The Complete Guide to Group Bus Transportation for Carolina Country Music Fest

Carolina Country Music Fest is the Grand Strand's biggest weekend of the year — 40-plus country artists, an 18-acre oceanfront stage complex at Burroughs & Chapin Pavilion Place, and somewhere between 50,000 and 75,000 attendees descending on downtown Myrtle Beach for four straight days. The parking lot at 2400 North Oak Street fills fast, rideshare surge pricing kicks in the moment gates close, and Ocean Boulevard locks down for most of the week. The single question that decides whether your group has the time of their life or spends half of it stuck on Kings Highway is simple: how are you actually getting everyone there and back?

This guide answers it plainly, using the festival's own published logistics and the city's confirmed road-closure schedule, then walks you through everything a group organizer needs: which vehicle fits your crew, what shapes the price, and why a Myrtle Beach charter bus rental turns the most chaotic festival weekend of the year into the easy part of the trip. At Party Bus Myrtle Beach, CCMF weekend is one of our most-requested dates — we handle these pickups every June — so the advice below comes from doing it, not from a brochure.

What Carolina Country Music Fest Actually Is

CCMF launched in 2014 and has grown into one of the Southeast's premier outdoor country music events. The venue — Burroughs & Chapin Pavilion Place (812 N. Ocean Blvd, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577) — spans 18 oceanfront acres from the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk to Ocean Boulevard, with two main stages, two VIP areas, and food and merchandise vendors spread across the grounds. The festival runs four days: Thursday, June 4 through Sunday, June 7, 2026, with gates opening at 3 p.m.

Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday through Sunday, closing nightly around 11:30 p.m.

The 2026 headliner lineup is the strongest in the festival's history. Riley Green opens Thursday night, joined by Justin Moore and Lauren Alaina. Luke Bryan takes Friday, with Cole Swindell and Flatland Cavalry in support.

Blake Shelton headlines Saturday alongside Chris Janson. And Post Malone closes the festival Sunday, with Tucker Wetmore and Tracy Lawrence opening. Across all four days, more than 40 artists perform on multiple stages, including Dasha, Drew Baldridge, Rodney Atkins, and Chris Lane.

For groups, the four-day format is exactly why transportation planning matters so much. You are not getting in and out in three hours. You are doing this Thursday through Sunday — multiple pickup windows, multiple late-night returns, and a downtown corridor that gets progressively more congested as the weekend wears on.

The Road Closures You Need to Know Before You Book Anything

This is the section most CCMF-weekend guides skip, and it's the one that actually determines whether your transportation plan works. The city of Myrtle Beach shuts down significant stretches of Ocean Boulevard and the surrounding streets starting before the festival even opens — not for a few hours, but for nearly two weeks.

Based on the city's confirmed closure schedule, Ocean Boulevard between Eighth Avenue North and Ninth Avenue North is closed starting May 28. Ocean Boulevard between Seventh and Eighth Avenues North closes May 31. Ocean Boulevard between Ninth Avenue North and Mr. Joe White Avenue closes June 2.

And Eighth Avenue North in its entirety — all lanes and parking — closes May 31 through June 11. Chester Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues North follows the same schedule. These are full closures, not lane restrictions, confirmed by WMBF News and the City of Myrtle Beach.

What that means in practice: if you are driving toward the festival from Ocean Boulevard, or trying to navigate the waterfront corridor by car, you are already routed around before you ever get close to the gates. For a group in multiple vehicles trying to coordinate an arrival time, those closures turn a simple drive into a guessing game of which side streets are still open on which day.

Every Official Transportation Option, Compared Honestly

CCMF offers three main ways for attendees to reach the grounds: the official parking and shuttle program, rideshare drop-off, and walking from lodging. Here's what each actually looks like for a group.

The honest read: for one or two people staying on the oceanfront within walking distance of the venue, walking wins. For a group of 10, 20, or 40 people spread across different hotels, vacation rentals, or coming in from North Myrtle Beach or Conway — a party bus rental in Myrtle Beach is the only option that gets everyone to the same place at the same time without someone drawing straws for the carpool, no one having to stay sober, and no one waiting 35 minutes on a surge-priced rideshare at midnight when 60,000 people are leaving the same block.

The Parking Shuttle, Explained

The official festival parking program puts cars at 2400 North Oak Street — the old Myrtle Beach Mall lot — and runs a continuous free shuttle between that lot and the drop zone at the corner of 9th Ave N and Chester Street, adjacent to the parking deck. Per the official CCMF transportation page, the shuttle runs Thursday from 2 p.m. to midnight, and Friday through Sunday from noon to midnight.

That shuttle is useful — but parking passes sell out in advance, none are available at the lot on the day of, and 2400 North Oak Street sits a meaningful distance from Ocean Boulevard. After the headliner set ends at 11:30 p.m. and several thousand people are all heading to the same shuttle pickup at once, the wait is real. If someone in your group misses the last shuttle window, the only options are a long late-night walk or a surge-priced rideshare.

Rideshare Drop-Off and Pickup

Rideshare vehicles use the designated zone along Ninth Avenue North, between Broadway Street and Kings Highway, with the standard drop-off address of 506 9th Ave N. Rideshare vehicles enter on the eastbound lane from Broadway Street and exit southbound on Kings Highway. That routing is enforced; rideshare cars unfamiliar with it often circle or drop at the wrong point, which fragments a group fast.

The post-performance surge is the bigger problem. When gates close at 11:30 p.m. and tens of thousands of attendees all open their apps simultaneously, Uber and Lyft pricing in the Ninth Avenue corridor spikes aggressively. For a group of 10 people that needs three or four rideshare cars, that surge gets multiplied across every vehicle — and wait times stretch from minutes to half an hour or more.

A charter bus in Myrtle Beach for CCMF is waiting when you walk out. One flat rate, no multiplier.

Why Groups Book a Bus for CCMF Weekend

Four days of country music is not a one-night event. It's four separate pickups, four separate returns, and four nights where everyone in your group needs to get from scattered lodging to the same 18-acre venue and back safely. A Myrtle Beach bus rental for CCMF weekend solves the coordination problem once instead of every single day.

There's no drawing straws for the designated driver, and no one left standing on Ninth Avenue at midnight watching surge prices climb while their rideshare ETA keeps moving. Your group boards at your vacation rental or hotel, rides to the 9th Ave N drop zone together, and the bus waits for your return window at whatever time you pick. The pregame energy builds on board.

The after-show recap happens on the ride back. Nobody has to find their car in a lot they barely remember parking in five hours ago.

For bachelorette parties, birthday groups, corporate outings, and friend groups visiting from out of town, a party bus rental in Myrtle Beach for CCMF weekend isn't just a convenience — it's the difference between a trip that actually works as a group and one that fragments into separate rideshares and solo navigation before the first song ends.

Which Vehicle Fits Your CCMF Group?

Not every group heading to CCMF is the same size, and you should never have to pay for seats you don't need. Here's how our fleet breaks down for a festival weekend run.

For most CCMF bachelorette and birthday groups — the single most common booking for this festival — a 15- to 30-passenger party bus is the right pick. The built-in bar, LED lighting, and Bluetooth sound system turn the 20-minute ride from your North Myrtle Beach Airbnb to Ninth Avenue North into part of the celebration. For larger groups coming from outside the Grand Strand, a full-size charter bus provides undercarriage storage for festival gear, plus an onboard restroom for the ride home when the lines at the grounds are long and everyone is tired.

ADA-accessible vehicles are always available — just mention it when you get your quote so we can confirm the right vehicle.

CCMF Bus Rental Prices: What Shapes Your Quote

Party Bus Myrtle Beach gives you an all-inclusive price in under 30 seconds — you will know the exact number before you ever book. There's no single flat rate for CCMF weekend, because no two groups are identical. Here's what actually drives the quote:

• Vehicle size — a 14-passenger Sprinter limo and a 50-passenger party bus are different rates, and you should only pay for what your group actually needs.
• Total hours and days — CCMF is a four-day festival. A single Thursday-night run costs less than a full four-day package that covers every performance day.
• Pickup location — a hotel on Ocean Boulevard a mile from the venue is a shorter run than a vacation rental in Conway or a group driving in from Wilmington.
• Event date — Saturday (Blake Shelton) and Sunday (Post Malone) are the highest-demand nights; the earlier you lock in those dates, the better your vehicle options and rate.

For ranges to anchor your estimate: 14-passenger Sprinter limos run $170–$344/hour; 15–20 passenger party buses run $204–$378/hour; 20–30 passenger party buses run $244–$414/hour; 35–50 passenger party buses and minibuses run $294–$490/hour; and 40–56 passenger charter buses run $150–$300/hour or $1,200–$2,500/day. Pricing depends on mileage, time of year, and vehicle type — and you will never be surprised by hidden costs.

Here's the value point that settles the math for most groups. Split one party bus across 20 people over four nights and you're often looking at less per person than four nights of surge-priced rideshares — without the midnight scramble, the scattered arrivals, or anyone left out of the group photo because they took a different car. Call 854-233-7160 to get an all-inclusive quote for your exact headcount and dates.

A Real CCMF Weekend Example

A bachelorette group of 22 booked a 25-passenger party bus for all four days of CCMF last June. Pickup each afternoon from their North Myrtle Beach vacation rental, drop at the 9th Ave N zone ahead of gates, bus parked nearby for the return run after the headliner. Total package across four evenings, all-inclusive: $3,400 — about $155 per person for the entire weekend's transportation, round-trip, every night.

No parking passes. No surge fares. No one drawing straws.

The group's only transportation task each day was texting a group chat when they were heading to the exit.

Getting Your Group to the 9th Avenue Drop Zone

The official festival drop-off zone is along Ninth Avenue North, between Broadway Street and Kings Highway, with the standard address for navigation set to 506 9th Ave N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577. From that drop-off, the venue entrance is a short walk east toward Ocean Boulevard.

Approximate distances and drive times from common Myrtle Beach-area starting points:

Those times double or triple on festival arrival windows, especially the 30-minute window before gates open and the 45-minute window after the headliner ends. The Ocean Boulevard closures redirect westbound traffic, which backs up Kings Highway and US-501. A charter bus in Myrtle Beach for CCMF weekend doesn't make the traffic disappear — but it means no one in your group is navigating it, stressing about it, or late to the pregame because they took the wrong detour.

The routing is handled for you.

Bag Policy, Wristbands, and What to Know Before the Gate

Getting a group of 20 people through CCMF gates quickly requires knowing the rules in advance. Per the official CCMF festival rules page, here's what every person in your group needs at the entry:

Bag Policy

• Allowed: clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC bags (no holographic or tinted material) no larger than 12" × 6" × 12"; one-gallon clear plastic freezer bags (Ziploc-style); small non-clear clutches no larger than 4.5" × 6.5" carried alongside a clear bag
• Medical and diaper bags are permitted, subject to inspection
• Prohibited: coolers, non-clear backpacks, cinch bags, camera bags, luggage, briefcases, or any non-clear bag larger than 4.5" × 6.5"

Wristbands and Registration

Festival wristbands serve as admission credentials. Organizers strongly encourage pre-event registration through the official CCMF app and website — Super VIP requires advance registration, and general admission registration speeds up entry significantly. Have every person in your group register before you leave for the venue, not in the Uber on the way there.

Twenty people trying to register at the gate slows everyone down and cuts into showtime.

Gate Times

• Thursday, June 4: Gates open 3 p.m., close ~11:30 p.m.
• Friday–Sunday, June 5–7: Gates open 1 p.m., close ~11:30 p.m.

For groups planning multi-day attendance, arriving 30–45 minutes before gate opening — before the queue builds — means walking in rather than waiting. A bus that drops your group at the 9th Ave N zone at 12:30 p.m. on Friday has everyone inside well before the afternoon supporting acts. One that arrives at 1:15 p.m. puts you in a line that stretches back toward Chester Street.

Book Early — Here's Exactly Why

CCMF is Party Bus Myrtle Beach's single highest-demand booking weekend of the entire year on the Grand Strand. The festival sells more than 50,000 wristbands for a four-day run, a significant percentage of those attendees are in groups, and the window of available vehicles for the Blake Shelton and Post Malone headliner nights is typically exhausted by March for a June festival.

Here's what late booking actually costs. A 25-passenger party bus for Saturday night (Blake Shelton) booked in January runs $800–$1,100 for a 4-hour window. The same bus booked in May, if available at all, runs $1,400–$1,800.

By late May, the in-demand vehicles — party buses with the bar and LED package that most bachelorette and birthday groups want — are often fully committed. You are not choosing between prices anymore; you are choosing between whatever is left.

For CCMF: book by February for the best vehicle selection and rates. Saturday and Sunday nights fill first. If your group has four dates to cover and you're certain of the trip, booking the full four-day package in fall or early winter locks in every night at the same rate and removes the per-night booking pressure entirely.

Call 854-233-7160 to hold your date — no commitment required to get a quote.

Coming in from Out of Town? Here's the Airport and Hotel Logistics

A significant share of CCMF attendees fly in rather than drive, and the closest airport is Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) (1100 Jetport Rd, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577), about 4 miles southwest of the festival grounds. Direct flights from Charlotte, Atlanta, New York, and Chicago make MYR a realistic fly-in option for groups that don't want to drive US-17 from Wilmington or I-95 from Charlotte.

A single airport pickup at MYR, a direct drop at your hotel, and then the festival shuttle all weekend — that's the full picture for an out-of-town group, and Party Bus Myrtle Beach handles all of it. One vehicle from baggage claim to the hotel, the same vehicle picking your group up each evening for the venue run. No rental cars, no surge from MYR, no trying to figure out Kings Highway logistics the day you land.

For groups driving in from Wilmington, Charlotte, or Columbia, pickup at a staging point outside the downtown corridor — a hotel on Kings Highway, a parking lot in Conway — before the festival-day road closures take effect is the right move. Tell us where you're starting when you request a quote and we'll build the approach around what's actually open on your arrival day.

Who Books a Bus for CCMF (and What They're Usually Doing)

Different groups, same core problem: everyone needs to get from scattered lodging to the same oceanfront grounds and back safely, four nights in a row, without the whole coordination exercise eating half the trip. A few of the runs we handle most often for CCMF weekend:

• Bachelorette parties. The single most common CCMF booking — usually 12–25 people, a party bus with the bar package, pickup from a North Myrtle Beach or Broadway-area vacation rental, and a Saturday headliner night as the centerpiece. The ride to the venue is part of the celebration before the gates even open.
• Birthday groups. Milestone birthday weekends where the headliner-night show is the main event and the bus doubles as a mobile celebration space for the ride over and back.
• Friend groups from out of state. Four-day runs where the group is flying in from multiple cities, staying at a shared rental, and needs transportation for all four festival days without anyone renting a car.
• Corporate outings. Companies that buy suite or VIP packages and want a coordinated shuttle from a Grand Strand hotel to the venue that doesn't require anyone to navigate Ocean Boulevard on a festival weekend.
• Family groups with mixed ages. Groups that include people who shouldn't be navigating Kings Highway at midnight and just need a reliable, comfortable way to do four nights at CCMF without anyone worrying about the late-night return.

Planning a Multi-Day CCMF Weekend Schedule

Most groups attending all four days end up with a similar schedule, and knowing how the festival days differ helps you plan your pickup and return windows. Thursday is the kick-off night — gates at 3 p.m., a shorter crowd as people are still arriving, Riley Green headlining at what is typically a strong but lighter-attended night relative to the weekend peak. Friday through Sunday are the high-volume days, with gates opening at 1 p.m. and the crowds building through the afternoon toward the headliner set that ends at 11:30 p.m.

For a four-day package, a typical daily plan looks like this: afternoon pickup from lodging for the 1 p.m. gate opening, bus on standby through the afternoon and evening performances, group text or prearranged pickup window at 11:30 p.m. or after the headliner. We build the return window into your booking upfront so there's no scramble on day four when everyone is tired and the Kings Highway rideshare queue is backed up to Broadway Street.

One practical note for multi-day groups: the crowd — and the post-show traffic — is meaningfully worse Saturday and Sunday than Thursday and Friday. If you're building a partial-weekend package and want to book the two hardest nights to navigate, Saturday and Sunday are the priority. Lock those in first, then add Thursday and Friday around them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where exactly does a charter bus or party bus drop off at CCMF?

The official festival drop-off zone is along Ninth Avenue North, between Broadway Street and Kings Highway. The standard navigation address is 506 9th Ave N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577. From that point, the venue entrance at Burroughs & Chapin Pavilion Place is a short walk east toward Ocean Boulevard.

After the show, your bus waits nearby for the prearranged return pickup — no hunting through a parking lot or waiting in the rideshare surge queue on Ninth Avenue.

How much does a party bus rental for CCMF cost?

Pricing depends on vehicle size, how many hours the bus is needed, your specific dates, and your pickup location. For ranges: 15–20 passenger party buses run $204–$378/hour; 20–30 passenger party buses run $244–$414/hour; 35–50 passenger party buses and minibuses run $294–$490/hour; and 40–56 passenger charter buses run $150–$300/hour. For a four-day package, most groups find the all-in cost per person competitive with four nights of surge-priced rideshares — plus nobody has to stay sober, nobody waits 35 minutes post-headliner, and the group stays together.

Call 854-233-7160 for an all-inclusive quote with your headcount and dates.

When should I book a bus for CCMF?

By February for any year's festival if you want the best vehicle selection. Saturday and Sunday headliner nights fill first, and in-demand party buses with the bar and LED package are often fully committed before the end of winter. Waiting until May typically means either premium pricing or limited vehicle options.

For bachelorette parties with a Saturday night as the anchor, book before the end of January. Call 854-233-7160 as soon as you have your headcount and travel dates confirmed.

Can a charter bus park at the CCMF venue?

No on-site parking is available for charter buses at Burroughs & Chapin Pavilion Place. The drop-off and pickup zone is along Ninth Avenue North; the bus waits off-site nearby during the event and comes back for the agreed pickup window. That's all built into your booking — there's nothing extra to coordinate on your end.

What's the bag policy at CCMF?

Clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC bags up to 12" × 6" × 12", one-gallon clear Ziploc-style bags, and small non-clear clutches up to 4.5" × 6.5" are allowed. Coolers, non-clear backpacks, camera bags, and non-clear bags larger than 4.5" × 6.5" are prohibited. Every person in your group should have their wristband registered through the CCMF app before leaving the hotel — it meaningfully speeds up gate entry for large groups.

Review the current policy at the official CCMF rules page before your visit.

Does the road closure around CCMF affect charter bus routing?

Yes — Ocean Boulevard and several surrounding streets close for most of the festival setup and run period, with some closures beginning as early as May 28. The closures affect the Ocean Boulevard approach corridor and Eighth Avenue North through June 11. We route around the confirmed closures for your specific event day, which is another reason booking with a company that runs these dates annually matters: we know which approaches are open on which days, so your group isn't navigating a detour map on the way to the Luke Bryan set.

Can you pick up from multiple hotels or vacation rentals?

Yes. Multi-stop pickups are easy to set up when we know your full group's lodging locations. Tell us where everyone is staying when you request a quote and we'll build the most efficient pickup route, so everyone is on board before the drive to Ninth Avenue.

Do you serve groups coming from outside Myrtle Beach?

Absolutely. Party Bus Myrtle Beach serves Myrtle Beach and the entire surrounding region — Wilmington, North Charleston, Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Summerville, and beyond. For groups driving or flying in from further out, we coordinate airport pickup at MYR and hotel-to-venue shuttle packages that cover the full CCMF run. Call 854-233-7160 and tell us where your group is starting — we'll build a plan from there.

Is there a restroom on the bus?

Full-size 40–56 passenger charter buses include onboard restrooms — a real advantage on multi-day festival runs when the lines at the venue are long and everyone is ready to leave the moment the headliner finishes. Party buses and minibuses typically do not. If an onboard restroom is a priority for your group, ask for a full-size charter bus when you get your quote and we'll confirm availability for your dates.

Book Your CCMF Bus Today

The perfect CCMF weekend starts before the first gate ever opens — and the transportation is where it either comes together or doesn't. Whether it's a 22-person bachelorette party rolling from a North Myrtle Beach rental to the Post Malone Sunday closer, a corporate group with VIP passes at the Blake Shelton headliner, or a crew of 50 coming down from Wilmington for a two-day run, Party Bus Myrtle Beach has access to a fleet of party buses, charter buses, minibuses, Sprinter vans, and Sprinter limos across the Grand Strand. We drop your group at Ninth Avenue North while everyone else deals with the Ocean Boulevard closures, and we're there and waiting when the show ends.

Give us a call any time at 854-233-7160 for an all-inclusive price quote — or use our online tool for instant availability.