As soon as your cruise to Port Stanley docks, you’ll feel the lure of the shore excursions the Falkland Islands has to offer including fantastic natural beauty, exotic native wildlife, and rugged adventures.

Among the most popular shore excursions the Falkland Islands has to offer let you spend time getting up close and personal with one of the world’s most-beloved avians, the penguin. Behold King, Gentoo, and Magellanic penguins, thousands in total, on a cruise-exclusive all-terrain vehicle tour of Bluff Cove Lagoon. This privately owned wildlife haven on the beach encompasses a sheep farm, penguin rookery, café, and museum/gift shop. Ranger guides are eager to impart information about every aspect of the complex as they transport you on an off-road adventure over rugged hills and dales to reach the lagoon. At the rookery, you can sit and enjoy watching the penguins, or walk among them, snapping pictures that you’ll treasure for a lifetime. 

To see a colony of all Gentoo penguins, take Port Stanley shore excursions farther up the coastline for a tour of Bertha’s Beach, so named for a shipwrecked barque by the same name. The beach is part of a working sheep farm and wetland and was the first in the Falklands to be declared a site of international importance. Observe the penguins and many other species of birds, from Cobb’s wren to striated caracara and even albatross.

To reach another birder’s paradise from your cruise to South America, ride in an all-terrain vehicle over rugged land to reach Volunteer Point Beach a stunning white-sand beach home to over 2,000 penguins. On this shore excursion, be on the lookout for snipes, upland geese, Falkland pipits, and other local birds. Walk the beach and observe the penguins playing and hunting in the clear blue water. 

Other popular shore excursions in the Falkland Islands take you to the capital city of Port Stanley’s most historic sites. Ride down the city’s main street to visit Christ Church Cathedral, the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world. Stand for photos at the Whalebone Arch, created from two whale jawbones. See the 1982 Falklands War battlefields, and enjoy leisurely touring the Historic Dockyard and Museum.