Stanley

Stanley is a small capital on a long harbour, not a resort town built around ships — and the day runs on its terms.

Smaller expedition ships can sometimes come into the inner harbour; everyone else anchors farther out in Port William. Either way, you tender — the exact size limits are in the FAQ below.

The landing is the Public Jetty pontoon, which can be split into north and south landing points with gangways up to the jetty. Two tenders can lie alongside at once, but only one may load or unload at a time, which is why the queue at the gangway can be slower than the ride.

FIPASS, the floating dock east of town, doesn’t take cruise ships of any size, so don’t plan around docking.

When the Public Jetty ran short of capacity in 2022, the government agreed with the Falkland Islands Company to use the company’s jetty at busy times, Falklands TV reported. If your tender lands somewhere other than the Public Jetty, that’s the likely reason.

Now the wind.

The Maritime Authority closes Stanley Harbour to cruise tenders at a sustained 30 knots and rising, and suspends tendering when visibility drops below 0.1 nautical miles.

There’s no published share of calls lost to weather. The tourism board’s 2025 statistics report puts the cancelled ships at around 9,000 passengers in all — though it gives no reasons, so we don’t pin them all on the wind.

Treat the call as likely, not certain.

Once you’re on the jetty, the town is easy. Ross Road follows the waterfront, and the tourism board’s own heritage list reads almost like a walking route: Christ Church Cathedral and the Whalebone Arch, Victory Green, the Historic Dockyard Museum, the Liberation Memorial, Government House and the 1914 Battle Memorial.

Penguins are the other reason people come, and they’re further out than the photos suggest.

Gypsy Cove, the tourism board says, sits about 4 miles (6.5 km) from Stanley — Magellanic penguins breed there in burrows inside a National Nature Reserve. A taxi or a tour covers it in about 15 minutes.

Volunteer Point, home to king penguins, is a different commitment entirely. It’s about 2.5 to 3 hours each way by 4x4, the last part off-road, and the tourism board says you must have a local guide. Landowner permission is needed in advance, too; a local operator arranges it.

Which of those earns a fare on your call, and which you can do for the price of a taxi, is what our Stanley shore excursion guide sorts out.

Everything from the cathedral to the 1914 memorial lines Ross Road, so the town is a walk, not a transfer. The Lady Elizabeth, Gypsy Cove, Yorke Bay and Cape Pembroke sit east of town — reachable by taxi, by tour or on a long coastal hike. Volunteer Point and Bertha’s Beach are further still, and that’s where a booked tour starts to make sense.

This page stays with the port itself — anchorage, wind, money, the walk. The tour decisions have their own guide.

There, the short version runs like this: Gypsy Cove is the cheap win, Volunteer Point is the long gamble, and one well-known penguin farm has closed its gate.

Booking on your own? Our comparison of Shore Excursions Group and Viator covers which suits which port day — and in Stanley, where wind can cancel the whole call, the ship’s own tour has a stronger case than usual.