Family beach offers ways to save bucks on vacation

The famous beachfront Myrtle Beach Pavilion closed down several years back. But a number of the smaller rides, and the funnel cake stand, have been relocated to the smaller Pavilion Nostalgia Park at Broadway at the Beach.

A newcomer to the amusement park scene, Freestyle Music Park, formerly known as Hard Rock Park, is looking for investors and it’s unclear whether operators will come up with the money to open this year.

During spring and fall, you’ll find more people on the golf course than on the beach. With 100 regulation golf courses, there’s something for every golfer and most courses are public. More than four million rounds of golf are played annually and each fall the PGA Tour Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship is held on 70 different courses along the Grand Strand. One place to start is the Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday Web site, where you can log in with details about your trip plans and get quotes on golf packages with accommodations; http://www.golfholiday.com.

Golfers not trying to pitch out of a bunker are often trying to putt past buccaneers. The Grand Stand has more than 50 miniature golf courses, many with nautical themes. Full-price tickets run $8 for adults and about $6 for kids — but most courses offer discounts if you play during the day rather than during the busier evening hours.

Another big draw is shopping. You’ll find outlet stores, national chains like Victoria’s Secret and everything in between. The Grand Strand has 326 gift, novelty and souvenir stores, including the ubiquitous beachwear shops. The most popular souvenir? Anything from gym shorts to T-shirts and from paperweights to drinking glasses with “Myrtle Beach” on them, says Kimberly Miles, the public relations manager for the chamber.

The Grand Strand also boasts 1,700 full-service restaurants. And it’s not just seafood. You’ll find everything from pancakes and country cooking to ribs, barbecue, and international cuisine.

LODGING: With 60 miles of coastline, it’s not hard, or expensive, to find a room with a view of the water or one within a block or two of the shore.

The Grand Strand has nearly 90,000 rooms for rent, from upscale hotels to mom-and-pop motels to villas and condos on golf courses. For the latter, the chamber can direct visitors to a half-dozen agencies that rent to vacationers. Or book your own online: Online rates for many condos and hotels in late March and April range from under $100 to over $200 a night.

Many hotels in spring and fall offer specials, giving visitors a free night or two if they stay a specified number of nights. You can also stretch your dollar by looking at amenities. The Dunes Village Resort has a full-fledged 15,000-square-foot indoor water park, free for guests, with a slide big enough for adults, so there’s no need for a trip to an amusement park; http://www.dunesvillage.com. If the ocean is too cold for you in spring, many condo towers on the beach have free indoor-outdoor water complexes with pools, hot tubs and lazy rivers.

For camping out, Myrtle Beach State Park offers 350 campsites along with nature programs and hiking trails. Huntington Beach State Park, farther south, has 133 campsites and features a castle-like home, Atalaya, once the winter home of sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington and her husband; http://www.SouthCarolinaParks.com.

If you’re bringing the RV, the Lakewood Camping Resort offers 1,100 campsites and 85 villas on a 200-acre oceanfront campground. The resort is said to be the eighth-largest camping resort in the world; http://www.Lakewoodcampground.com.

TRAVEL TIPS: Fall and spring are increasingly popular times for golfing and shopping, and you’ll find plenty of vacationers from cold places like Buffalo, N.Y., or Vermont who think the weather’s perfect here for the beach in April. But the most popular season is still summer, with July Fourth as the busiest weekend. July is also the hottest month; temperatures average 87 degrees and the seaside humidity can make it feel hotter, but often the afternoon brings a sea breeze or even a thunder shower.