Things to do

Stanley is a small town with an attractive waterfront lined with buildings with colourful roofs and paintwork. The new museum is well worth a visit and there are memorials to the battle of the Falklands in the First World War and, of course, to the 1982 war. It is not a city for browsing the shops, but they are available for souvenirs and essential purposes. Good quality food can be enjoyed in hotels and cafes and there are a small number of typically British pubs, which are especially lively at weekends, when many servicemen from the military base come to town.

There are three walking trails covering historic Stanley, central area and a climb up to Sapper Hill and one along the waterfront to east Stanley. Each of these provides the visitor with a different aspect of the town and is useful for both exercise and orientation!

Lots of birds can be seen in Stanley, especially upland geese, steamer ducks, rock and king cormorants, meadowlarks, Falkland thrush, siskins, dolphin gulls, turkey vultures and southern giant petrels. Variable hawks, black-crowned night-herons and even peregrines are also regular visitors.

There are several places that can be visited in a day from Stanley, usually by 4 x 4 with a driver guide - WILDFOOT can give recommendations and suggestions.

Cape Dolphin is at the far north west of East Falkland and is at the end of the main road from Stanley, about 2.5 hours away. It is an area of beautiful scenery and beaches and great wildlife including, apart from penguins and other birds, offshore sightings of Commerson's and Peale's dolphins and sei and southern right whales. Accommodation is limited to camping on site or self-catering back down the road at Elephant Beach Farm. A 4 x 4 is essential in this area and a guide is strongly recommended.

Gypsy Cove is just four miles from Stanley and provides super views across Yorke Bay, although parts of the area are fenced off because of minefields. A prominent feature are the remains of WWII guns, making an interesting photographic subject. Lots of birds to be seen here, including sea and land birds as well as gentoo and Magellenic penguins.

Kidney Cove is also close to Stanley, just seven miles away and, as well as having wonderful scenery, enjoys panoramic views back to Stanley itself. After reaching the settlement at Murrell Farm, visitors go overland by Land Rover to gentoo penguin colonies and the over to Sparrow Cove, the resting place of the SS Great Britain before it was transported back to Bristol for restoration. Apart from gentoo, there are also king, Magellenic and rockhopper penguins, which attract predators such as skuas, peregrines and turkey vultures, especially late in the year when eggs and chicks abound

Volunteer Point is two hours or so from Stanley by road and rough terrain reached by 4 x 4 vehicle, but well worth it. Behind the white quartz beach here can be seen the islands' principal king penguin colony with more than 500 breeding pairs. There are also hundreds of gentoo and Magellenic penguins and many other birds, such as meadowlarks, Falkland thrush and pipits, ground tyrants and many more.

There is a lodge at Volunteer Point and an overnight stay is well worthwhile to fully absorb the unique atmosphere of this amazing spot.

There are several suggested walking routes throughout the Islands and a dedicated guide is available on request from the Falkland Islands Tourist Board with trails of just a few kilometres to ones taking a full day. The routes are detailed quite clearly in the guide but may not be actually marked on the trails. It is therefore necessary to have a GPS of some form, since routes are shown with progressive GPS references. Also, weather in the Falklands is notoriously changeable and visibility can change in moments. 1:50,000 maps are available at the Museum, both with and without gridlines.

The terrain is often boggy and there are challenging hilly sections which also include the distinctive 'stone runs', a geological feature of rocks and stones deposited as the glaciers receded millennia ago. Care should also be taken to avoid minefields left as a legacy of the 1982 conflict: these are clearly marked but do often cover large areas.

All routes provide superb opportunities for viewing birds and other wildlife as well as discovering varied and extensive flora.

Principal routes include:

• Town trails - see section on Things to do, Port Stanley
• Coastal Paths. There are two longish routes (14 and 17 km) starting and finishing in Stanley and one short trail of just 3 km close to Stanley Airport
• Moody Brook trails of 2-3 hours out of Stanley into the foothills. Easy to moderate walking with excellent views.
• Hills and Battlefields. Routes cover the main battlefield areas in the hills approaching Stanley - Two Sisters, Wireless Ridge, Mounts Harriet, Longdon, Tumbledown and William. There is also a full day route taking in a series of solar system sculptures: this starts with a drop-off at the top of Mount Tumbledown and ends on the sea front in Stanley and is notable for its superb views.

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