United Kingdom
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
4,531km²
Area
804km
Coastline
measured on a simplified outline
698m
Highest point
Mount Adam
127
People
10°C
Warmest sea
February
492km
To the mainland
When to go to West Falkland
Good all year round.
The sea is warmest in February (10 °C) and coolest in August (5 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island of the Falkland islands
West Falkland is an island in United Kingdom. It covers 4,531 km², with 804 km of coastline. Its highest point, Mount Adam, rises to 698 m. About 127 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 492 km away.
Getting there
- Mount Pleasant Airport / RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 116 km in a straight lineCar hire at NQY airport (Newquay)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- FerriesNew Haven-Port Howard
- 492 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on West Falkland.
- 36beachesScrivens Beach, Norman Beach, Leung Beach and 33 more
- 1ferry terminalsPort Howard Ferry Terminal
- 82named peaksMount Adam, Mount Beauford, Mount Robinson and 79 more
- 3ruins and archaeological sites
- 2hotels, guesthouses and apartments
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
West Falkland in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside West Falkland, each with its own numbers.
10beaches and covesCoastya
39mountainsPeakyas
2lakesLakeyas
Highest point
698m
prominence 698 m · according to Peakyas
Largest lake
7.7km²
Lake Hammond
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
13.6°C
Lake Hammond
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
10.6°C
Rabbit Cove
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
10 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- Hill Covecove10.4°C
- North Beach10.4°C
- Rodney Covecove9.6°C
- Wood Covecove9.8°C
- West Covecove10.1°C
- Roy Covecove10.4°C
- Isthmus Covecove10.4°C
- Halfway Covecove10.4°C
2 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
39 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Mount Adamprominence 698 m698m
- Mount Robinson680m
- Mount Maria658m
- Mount Moody554m
- Storm Mountain521m
- Mount Sulivan
- Mount Emery
- Mount Young
31 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
2 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Lake Hammond7.7km²
- Lake Sulivan7.0km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 95 m above the sea. 88 % of it is below 200 m.
- 43 %0–50 m
- 45 %50–200 m
- 11 %200–500 m
- 1 %500–1,000 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
100 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 13 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 |
| Night low (°C) | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| Sea (°C) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 61 | 46 | 56 | 63 | 54 | 49 | 47 | 44 | 39 | 37 | 43 | 53 |
| Wet days | 14 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 7.9 | 6.5 | 5.4 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 6.7 | 8.1 | 8.7 |
| Wind (km/h) | 28 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 27 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +0.8 | +1.0 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +0.3 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | +0.5 | +0.2 |
| 2021 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.8 | +0.9 | +0.8 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.9 |
| 2022 | +0.5 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.5 | +0.2 | +0.1 | −0.2 | −0.3 | ±0.0 | +0.9 | +1.6 | +1.4 |
| 2023 | +1.1 | +1.4 | +0.8 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.1 | +0.1 | −0.3 | −0.5 | ±0.0 | −0.1 | −0.4 |
| 2024 | +0.1 | +0.4 | −0.3 | −0.1 | −0.8 | −0.5 | −0.8 | −0.4 | +0.3 | −0.1 | +0.7 | +0.5 |
| 2025 | +1.3 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
Falkland Islands
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q733338) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | Natural Earth · public domain |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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