common

Free, and pleasant in a way that a strip of highway is not.

Market Common is the walkable district built on the site of the former air force base, with wide pavements, greenery and a lake. Barc Parc South is inside it, so you can combine a walk with an off-leash session without moving the car.

The walking is free. The stopping is not. If you want a coffee or a meal, South Carolina's statewide rule means a compliant pet patio has to post a sign at the entrance, so you can read the doors as you go. More on that below.

8. Walking the Murrells Inlet MarshWalk

Free to walk, and worth the drive south for the setting alone. A boardwalk along a salt marsh, with the restaurants on one side and the water on the other.

The MarshWalk's own site describes it as boasting "the most spectacular waterfront dining along the Grand Strand," at 4025 Hwy 17 Business, Murrells Inlet, and lists Bovine's, The Claw House, Creek Ratz, Dead Dog Saloon, Drunken Jack's, Inlet Shipwreck Bar & Grill, Wahoo's and The Wicked Tuna.

And an honest note. The MarshWalk site publishes no pet policy at all. Visit Myrtle Beach lists the MarshWalk among its pet-friendly picks, but a directory listing is not a policy statement. So we cannot tell you the boardwalk admits dogs, and we cannot tell you it does not.

What to do: treat it as a walk you scope out on arrival, read the restaurant doors for the pet-dining signs, and be ready for the answer to be no at any individual venue.

9. Pawleys Island in the evening

Free, and the only place on this coast with a published off-leash allowance.

According to Visit Myrtle Beach, in Pawleys Island and Georgetown County "Pets are allowed year-round, but they must be on a leash between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m." and "Between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m., they can be off-leash if they are trained for voice command."

Two caveats, stated plainly. Georgetown County's own website would not load from any route we tried, so this is the board's wording rather than the county's ordinance text. And an off-leash allowance conditional on voice command is exactly the kind of provision that gets amended. If the evening off-leash window is your reason for driving down there, call Georgetown County and confirm it first.

Note also that Pawleys Island has no published midday closure at all. Pets are allowed year round, leashed during the day. So in July, when Myrtle Beach sand is closed to dogs from 10 to 5, the southern end of the strand is on a different system entirely.

How to eat cheaply with a dog here

The patios are not free, but the rule that governs them is useful and it costs nothing to know.

South Carolina Regulation 61-25, section 9-3, requires a compliant pet patio to "post signs at the entrance of all dining areas stating the facility is pet dining friendly and has an outdoor pet dining area," and requires that "Outdoor pet dining areas shall have an outside entrance." The full text is in the state's own regulation PDF.

So the sign is the tell, and you never need to walk a dog through a dining room. Visit Myrtle Beach's own restaurant round-up names ten places, including Tidal Creek Brewhouse with a "large, fenced-in outdoor area" and South Coast Beer Project with a "huge outdoor grass area."

The cheapest version is a takeaway and a bench. Note that the pet-dining standard applies only where table service is provided, so a takeaway counter with picnic tables sits outside the rule and decides for itself. Ask.

Our finding pet-friendly restaurants guide covers the approach.

What costs money and is not worth trying with a dog

Broadway at the Beach states in its own FAQ: "Broadway at the Beach only allows pets for those needing assistance." Service animals only.

Brookgreen Gardens does not allow pets, and its visitor page adds that pets "cannot be left in cars." Admission is $25 for adults 13 to 64 in any case, so this is a paid attraction you would be paying for a dog to sit in a car park you are not allowed to use.

Save the money and take the free walk instead. That is genuinely the better day.

The one free thing to do before you arrive

Save the vet numbers. The Grand Strand's emergency hospital is closed during the weekday working day, which is unusual and worth planning around.

Animal Emergency Hospital of the Strand, 2669 Beaver Run Blvd, on (843) 445-9797, publishes 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday to Thursday, continuous from Friday evening through Monday morning, 24 hours at weekends and 24 hours on major holidays.

For weekday daytime, Veterinary Clinic of Myrtle Beach on (843) 444-1234 publishes 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.

And three animal control numbers, because the right one depends on the town: Myrtle Beach (843) 918-1382, Horry County and Conway (843) 248-1520, North Myrtle Beach (843) 280-5511.

Where to stay

Free things reward proximity. A base within walking distance of the beach turns two summer beach windows into two walks rather than two drives, and a base in Market Common puts a free dog park at the end of the street.

The board's pet-friendly directory holds 75 listings across hotels, rentals, restaurants and attractions, without a policy attached to each, so confirm directly. The PetCompass hotel directory covers the region, our hotels with no pet fee guide is the relevant one if you are keeping the whole trip cheap, and our questions to ask before booking a pet-friendly hotel list is the phone script.

Conclusion

Sixty miles of free sand, a free boardwalk, three free dog parks, two free districts to walk, and a southern end of the strand with no midday closure at all.

Come between the day after Labor Day and 30 April and the beach has no timetable. Come in summer and take the morning and the evening. Either way, the expensive part of Myrtle Beach is the part your dog was never going to enjoy.

Frequently asked questions

Is the beach free in Myrtle Beach with a dog?

Yes. The public beach costs nothing and there is no dog charge. The only constraint is time of day: dogs are barred between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. from 1 May up to and including Labor Day, and unrestricted from the day after Labor Day to 30 April.

Are the Myrtle Beach dog parks free?

Yes. Visit Myrtle Beach describes both Barc Parc South and Barc Parc North as free, fenced, with drinking fountains and separate areas for large and small dogs. The North Myrtle Beach dog park is also free.

What is the cheapest thing to do with a dog in Myrtle Beach?

Walk the beach outside the restricted hours, or walk the Oceanfront Boardwalk between 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. in summer. Both cost nothing and both are better early.

Do I need anything to get into the North Myrtle Beach dog park?

Proof of a current rabies vaccination. The city requires it, and South Carolina Code section 47-5-60 makes a certificate signed by a licensed veterinarian the designated evidence.

Can I walk the Murrells Inlet MarshWalk with a dog?

The MarshWalk publishes no pet policy at all, so we cannot confirm either way. Visit Myrtle Beach lists it among its pet-friendly picks, but a directory listing is not a policy statement. Scope it out on arrival and read the restaurant doors for pet-dining signs.

Where can my dog be off leash for free?

The three dog parks, and possibly Pawleys Island in the evening. Visit Myrtle Beach states that in Georgetown County pets can be off leash between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. if trained for voice command, but the county's own site was unreachable during research, so confirm with the county first.

Sources

Rules, hours and facilities change. Confirm with the managing agency before you rely on any of it.