About South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands form a remote British Overseas Territory in the Southern Ocean, roughly 800 miles southeast of the Falkland Islands. South Georgia itself — glacier-covered, mountainous, and home to vast colonies of king penguins, seals, and seabirds — receives a modest but established stream of expedition cruise visitors each year, while the more remote and volcanic South Sandwich Islands are visited only rarely, mainly by scientific and survey vessels. The territory has no permanent civilian population; the only residents are government officers, scientists, and seasonal personnel based at King Edward Point and Grytviken.

Because there is no commercial airport, no scheduled transport, and no land-based infrastructure for independent travel, South Georgia is visited almost exclusively as part of a specialist Antarctic or sub-Antarctic expedition cruise, typically departing from or combined with a stop in the Falkland Islands. For this reason, we have not created a separate detailed travel guide for this territory. Travelers planning an expedition that includes South Georgia should use our Falkland Islands travel guide as the most relevant regional starting point.