VacationSelector
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Myrtle Beach or San Francisco?

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
  • prices
  • families

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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, San Francisco 25: Myrtle Beach leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Myrtle Beach 38, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Myrtle Beach 20, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Myrtle Beach 42, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Myrtle Beach 46, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Myrtle Beach 50, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Myrtle Beach 80, San Francisco 66: Myrtle Beach leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Myrtle Beach 18, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Myrtle Beach 38, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Myrtle Beach 52, San Francisco 14: Myrtle Beach leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Myrtle Beach 30, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Myrtle Beach 28, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Myrtle Beach and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights 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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Myrtle BeachSan Francisco

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.

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). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMyrtle BeachSan Francisco
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 m16 m
Main airportMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMyrtle BeachSan Francisco
City population35,682873,965
People per km²5911,455
Museums within 10 km251
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Myrtle Beach or San Francisco 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.