The world's 50 best beaches
Best for...nature lovers

Bluff Cove Lagoon beach,
Falkland Islands
"Few beaches are remoter, but you still won’t have Bluff Cove to yourself. Some 3,000 gentoo penguins stake out the white sands of this pristine bay, pacing well-trammelled ‘highways’ between their raucous rookeries and the South Atlantic surf. Sit on the beach and the curious creatures will waddle up to you. Magellanic penguins and sea lions frequently surf onto the scene, too. Insider tip: See the Bluff Cove Museum near Sea Cabbage Café to discover how people, as well as penguins, fare in this far-flung outpost."

FALKLAND ISLANDS
Jam Session

The Falkland Islands may lack trees, but the archipelago is
covered in diddle-dee, a shrub that produces an edible red berry. For centuries, shipwrecked sailors and British settlers have used the bittersweet fruit in everything from gin to jam. Taste the islands’ best preserves at the Sea Cabbage Café, a peat-heated cabin an hour south of Stanley on the isle of East Falkland. Locally renowned jam maker Shirley Goss cooks up a batch for the café almost every day during the summer. When I visited the Sea Cabbage Café, I sipped tea and ate warm fruit scones spread with home-made butter, diddle-dee jam, and fresh cream, while watching gentoo penguins play in the surf.

Stephanie Pearson, Afar Magazine, April 2010

“Penguins, on the other hand, don’t appreciate low-flying jets. They get flustered and scatter, stumbling into each other like skittles. It’s one of the things Hattie Kilmartin is keen to impress on the British Armed Forces whenever she can. Not only is her farm at Bluff Cove (south-west of Stanley) home to 2,000 gentoo penguins, but kings are also starting to breed there. When I arrived, one of the dapper adults was admiring its reflection in the shallow lagoon behind the beach.  I have to confess it was my belly, as much as my binoculars, that lured me to Bluff Cove. Sitting right on the beach, Hattie’s Sea Cabbage Café serves the best cream teas south of Torquay: home-baked scones, farm-fresh cream and jam made from locally harvested diddle-dee berries. It seemed rude not to stay for dinner as well – after all, where else can you eat sea trout and slowroasted lamb, sip a decent Chilean chardonnay and gaze through picture windows at a penguin panorama? Birdwatching just doesn’t get any more civilised.”

Will Gray, Wanderlust Magazine, March 2009

“Eating homemade game pie at the Sea Cabbage Cafe at Bluff Cove with baby penguins curiously nudging my feet was an early expedition highlight.”

“The tour around Bluff Cove Lagoon (home to more than 2,000 gentoo penguins and a small colony of king penguins) breaks for tea in fine British fashion and also takes in one of the islands' essentials - the Sea Cabbage Café. The café is housed in a shack on the seashore but its brightly decorated rooms and home-made cookies are legendary.”

TheTravelEditor.com - Post from the Silver Spirit

“We travel by Land Rover across bog and rocky scrubland to Bluff Cove Lagoon to see the colony of 2000 Gentoo and King Penguins.  Two separate groups - penguins and cruise guests - the first protecting the young chicks, the other snapping photos. We warm up with a cup of tea, scones and local Diddle-dee jam in the Sea Cabbage Café nearby.
The Grand Voyage is over and we return home with vibrant memories: ..2,000 penguins at Bluff Cove...” 
Vivien Devlin, Feb 2010

Thank you to everybody who has taken the trouble to write to us, to tell us how much they enjoyed their time with us at the Lagoon.  Your cards and emails are very much appreciated and we love to hear your comments about our tour!