VacationSelector
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach
The top of the Mountaintop Express lift on Vail Mountain, Vail
VailThe top of the Mountaintop Express lift on Vail Mountain

Photos: Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Vail by DReifGalaxyM31, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Myrtle Beach or Vail?

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 Vail for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Vail’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, Vail 5: Myrtle Beach leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Myrtle Beach 38, Vail 35: Myrtle Beach leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Myrtle Beach 20, Vail 10: Myrtle Beach leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Myrtle Beach 42, Vail 30: Myrtle Beach leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Myrtle Beach 46, Vail 92: Vail leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Myrtle Beach 50, Vail 45: Myrtle Beach leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Myrtle Beach 80, Vail 55: Myrtle Beach leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Myrtle Beach 18, Vail 62: Vail leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Myrtle Beach 38, Vail 35: Myrtle Beach leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Myrtle Beach 52, Vail 5: Myrtle Beach leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Myrtle Beach 30, Vail 42: Vail leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Myrtle Beach 28, Vail 48: Vail leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Myrtle Beach and Vail.

Your match

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

Myrtle Beach
Best match
44match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Vail
39match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Vail in July

29 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
35 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Myrtle BeachVail

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.

Vail's temperatures are measured 47 km from the centre, at Kremmling.

Vail's station stands 186 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Vail 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). Vail: 2006-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Kremmling (46.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMyrtle BeachVail
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation8 m2,445 m
Main airportMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsEagle County Regional Airport (EGE)48 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMyrtle BeachVail
City population35,6824,835
People per km²591400
Museums within 10 km21
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 Vail 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.