The ‘Jewel of South Carolina’, Lake Murray is brimming with boating, barbecues and breweries. It’s a world-class fishing and birding destination, popular with families, couples and groups all year round. While there’s an impressive range of high-end hotels to choose from, a cabin rental is by far the best way to get the most out of your trip. From secluded stream-side cabins to sprawling lakeside lodges, there’s a wide variety to choose from too.
Rocky Creek Cabin on Booking.com (Photo: Booking.com)
It might be hard to imagine the landscape without Lake Murray, but this gargantuan reservoir didn’t exist a century ago. Impounded in the late 1920s, the 50,000 acre reservoir was built to provide hydroelectric power to the state of South Carolina. It’s named after the project’s chief engineer, William S. Murray. Of course, today it’s one of the state’s most popular recreational attractions. Thousands of visitors hotfoot here for boating, fishing, paddling, sailing and scuba diving. On dry land, there’s over 650 miles of scalloped shoreline to hike, bike and birdwatch along too. While it’s easy enough to travel here for the day, most people make a night or two of it by renting one of the many cabins and lodges that line the shore. With so many to choose from, we’ve compared a range of booking platforms offering cabin rentals and have whittled down the best based on variety, customer service, reviews, location and prices.
VRBO
VRBO, now one of the United States’ leading vacation rental sites, offers the widest range of accommodation in Lake Murray online. There are currently 406 holiday rentals and over 30 of those are cabins. There’s a good range of cabins on offer, from basic log cabins to historic cabin-cottages. Most of the cabins offer lakeside views at an affordable price too, ranging from $90 – $400 dollars per night. You can filter your search by price, facilities, amenities, house rules and location. There’s also a handy ‘nearby activities’ filter, which includes fields such as fishing, hiking and golfing. Cancellation rules vary from property to property but, helpfully, you can also refine your search by choosing from 14, 30 and 60-day cancellation policies.
Book at VRBO.com
BOOKING.COM
Global accommodation provider Booking.com offers a smaller, but high-quality variety of cabin rentals in Lake Murray. It’s slightly trickier to filter down your search as you’ll need to search for properties on ‘Lake Murray Shores’, then use the map function to widen your search. Most of the cabins listed on the site include reviews from previous guests, with a score out of 10 based on staff, facilities, cleanliness, comfort, value for money and location. Guests who have an account with Booking.com might also be able to benefit from exclusive ‘Genius’ discounts too. The site also shows live availability, with an option to pay now or on arrival.
Book at Booking.com
BUFFALO CREEK MARINA
If you prefer to book your accommodation directly with the property manager, Buffalo Creek Marina is an excellent option. There’s a range of simple and stylish 1 and 2 bedroom cabins to choose from, each idyllically positioned right on the lake. All cabins are pet-friendly too. While there aren’t any reviews for the cabin themselves since they’re nearly all identical, Buffalo Creek Marina – run by the Higgins family since 1974 – has received rave reviews on Trip Advisor, Facebook and Google. Guests can make the most of restaurants, boat slips and a deep water launching ramp at their fingertips too. Cabins are fairly priced at under $150 per night.
Book at BuffaloCreekMarina.com