By late September the beach in North Myrtle Beach starts to change its rhythm. The school buses are back on their morning routes, the umbrella lines along the sand have thinned to a scattering of chairs, and the ocean, still holding the warmth of summer, keeps rolling in at the same easy pace for anyone lucky enough to be standing in it. Locals have long known that fall is one of the best times of year to be here, and this month the travel data caught up with them.

In a list published September 7, Travel + Leisure reported Kayak data ranking Myrtle Beach the second most affordable fall destination in the United States, with an average of $423 for a round-trip flight plus one hotel night. Only Gulf Shores, Alabama, came in lower, and Myrtle Beach finished ahead of big-city favorites like Orlando, Tampa and Atlanta. The Sun News confirmed the ranking in its own coverage.

Below we break down the full top 10, explain how Kayak arrived at its numbers, and lay out the confirmed fall 2026 events that make an autumn trip to the Grand Strand worth planning. We also look at why a vacation rental can stretch a group’s budget even further than the headline figure suggests. For the rest of what the area offers, our guide to things to do in Myrtle Beach is a good companion to this one.

Where Myrtle Beach Landed on Kayak’s Fall List

Kayak’s ranking compares the average cost of a round-trip flight plus one hotel night for fall travel, and Myrtle Beach’s $423 average placed it second in the country. Gulf Shores took the top spot at $399, while Raleigh, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando tied at $453 just behind Myrtle Beach. The full list, as published by Travel + Leisure, looks like this.

What stands out is how many beach destinations made the cut. Gulf Shores, Myrtle Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa all sit on the water, which says a good deal about how travelers are thinking about autumn. The summer rush may be over, but the appetite for sand and salt air clearly is not.

How Kayak Ran the Numbers

Kayak based the ranking on searches made between April 15 and July 13, 2026, for travel between September 15 and November 15, 2026. The figure for each destination is the average cost of a round-trip flight plus a single hotel night, which makes it a useful yardstick for comparing places but not a full trip budget. Your own costs will depend on where you fly from, how long you stay, and where you sleep.

Longtime readers may remember that Myrtle Beach also appeared on an earlier Travel + Leisure affordability list in July, where it ranked No. 8 at $486. We covered that list in our look at Myrtle Beach on the summer Travel + Leisure affordability ranking. The two lists measure different travel windows and were compiled from different search periods, so the jump from eighth to second is best read as a sign of how strong a value the fall season is here rather than a direct comparison of prices.

Why Fall Is Value Season in North Myrtle Beach

In its write-up, Travel + Leisure pointed to the warm weather that lingers into autumn and the way crowds thin once school starts, and anyone who has spent an October week in North Myrtle Beach will recognize that description. The restaurants have open tables, the beach accesses have open parking, and the pace of the whole town eases into something closer to the way it feels to the people who live here year-round.

Each part of North Myrtle Beach has its own fall personality. In Cherry Grove, the marsh and the quiet water of House Creek remain a favorite of anglers and crabbers long after the summer crowds have gone home. Ocean Drive, the historic heart of beach music and shag dancing, gives the week its social side, while the wide, quiet sand of Crescent Beach and the easy access to Barefoot Landing from Windy Hill make both areas comfortable bases for a slower fall week.

The practical advantage for families and groups is flexibility. With fewer visitors competing for the same weeks, it is often easier to find the home or condo you want, on the dates you want, than it is in the heart of summer. The best way to see what is open for your dates is to check availability directly or call our reservations team.

Fall 2026 Events Worth Planning Around

Fall on the Grand Strand is not only about quiet beaches. The calendar fills with festivals, rallies and seasonal traditions that give a week away some shape. These are the confirmed events for fall 2026, though schedules and prices can change, so confirm the details with each organizer before you go.

For a North Myrtle Beach stay, the Grand Strand Kite Festival is the easiest event to love, since it takes place at The Point at Cherry Grove and is free to attend. The same weekend brings the first Barefoot Hootenanny in Longs, a short drive inland, so a late-October visit can hold both a beach afternoon full of kites and a night of live music by the Waccamaw River.

Earlier in the month, the Little River ShrimpFest draws seafood lovers to the waterfront just north of town, and anyone arriving in the next week should know that the Myrtle Beach Fall Bike Rally runs through October 4, which means more motorcycles on the roads and a livelier atmosphere at some restaurants. Brookgreen Gardens’ Nights of a Thousand Candles falls outside Kayak’s September-to-November travel window, but it is one of the region’s most beloved holiday traditions and a fine reason to return later in the year.

How a Rental House Stretches a Group Budget

Kayak’s figure includes one hotel night, and that detail matters more than it might seem. A hotel room is priced per room, so a family of five or a group of golf buddies often needs two or three of them. A vacation rental home or condo, on the other hand, is priced for the whole place, which means the cost can be shared across everyone sleeping under the same roof.

The kitchen is where the savings really add up. Cooking breakfast at the house, packing lunches for the beach and grilling fresh seafood on the deck a few nights a week can take a real bite out of a vacation food budget. North Myrtle Beach has plenty of places to stock the refrigerator, including Boulineau’s IGA at 212 Sea Mountain Highway in Cherry Grove, a family business since 1948, as well as Publix at Coastal North Town Center, Kroger at Ocean Plaza on Main Street, and Food Lion locations on Highway 17 North and in Windy Hill.

There is also value that does not show up on a spreadsheet. A shared living room means the group actually spends time together instead of scattering to separate hotel rooms, and a porch facing the ocean turns an ordinary evening into the part of the trip everyone remembers. Larger groups can browse our oceanfront home rentals, while couples and smaller families may find the right fit among our oceanfront condos in North Myrtle Beach.

Shaping a Fall Week on the Grand Strand

The best fall itineraries leave room for doing very little. Mornings are made for long walks at low tide, and afternoons can hold one outing, whether that is a festival, a round of golf or a trip south to Myrtle Beach, before the group drifts back to the house for dinner. An evening stroll along Ocean Drive, the historic home of beach music and the shag, gives the week a bit of social life without the summer crowds.

If you are flying in, remember that the Kayak figure is an average built from searches months ago, and the fares you see today may be higher or lower. Booking flights and lodging together early, and staying flexible by a day or two on either end, is usually the surest way to capture the kind of value that put Myrtle Beach at No. 2 on this year’s list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Plan Your Fall Stay in North Myrtle Beach

Fall has always been the season locals keep a little bit to themselves, with warm water, open beaches and a calendar full of small-town festivals. Now that the national travel data has noticed, it is a good time to lock in the week that works for your family or group, whether that means a kite-filled weekend in Cherry Grove or a slow week of porch evenings and low-tide walks.

Sources: Travel + Leisure (September 2026), Kayak data, and The Sun News (September 2026); event details from organizers as of September 2026. Details subject to change — confirm prices, dates and times before you go.

Out in the pine woods of rural Horry County, where the Waccamaw River slides along dark and slow beneath the cypress trees, a small music festival is getting ready for its first weekend. The Barefoot Hootenanny will take over River Island Adventures in Longs from October 23 to 25, 2026, with two stages, 21 acts, tent sites under the trees and a river that doubles as part of the entertainment.

It is a very different kind of event from the big beachfront festivals that fill the Grand Strand calendar. According to the Post and Courier, organizers expect fewer than 400 tickets to be sold in year one, which means the crowd will feel closer to a neighborhood gathering than a stadium show. There will be late-night jam sessions, food trucks, kayaks pulled up on the bank and a Halloween celebration on Saturday night, all a short drive inland from North Myrtle Beach.

If you are planning a late October beach week, the Hootenanny is an easy way to add an evening, or a whole weekend, of live music in the woods. Here is what we know so far about the lineup, tickets, camping and the causes it supports, along with some thoughts on how to pair it with a stay by the ocean.

What the Barefoot Hootenanny Is

The Barefoot Hootenanny is the creation of River Island Adventures, led by owner Jeff Cline, with the local band The Goofy Footers serving as co-hosts. The venue sits at 1249 Vera Road in Longs, on the Waccamaw River in rural Horry County, and the property already welcomes people who come to paddle, camp and spend time outdoors. This fall it becomes a festival ground for the first time.

Cline told the Post and Courier that he wants the weekend to be more than a chance to watch a band. His idea is to bring music, the outdoors, camping and community together in one place, so that people leave having shared a few days rather than just a set list. That spirit shows in the schedule, which mixes concerts with river trips, skills workshops and charity games, and in the choice to keep attendance small in the first year.

The Lineup: 21 Acts on Two Stages

Twenty-one acts are set to play across two stages over the weekend. Among the names announced are The Fitzkee Brothers featuring Jaden Lehman, Sweet Sweet, Walona, Melissa Joiner + The Travel Cats, Sawgrass, and the co-hosting Goofy Footers. It is a lineup built around regional talent, the kind of bands you might catch on a patio on a Friday night and then find yourself following for years.

Two stages mean there should be little dead air between sets, and the late-night jams give musicians and fans a chance to keep the music going after the scheduled acts wrap up. Set times had not been published when we wrote this, so check with River Island Adventures closer to the weekend if there is a particular band you do not want to miss. If you enjoy discovering local acts, our guide to live music venues in North Myrtle Beach will point you toward places where many of these same musicians play the rest of the year.

Tickets and Prices

Pricing is straightforward. A weekend pass is $100, a single-day ticket is $50, and children 15 and under get in free when they come with an adult. That last detail makes the Hootenanny unusually friendly for families, since a couple bringing two or three kids pays the same as a couple coming alone.

With fewer than 400 tickets expected in the first year, it is sensible to secure yours early rather than planning to buy at the gate. The reported coverage did not spell out where tickets are sold, so the simplest route is to call River Island Adventures at (843) 882-7487 and ask about purchasing, camping reservations and any rules for bringing coolers, pets or chairs. Prices and policies can change, so confirm before you go.

Camping on the Waccamaw

For the full experience, the festival offers camping on 13 acres next to the grounds. Options include wooded tent sites, car camping and RV sites without hookups, so anyone bringing a camper should plan to be self-contained for power and water. There is something about falling asleep to the sound of a distant fiddle and waking to mist lifting off a blackwater river that you do not forget, and for many people that will be the heart of the weekend.

Late October nights along the river can feel noticeably cooler than the afternoons, so pack layers, a warm sleeping bag and a good headlamp for finding your way back from the late jams. Because camping details such as check-in times, fire rules and quiet hours were not included in the coverage we reviewed, call the venue before you load the car.

Beyond the Music: Kayaks, Workshops and a Halloween Party

The Hootenanny leans hard into its riverside setting. Guests can kayak to a nearby island, browse vendors, eat from food trucks and join outdoor-skills workshops, including lessons in primitive fire-making taught by veterans of the survival television series Naked and Afraid. It is the kind of workshop that sounds like a novelty until you are sitting around a circle watching someone coax a flame out of a pile of tinder, and then it becomes the story everyone tells on the drive home.

Hootenanny Charity Survivor Games

For a $15 donation, festival-goers can take part in the Hootenanny Charity Survivor Games, a competitive, good-humored way to raise money for the weekend’s causes. Details on the individual challenges were not released in the coverage we reviewed, but the format fits neatly with the fire-making workshops and river setting.

Saturday Halloween Celebration and Sunday on the River

Because the festival falls the weekend before Halloween, Saturday brings a Halloween celebration, which is a fine excuse to pack a costume. Sunday closes with a river activity, a gentle way to end a weekend that began with guitars and campfires. If your family is building a fall itinerary around the season, our list of family-friendly fall activities in North Myrtle Beach has more ideas for the rest of the week.

The Charities Behind the Weekend

Three organizations are set to benefit from the festival. The Surfrider Foundation works to protect oceans and beaches, The Adaptive Surf Project helps people with disabilities get into the water on a surfboard, and Winyah Rivers Alliance focuses on the rivers of this corner of the Carolinas, including the Waccamaw that runs right past the festival grounds.

That mix of beach and river causes suits a festival held a short drive inland from the Atlantic. Coastal families spend their summers in the surf and their autumns on the rivers, and the Hootenanny’s charity choices tie those two halves of Grand Strand life together in a way that feels natural rather than tacked on.

Pairing the Festival With a North Myrtle Beach Stay

Longs is a short drive inland from North Myrtle Beach, which makes the Hootenanny easy to fold into a beach vacation. Some visitors will camp the whole weekend. Others will stay by the ocean and drive out for a day of music, returning at night to a hot shower and the sound of the surf. Either way, you get the best of both landscapes in a single trip.

If you stay near Cherry Grove, on the north end of town, you will be well placed for the drive inland and for a morning walk along the marsh. Ocean Drive puts you close to the shag clubs and restaurants on Main Street, Crescent Beach offers a relaxed middle ground, and Windy Hill on the south end sits near Barefoot Landing for dinner on the waterway. Late October is also a gentle time on the beach, and the same weekend brings other happenings you may want to add, so check our Myrtle Beach events calendar and our pillar guide to things to do in Myrtle Beach before you finalize your plans.

Another Reason to Be in Cherry Grove That Weekend

The festival happens to share its Saturday and Sunday with the Grand Strand Kite Festival, which is scheduled for October 24 and 25 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Point at Cherry Grove, 6300 North Ocean Boulevard. It is free, and it is organized with Klig’s Kites. A family could easily spend Saturday morning watching big, bright kites tug at their lines over the north end of the beach, then drive inland in the afternoon for music by the river. As with any outdoor event, times and plans can shift with the weather, so confirm before you go.

A Sample Hootenanny Weekend

One easy rhythm is to spend Friday settling into your rental and watching the sun set from the beach, drive inland Saturday for an afternoon of music, a fire-making workshop and the Halloween party, then sleep in on Sunday before heading back to the Waccamaw for the river activity, or simply spend the day on the sand. Families with young children might choose the day ticket, while music lovers who want every note can pick up a weekend pass and treat the beach as a place to recover afterward.

Groups that want room to gather after the festival will find it in oceanfront homes in North Myrtle Beach, with space for a late dinner and stories from the day, while couples and smaller parties may prefer the simplicity of oceanfront condos with a balcony over the water.

Frequently Asked Questions

Make the Beach Your Home Base for Hootenanny Weekend

A weekend of river music in Longs pairs beautifully with mornings on the sand in North Myrtle Beach. Stay by the ocean, drive inland for the bands and the campfire workshops, and come back to a quiet beach and a comfortable bed when the last jam winds down.

Sources: The Post and Courier (September 2026). Lineup, ticket prices, camping options and schedules are subject to change, so confirm all details with River Island Adventures before you go.