In 2024, Pawleys Island was named “South Carolina’s Best Beach” by USA Today and 10 Best. That doesn’t come as a huge surprise to the families who have been visiting the barrier island for generations. A coastal area that allows people to step back in time, Pawleys Island exemplifies the laidback, carefree lifestyle of South Carolina’s Hammock Coast®. There are no stop lights on Pawleys. No neon. No rush hour. Heck, there’s not even a gas station or even a grocery store on this three-mile-long barrier island. But there is a one-of-a-kind enchanting experience that you’ll find nowhere else. Pawleys Island claims to be the oldest seaside resort in America, attracting vacationers since the 1700s when plantation owners would move their families, livestock and workers over to the island to escape mosquitoes during summer months.
Pawleys Island welcomes vacationers from all around the world with multiple vacation homes to rent and enjoy as your very own beachfront oasis. For a real step back in time, visitors often seek accommodations from the island’s only commercial properties – The Pelican Inn and The Sea View Inn. The Pelican Inn, a beachfront hotel built in the 1840s, offers the perfect place to recharge and unwind with Southern hospitality, Lowcountry cuisine and unmatched authenticity. The Sea View Inn, a 20-room bed-and-breakfast built in 1937, offers three meals a day in a charming, rustic and laid-back atmosphere that guests return to annually. And, if romance is in the air, couples are enchanted by the historic Pawleys Island Chapel, pictured here, where history and romance blossom throughout the year.
Named to National Geographic’s list of Best Summer Family Vacations, Pawleys Island is renowned for its beautiful, pristine beach. And the accolades don’t stop there. Southern Living magazine touts Pawleys as one of its top recommended beaches, and, in 2020, TrafficAddictsLife.com named Pawleys one of the best beaches in the world! Of course, locals have long known that Pawleys Island offers peace, relaxation and fun in abundance. Visitors enjoy sunbathing, surfing, biking and collecting shells on the beach, crabbing off a dock, or canoeing and kayaking through the salt marsh creek. Fishing is available both in the surf and from two marsh bridges, or by boat, launched from three of the island’s boat ramps.
Night life often consists of dining out on at the restaurants on Pawleys mainland, just a short drive away, and long conversations on screened porches. For those who want to do a little shopping, it’s off to the mainland, and no trip is complete without a visit to the the Island Shops and the other shopping hamlets that dot the Pawleys area. Be sure to visit The Original Hammock Shop and take home a handmade rope hammock. If award-winning golf is more your scene, then you’ve found the perfect spot! Within a few miles of one another in the Pawleys Island community, enthusiasts will find a dozen of the nation’s most awarded golf courses by top publications like Golf Digest and Golf Magazine.
