Things to Do at the 9 Fishing Piers on the Grand Strand Around Myrtle Beach - Road Trips & Coffee Travel Blog (2024)

What do a restaurant, an observation deck, and a record holder have in common? They are all part of fishing piers along the Grand Strand from North Myrtle Beach to Murrells Inlet. Stretching across the beaches over the water, these fishing piers offer food, entertainment, pleasant vista, and of course, lots of fishing!

Each of the piers has an interesting history. And each is profoundly unique. These are not just cookie-cutter wooden piers.

Discover everything you need to know, like location, fees, and things to do while visiting the nine fishing piers on the Grand Strand.

Map of Fishing Piers on the Grand Strand

No. 1

Cherry Grove Fishing Pier

In the 1950s, people were just beginning to explore the pristine beaches along the South Carolina coast. After the Sea Mountain Highway was completed into Cherry Grove, the first fishing pier was built across the beach. At 985 feet long, it was one of the best fishing piers in the state.

In 1965, E.W. and Margaret Prince built The Holiday House Motel beside the fishing pier, and two years later, they bought the pier. For the next fifty years, the couple improved the fishing pier with a tackle shop and restaurant, added an observation deck during reconstruction after Hurricane Hugo, and built the towering Prince Resort.

The fully equipped tackle shop has everything you forgot to bring on vacation for fishing on the pier. Visitors can purchase daily and seasonal fishing permits, rent equipment, and buy other supplies. Sightseers can pay a small fee to walk the pier to the two-story observation deck at the end, the tallest deck on a pier in the Grand Strand.

The Boardwalk Beach Café offers finger foods like burgers, hotdogs, and fish baskets.

No. 2

The Apache Pier

At 1,206 feet long, The Apache Pier is the longest wooden pier on the East Coast. In fact, the pier is so long that a golf cart trolley runs the length to transport people with difficulty walking!

Near the midpoint of the quarter-mile-long pier, a covered shelter is frequently the site of live music during the summer. But you’ll have to keep walking to eventually get over the water, where you can enjoy a day of fishing. The full-service tackle shop has all the gear and supplies you need, and you’ll also need to get a daily fishing permit.

Croakers is an oceanfront restaurant and an excellent place to get something to eat. Choose from burgers, sandwiches, and salads on their menu.

No. 3

Pier 14

Pier 14 is one of four fishing piers in Myrtle Beach and one of two accessible along the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk. Multiple piers have stood at the site since 1926, with the current pier built in 1984. When Bryan Devereux bought the pier in 1986, he transformed it into the restaurant and fishing pier it is today.

Pier 14 takes oceanfront dining to a new level – the restaurant is over the beach and closer to the ocean than any other restaurant besides the 2nd Avenue Pier. The restaurant is gorgeous, with high ceilings, large windows, and modern décor. The menu features burgers, steaks, and seafood.

The pier is one of the shortest on the Grand Strand, barely extending over the ocean at low tide. The gift and tackle shop has all the fishing supplies you’ll need, including rod rentals and live bait. Whether you’re fishing or just walking the length of the pier, you’ll need to pay a fee.

No. 4

2nd Avenue Pier

The 2nd Avenue Pier is one of the youngest, the tallest, and the only pier on the Grand Strand to have a rooftop bar. It’s connected to the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk near the Family Kingdom Amusem*nt Park.

And it’s the only free public parking remaining along Ocean Boulevard.

In 2019, the Murrells Inlet-based Wicked Tuna opened a second location on the top two floors of the 2nd Avenue Pier. The second-floor features floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the beach and ocean. The third floor is an open-air rooftop bar with a balcony wrapping around three sides of the building. The restaurant’s menu features “Hook to Plate,” an innovative method of getting fresh seafood directly to the restaurant within 24 hours of being caught by the restaurant’s fleet of fishing boats.

The first floor of the building is an excellent gift and tackle shop. Visitors can find all the fishing supplies, rentals, and live bait. Fishing permits are required, along with a few for fishing or walking on the pier.

110 South Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, SC | www.thewickedtuna.com

No. 5

Springmaid Beach Pier

In 1948, WWI ace fighter pilot and business tycoon Elliot White Springs purchased 27 acres of oceanfront property in Myrtle Beach. He built military-style barracks and offered rooms for $2 per night exclusively to employees of his Fort Mill-based Springs Industries textile factory. The resort remained essentially unchanged for the first thirty years.

The first fishing pier at the resort was built in 1953, and a second in 1959. In 1973, the current pier was built at the north end of the resort. In 2016, Category 2 Hurricane Matthew made landfall fifty miles south, and over the next two days, the pier was destroyed.

After four years of construction, the pier reopened in 2020. Restored to the original pier’s length of 1,068’, it’s the second longest fishing pier in Myrtle Beach after the Apache Pier. The new pier features benches every eight feet so visitors can enjoy the view and an elevated platform at the end to protect from storm surges.

The gift shop sells live bait, fishing supplies, and offers rentals. Visitors must purchase a fishing permit and pay a fee to fish from the pier or walk the length to the end. Southern Tide Bar & Grille offers sandwiches, burgers, and drinks with an oceanfront view.

3200 South Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, SC | 843-315-6153 | www.hilton.com/en/hotels/myrdtdt-doubletree-resort-myrtle-beach-oceanfront

No. 6

Myrtle Beach State Park Pier

Just a few minutes south of Ocean Boulevard, the 312-acre Myrtle Beach State Park is a peaceful bastion along the busy Grand Strand. Featuring five miles of beaches, the state park is one of the best places to go for a walk, enjoy a day in the surf, or just take in the view.

The fishing pier is the only pier over the Atlantic Ocean in a South Carolina state park. The wide wooden pier stretches out to a covered shelter at the end. It’s one of the best piers to spend a day watching wildlife like dolphins and whales swimming past.

The gift and tackle shops has live bait, fishing supplies, and rentals. People wishing to fish must buy a daily permit and pay a few. However, walking the pier is free of charge – after you’ve paid admission into the park.

4401 South Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach, SC | 843-238-5326 | https://southcarolinaparks.com/myrtle-beach

READ MORE: Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Myrtle Beach State Park in South Carolina

No. 7

Surfside Pier

In the 1950s, Surfside Beach earned a reputation as the best family-friendly beach in the area. The beach town steadily grew, and in 1953 the first fishing pier was built. Over the next forty years, the pier was destroyed by hurricanes and rebuilt three times.

In 2016, Category 2 Hurricane Matthew made landfall forty-five miles south. The storm surge and winds destroyed the pier as the hurricane continued along the coast. Two years later, construction began on a replacement pier that promised to be longer and better than the original.

The Surfside Pier will include a tackle shop with live bait, fishing supplies, and equipment rentals when finished. Visitors can walk the pier for a small fee or spend a day fishing with a daily fishing permit.

11 Ocean Boulevard South, Surfside Beach, SC | 843-913-6111 | www.surfsidebeach.org/212/Pier

No. 8

The Pier at Garden City Beach

When Category 4 Hurricane Hugo made landfall 75 miles south of Garden City Beach in 1989, it left a swath of destruction throughout the coastal Carolinas. Known then as the Kingfisher Pier, the wooden pier in Garden City Beach was destroyed. When it was rebuilt, it was opened as the Pier at Garden City Beach.

The pier is the only fishing pier in the Grand Strand, offering live music at a covered shelter at the end of the pier. Visitors can get a drink from the bar and carry it the length of the pier to enjoy the music.

It’s also the only pier with a family arcade. The gift shop has a limited supply of fishing gear and live bait, and you can rent rods for the day. Anyone wishing to fish can buy a daily fishing permit, and visitors who want to walk the length of the pier need to pay a small admission fee.

110 South Waccamaw Drive, Murrells Inlet, SC | 843-651-9700 | www.facebook.com/PieratGardenCity

No. 9

Veterans Pier at the Murrells Inlet MarshWalk

As Myrtle Beach grew into a renowned beach destination, Murrells Inlet remained a swampy landscape of former rice plantations long since abandoned. The first tourists traveled by boat down the Waccamaw River from Conway to enjoy the secluded marshy inlet. But by the 1970s, development began along the waterfront.

Before the end of the century, Murrells Inlet had established a reputation for savory seafood straight off the fishing boat.

The MarshWalk is a 0.5-mile wooden boardwalk along the inlet’s water, connecting the restaurants with beautiful scenery. It’s one of the best foodie destinations on the Grand Strand, with restaurants like Dead Dog Saloon, Drunken Jack’s, and Wicked Tuna. It’s also where people can see the infamous Goat Island, a small island inhabited by goats and peaco*cks.

At the southern end of the boardwalk is the Veterans Pier. The pier, only about six feet above the average water level, stretches seven hundred feet into the inlet. It’s the only fishing pier on the Grand Strand that does not charge a fee for walking or fishing, although you’ll still need a valid fishing license.

4025 Highway 17 Business, Murrells Inlet, SC | www.marshwalk.com

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