Volunteer Point King Penguin Tour from Stanley, Falkland Islands
★★★★★ 4.8
(223 traveller reviews)
Volunteer Point king colonyAccess fee includedFour seats per 4x4Lunch included
One 4x4, four seats, and two hours at Volunteer Point, the largest king penguin colony in the Falklands. You leave the jetty an hour after your ship docks, cross farmland on the last stretch, and walk among kings with gentoo and Magellanic penguins close by. Lunch is in the fare, and so is the landowner’s access charge. More travellers have reviewed this day than any other Falklands tour we list.
Hours, prices and access verified by the Falkland Islands Tours team — last checked 2026-09-10
Kings live at Volunteer Point all year, and you get two hours with them.
Gentoos and Magellanic penguins too
Three species at one site, so the day covers most of what a port call can.
Lunch in the fare
Nothing to buy or carry, beyond water and a warm layer.
Four seats to a 4x4
A driver and four travellers per vehicle, built for the off-road track.
Timed to your ship
The vehicle leaves an hour after your ship docks, from the jetty.
The access charge covered
Volunteer Point is a private reserve, and its charge is in your fare.
Six hours twenty, built around two with the kings
Volunteer Point sits in the northeast of East Falkland, on Johnson's Harbour Farm. It is
a privately owned nature reserve and an Important Bird Area, and it holds the largest
breeding group of king penguins in the islands. The kings are there all year, so your
timing is about the weather and your ship, never about whether they have left.
The journey is the price of the day. The road runs so far, and the last part of the trip
is off-road across farmland, in vehicles set up for it. Expect a bumpy ride; for most
travellers it is part of the fun. The operator runs several vehicles together,
so help is near if one gets stuck.
Once you arrive you have two hours. A ring of white stones marks how close you may go to
the king colony, and the rule everywhere is 6 metres. Kings are curious, and they often
close the gap themselves. Gentoos nest nearby, and Magellanic penguins nest in burrows
behind the beach.
How the day runs
Meet. At the Jetty Visitor Centre in Stanley, where the tenders land. The crew wear yellow jackets and hold yellow signs with your name.
Leave. The 4x4 departs one hour after your ship docks, so get ashore as early as you can.
The drive. Out of Stanley by road, then off-road across the farm on the last part of the journey.
Volunteer Point. Two hours with the kings, the gentoos and the Magellanic penguins, inside the white-stone line.
Lunch. Included, and eaten on the day out.
Back. The 4x4 returns you to the jetty for your tender, about six hours twenty after you left.
Who this suits, and who should book something else
Book this if
King penguins are the reason you came to the Falklands.
Your ship is in port for a full day, with an early landing.
You are happy with an hour or so of bumpy off-road driving.
You can commit four days ahead, which is when free cancellation ends.
4 seats per vehicle (4 passengers and driver). Will be shared if you travel alone or with 1/2 people
Port pickup and drop-off
Include one hour's waiting time after ship's arrival
Not in the fare
Gratuities
Where it meets, and when
At the Jetty Visitor Centre in Stanley, the building in front of the tender
pontoons. Look for yellow jackets and yellow signs; the crew will have your name.
The vehicle leaves an hour after your ship docks, and the operator waits for that hour
and no longer. When you book, give your ship's name, docking time, disembarkation time and
re-boarding time, and take the earliest tender you can. Every meeting point is on
the map page.
Know before you go
Cancel at least four days ahead. The listing gives four days in one place and three in another; four is safe under both.
Weather can stop it. The operator may cancel for weather, and a ship that cannot tender cannot land you at all.
The landowner lists visiting days. For September 2026 to March 2027 the reserve lists 10:00–15:00 on Mondays and Thursday to Sunday, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays closed; check your call day with the operator.
Dress for wind and rain, with waterproof layers and shoes you can walk in.
Keep 6 metres from the birds, and stay outside the white stones.
No smoking and no drones on the reserve without the owner's permission.
What travellers said about the kings and the drive
★★★★★
About two hours to the colony, and the last hour was proper four-wheeling across open fields and bog. The kings stole the show, thousands of them with fluffy brown juveniles, and the gentoo colony beside them was a bonus.
Raquel D. · Two travellers · January 2026
★★★★★
We had seen penguins from a distance in Antarctica, but this is what completed the trip. After recent rain the track was very muddy, and our driver picked his way round the worst of it with real care.
Crystal Z. · Cruise passenger · January 2026
★★★★★
The off-road section is an experience rather than an ordeal; the vehicles are built for it. White sand, turquoise water and thousands of penguins, and we were back in plenty of time for the last tender.
Where can you see king penguins in the Falkland Islands?
At Volunteer Point, the largest king penguin colony in the islands, on Johnson's Harbour Farm in the northeast of East Falkland. Kings live there all year, and around 500 to 700 chicks are raised each season. The Volunteer Point day is the tour we list that goes there.
Is a Volunteer Point tour worth it?
If king penguins are why you came, yes: it is the islands' largest king colony, and the tours near Stanley are gentoo and Magellanic trips. It is a day of about six hours twenty with an off-road final leg, at about $398 per person. On a short port call, a Yorke Bay and Gypsy Cove tour of under three hours is the safer fit.
When is Volunteer Point open?
For 1 September 2026 to 31 March 2027, the landowner lists visiting hours of 10:00 to 15:00 on Mondays and Thursday to Sunday, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays closed. The same page also says open at all times, so check your call day with the operator before you book.
How rough is the drive to Volunteer Point?
The last part of the journey is off-road across farmland, in a 4x4 built for it. The tour takes about six hours twenty in all, and its listing advises against it in pregnancy. If a bumpy ride worries you, the beaches near Stanley are the gentler choice.
Can you cancel a Falkland Islands tour?
Almost every tour we list refunds in full up to 24 hours ahead. Volunteer Point needs more notice: its listing gives four days in one place and three in another, so cancel at least four days before. Each card states its own terms.
Is there a shorter penguin tour for a brief port call?
Yes. The Yorke Bay and Gypsy Cove tour takes two hours forty from the jetty, with gentoos and Magellanic penguins, for about $137 per person.
