VacationSelector
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach
Palm Canyon Drive, lined with tall palms, Palm Springs
Palm SpringsPalm Canyon Drive, lined with tall palms

Photos: Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Palm Springs by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Myrtle Beach or Palm Springs?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Myrtle Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Myrtle Beach’s own page.

Choose Palm Springs for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Palm Springs’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Myrtle Beach 84, Palm Springs 7: Myrtle Beach leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Myrtle Beach 38, Palm Springs 40: Palm Springs leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Myrtle Beach 20, Palm Springs 42: Palm Springs leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Myrtle Beach 42, Palm Springs 36: Myrtle Beach leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Myrtle Beach 46, Palm Springs 78: Palm Springs leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Myrtle Beach 50, Palm Springs 38: Myrtle Beach leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Myrtle Beach 80, Palm Springs 40: Myrtle Beach leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Myrtle Beach 18, Palm Springs 22: Palm Springs leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Myrtle Beach 38, Palm Springs 44: Palm Springs leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Myrtle Beach 52, Palm Springs 32: Myrtle Beach leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Myrtle Beach 30, Palm Springs 40: Palm Springs leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Myrtle Beach 28, Palm Springs 80: Palm Springs leads by 52 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Myrtle Beach and Palm Springs.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Palm Springs
42match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Myrtle Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
172 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Palm Springs in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Myrtle BeachPalm Springs

Where the figures come from

Myrtle Beach has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Palm Springs has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Myrtle Beach: 1971-2000 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (5.5 km from centre). Palm Springs: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Palm Springs (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMyrtle BeachPalm Springs
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation8 m146 m
Main airportMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsPalm Springs International Airport (PSP)2 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMyrtle BeachPalm Springs
City population35,68244,575
People per km²591181
Museums within 10 km23
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Myrtle Beach or Palm Springs somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.