VacationSelector
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

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

Myrtle Beach or Santa Monica?

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

  • prices
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Myrtle Beach leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Myrtle Beach 38, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Myrtle Beach 20, Santa Monica 35: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Myrtle Beach 42, Santa Monica 38: Myrtle Beach leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Myrtle Beach 46, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Myrtle Beach 50, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Myrtle Beach 80, Santa Monica 70: Myrtle Beach leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Myrtle Beach 18, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Myrtle Beach 38, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Myrtle Beach 52, Santa Monica 14: Myrtle Beach leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Myrtle Beach 30, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Myrtle Beach 28, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Myrtle Beach and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on getting around 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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Myrtle BeachSanta Monica

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). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMyrtle BeachSanta Monica
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 m32 m
Main airportMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMyrtle BeachSanta Monica
City population35,68293,076
People per km²5914,270
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Santa Monica 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.