The Best Beach Bar in Myrtle Beach? Here’s Our Case

Everybody in Myrtle Beach has an opinion on the best beach bar, and we’re not neutral. We run the front desk at Sands Ocean Club, where Ocean Annie’s Beach Bar sits on the pool deck. So rather than tell you it’s the best, here’s what we think makes a beach bar worth the name — and you can decide.

It should actually be on the beach

A rooftop with an ocean view is a nice bar. A beach bar is one you can walk to with sand on your feet. Ocean Annie’s is on the oceanfront pool deck at 9550 Shore Drive: the pool on one side, the beach on the other, and no shirt, no shoes, no problem.

The music should be outside

The band sets up on the deck and plays in the open air, March through October. (Live music takes the winter off, from November 1 to the end of February.) If you’re staying upstairs at Sands Ocean Club, your balcony is in the front row.

Anyone should be able to walk up

Ocean Annie’s has always been open to the public. You don’t need a room key, and plenty of the people ordering at the bar are locals who’ve been coming for years. The bar FAQ covers the rest — parking, who runs the place, and which building to book.

It should have earned it

Ocean Annie’s opened in 1984. Four decades later it holds 4.5 stars from 1,500+ Google reviews (checked July 2026), and a good number of the regulars were coming here before their kids were born. That’s the story we tell on its own page.

And you shouldn’t have to drive home

This is the part no other beach bar can offer: you can stay right on top of it. Sands Ocean Club is where the party lives. If you’d rather keep the bar at arm’s length, Sands Beach Club is the quiet one, a walk up the same beach — here’s how to choose.

Making a night of it elsewhere too? Our short list of Myrtle Beach bars has the others we’d send you to. When you’re ready, check rates and book direct or call 1-888-266-4375.