Stanley — also called Port Stanley — is the capital and only real town in the Falkland Islands, home to about 2,500 of the territory's 3,500 residents. It sits on a sheltered harbour on the east coast of East Falkland, a huddle of brightly painted houses with corrugated iron roofs that look distinctly British despite being 13,000 km from London.
The town is compact and walkable. Christ Church Cathedral, the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world, has an arch made from whalebone jawbones. The Historic Dockyard and the Falkland Islands Museum cover the islands' maritime and military history, including the 1982 war. Minefields from that conflict are still being cleared in the surrounding landscape, though the town itself is safe.
Most visitors arrive on expedition cruise ships or via the weekly RAF flight from Brize Norton (via Ascension Island). Stanley serves as the base for trips to the penguin colonies — Gypsy Cove within easy reach, and the great King Penguin rookery at Volunteer Point a day's outing away — and to the battlefields scattered across the islands.