Do You Need a Tour in the Falkland Islands? Walking, Buses and Tours Compared
The short version. You do not need a tour for Gypsy Cove. It is a free reserve 6.5 km from Stanley, and you can walk there or catch a small bus on busy cruise days. For Bertha's Beach, Kelp Point and Volunteer Point, a tour is the practical way in: they are private farmland with a landowner's charge, and the point needs a 4x4. Book when your clock is tight or your beach is private.
Plenty of cruise passengers see penguins without paying anyone. Plenty of others book a tour and are glad they did. Which one you are depends on your hours, your legs and your beach. The Falkland Islands guided tours are one way in; your own two feet are another, and you can weigh them below.
When do you not need a tour?
When you have time, good legs and your heart set on Magellanic penguins. Gypsy Cove is part of the Cape Pembroke peninsula National Nature Reserve. It is open at all times and free to enter. The tourist board calls it the most accessible wildlife site from Stanley.
Magellanic penguins nest there in burrows through the summer, and you watch them from the paths above. On a calm day with a long call, you can walk out, spend an hour, and walk back without a guide.
How do you get to Gypsy Cove on your own?
You have two ways, and both come from the tourist board. On busy cruise days, small buses run to Gypsy Cove. Otherwise, it says, it is an interesting walk. The bus fare is not published, so ask at the Jetty Visitor Centre when you land.
The walk is 6.5 km each way, so 13 km there and back. Add an hour at the cove and it fills most of a four-hour window. Wear shoes for sand and rough track, carry water and a layer, and keep an eye on your tender time the whole way.
Keep to the paths above the burrows. A Magellanic burrow can give way under your foot, and you keep 6 metres from any wildlife. Scrub your boots before you move to another wildlife site. The penguins page sets out the rules at a colony.
What will you see at Gypsy Cove?
Magellanic penguins in their burrows are the draw. Falklands Conservation's leaflet for the cove lists 24 bird species ashore and three more out to sea. Look for night herons, oystercatchers, steamer ducks and geese. Sea lions turn up now and then.
On Ordnance Point you can see the remains of Second World War guns. Gentoos use the neighbouring beach at Yorke Bay, and the tours near Stanley put the two in one loop. At the peninsula's far end, Cape Pembroke Lighthouse marks the easternmost point of the islands. It was first lit in December 1855, rebuilt, and relit in June 1907.
What does a tour add near Stanley?
A tour adds three things: a vehicle, a clock and a guide. The vehicle saves your legs. The clock is the one that matters on a port day, because your guide knows your all-aboard time and brings you back to the jetty with it in hand.
The guide adds local knowledge. One February traveller's guide and driver were sixth- and fifth-generation Falklanders. For $40 and an hour, the gentoo colony tour gives you a colony, the Lady Elizabeth wreck and the rest of the day to yourself.
A tour also puts Yorke Bay and Gypsy Cove into one outing. On foot, you would have to fit both into your own walk. On the shared shore tour, you get forty minutes with the gentoos at Yorke Bay, ten at the wreck and half an hour above the burrows, all in two hours forty. You also pass the Whalebone Arch on the way back into town.
Why can't you drive yourself to Bertha's Beach?
Because it is someone's farm. Bertha's Beach lies on Fitzroy Farm, East Falkland, near Mount Pleasant Airport. The tourist board asks you to get permission for a day visit from the FLH Tourism Development Coordinator, and it says charges may apply. No figure is published.
You would also need a vehicle and the drive. The airport is about 52 km southwest of Stanley, roughly an hour by road, and the beach is beyond it. Every tour that goes to Bertha's Beach arranges the visit and carries the landowner's charge in its fare.
If you are staying on the islands with a car, asking for permission yourself is a real option. On a port day, with a tender to catch, it seldom is.
What does Volunteer Point require?
More than a phone call. Volunteer Point is part of Johnson's Harbour Farm, a privately owned nature reserve. The landowner's permission is required, and so is prior permission for the private road between Johnson's Harbour and Volunteer House. Part of the journey is off-road.
At the point, camping is banned at all times, so is smoking, and drones need the owner's written permission. You keep 6 metres from the birds, and a ring of white rocks marks the viewing line around the king colony. The Volunteer Point day handles the permission, the 4x4 and the access charge, with lunch included, for $398.
Kelp Point and the elephant seals
Kelp Point is on Fitzroy Farm as well. The tourist board says it is also known as Whale Point, for the whale bones on the beach. Gentoos, Magellanic penguins and many Southern elephant seals use it. The route runs by road and then off-road, and charges apply.
That is private land, a rough track and a charge, all on a port day. The Kelp Point days clear all of it and include lunch, from $444 to $482 per person.
Elephant seals are big animals, and the 6-metre rule applies to them as much as to the penguins. On a tour you have a driver for the off-road track, lunch in the fare and someone to tell you where to stand. That is hard to arrange for yourself on a single day ashore.
Every way to see the penguins, compared
| Channel | Cost | What you see | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|
| On foot to Gypsy Cove | Free | Magellanic burrows, shorebirds, sea lions now and then | 13 km there and back, good shoes, your own eye on the clock |
| Small bus to Gypsy Cove | Fare not published | The same, without the walk | A busy cruise day, when the buses run |
| Shared tour near Stanley | $40 – $137 | A gentoo colony, or Yorke Bay and Gypsy Cove | A booking and your ship's times |
| Small-group farm day | $379 | Bertha's Beach, Yorke Bay and Gypsy Cove | Four to five hours |
| Private tour | $333 – $565 | Your route: Bertha's Beach, Kelp Point or Cape Pembroke | Four to six and a half hours |
| Volunteer Point day | $398 | Kings, gentoos and Magellanic penguins | About six hours twenty and four days' refund notice |
| A farm beach on your own | Charge not published | Gentoos and Magellanic penguins | The landowner's permission, a vehicle and a long drive |
Read the last column before the second. Most of the cost of going alone is in what you need, not in what you pay.
When is a shared tour the better buy?
When your call is short and your budget is too. Shared tours run from $40 for an hour at a gentoo colony to $137 for two hours forty at Yorke Bay and Gypsy Cove. You share the vehicle with a group of twelve to sixteen at most. In return you get a guide, a driver and a fixed return to the jetty.
One February traveller on the shared tour found it far cheaper than the ship's own excursion. They saw fewer penguins than they had hoped, and friends on the ship's tour saw more and paid more. Another put the saving at about half the ship's price and was back with hours to spare.
The small-group farm day sits between shared and private. The small-group Bertha's Beach tour takes eight people at most to three beaches in four to five hours, for $379.
When is a private tour worth it?
When you want the day shaped around you. A private tour takes your party alone, from $333 to $565 per person. Your guide sets the pace, stops where you want to stop and fits the route around your ship's hours.
It also suits families. One private day books children aged two to twelve in their own category, another packs an activity book and pencils, and another carries a booster seat. The private Gypsy Cove and Cape Pembroke tour gives you an hour at Yorke Bay, half an hour each at Gypsy Cove and the lighthouse, lunch and your own driver. Its minimum age is eight.
Should you book the ship's excursion instead?
That is your call, and price is only part of it. The ship's excursion is sold by your cruise line; the tours from the jetty are sold by island operators. Travellers who booked on the island and compared prices found theirs cheaper, and one Whale Point guest called it more private as well.
If you book on the island, you carry the timing. Give the operator your ship's name and tender times, and choose a refund you can use. All the island tours refund in full up to 24 hours ahead, except Volunteer Point, which needs four days' notice.
Who should walk, and who should book?
- Walk if you have a long call, want Magellanic penguins and enjoy 13 km on foot.
- Take the bus if it is a busy cruise day and you would rather save your legs for the cove.
- Book a shared tour if your call is short and you want two species with no planning.
- Book a private tour if you want Bertha's Beach, Kelp Point or Cape Pembroke at your own pace.
- Book Volunteer Point if you came for kings and your ship gives you the day.
If a tour wins, you can start with the private Gypsy Cove day, the one-hour gentoo tour or the small-group Bertha's Beach day. Every other fare is compared on Falkland Islands Tours.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a guided tour to see penguins in the Falklands?
How close can you get to the penguins?
Should you book a private or a shared tour?
Can you visit Bertha's Beach on your own?
Can you walk to Gypsy Cove from the Stanley jetty?
When a tour beats going it alone
Private Falkland Island Tour Gypsy Cove Cape Pembroke and Stanley
Gypsy Cove, Yorke Bay and Cape Pembroke with your own driver and lunch.
From $379 per person
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Gentoo Penguin Colony Falklands Tour with Transportation
An hour from the jetty: the wreck, the totem pole and a gentoo colony.
From $40 per person
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Let the Bertha’s Beach Penguins Make You Smile
Bertha's Beach, Yorke Bay and Gypsy Cove in one outing, eight people at most.
From $379 per person
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