Andaman Islands — Where the Forest Meets the Sea

Extend Your Journey

57 km from Port Blair by Ferry (2 hours)

Havelock Island (Swaraj Dweep)

Havelock is the most visited island in the chain, and for good reason. Radhanagar Beach on the western shore is a 2 km crescent of white sand backed by old-growth forest. TIME Magazine rated it Asia's best beach in 2004 and it has held that reputation since. The sand is fine-grained and slopes gently into water that stays shallow for 50 metres. On the east side of the island, Elephant Beach (reachable by a 25-minute forest trail or a short boat ride) is the best snorkelling spot accessible without a boat charter. The reef starts in waist-deep water. Scuba diving centres at beach No. 3 and No. 5 run PADI courses and fun dives to sites like Aquarium, Seduction Point, and Barracuda City, where visibility regularly exceeds 30 metres.

37 km from Port Blair by Ferry (1.5 hours)

Neil Island (Shaheed Dweep)

Neil Island covers just 18.9 square km. That small size is the point. The island has five numbered beaches, each one distinct. Beach No. 1 (Laxmanpur) has a natural rock arch called the Howrah Bridge that frames the sunset. Beach No. 4 (Bharatpur) has the island's best snorkelling reef, accessible by wading 30 metres from shore. The coral here is healthy and shallow enough to see clearly without a mask on a calm day. The interior of the island is flat farmland growing papaya, banana, and tropical vegetables. There are no ATMs. Mobile signal is patchy. The pace drops to something close to zero.

Capital City and Colonial History

Port Blair & Ross Island

Port Blair is a functional transit town, not a resort. But it holds two places worth serious time. The Cellular Jail is a three-storey radial prison built by the British between 1896 and 1906 to hold Indian political prisoners in solitary confinement. 698 cells, each measuring 4.5 by 2.7 metres, were designed so that inmates could not see or communicate with one another. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Batukeshwar Dutt, and hundreds of other freedom fighters were imprisoned here. The evening sound-and-light show tells the jail's history against the backdrop of the lit building. Ross Island (now officially Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island), just 2 km by boat from Port Blair, was the British administrative headquarters from 1858 to 1942. Today it is a ruin overtaken by forest: tree roots split colonial buildings, deer wander through former ballrooms, and banyan trunks have swallowed brick walls whole.

100 km North of Port Blair (3 hours by road and boat)

Baratang Island

Baratang is the Andamans at their most raw. Getting there takes commitment: a three-hour journey from Port Blair that passes through the Jarawa Tribal Reserve (interaction with the Jarawa people is prohibited by law, and your vehicle joins a police-escorted convoy). The reward is a landscape unlike anything else in the archipelago. Limestone caves formed over millions of years hold stalactite and stalagmite formations reached by a speedboat ride through dense mangrove creeks. Mud volcanoes, among the few active ones in India, bubble grey silt from the earth. The mangrove channels themselves are the highlight for many: narrow green corridors where the canopy closes overhead and the only sound is the boat engine and the birds.

Land at Veer Savarkar International Airport (IXZ). Flights arrive from Delhi (4 hours), Chennai (2 hours), and Kolkata (2 hours). Transfer to your hotel in Aberdeen Bazaar, the main commercial area. Afternoon visit to the Cellular Jail National Memorial. Walk the radial wings and solitary cells where Indian freedom fighters were imprisoned between 1906 and 1938. Each cell measures 4.5 by 2.7 metres with a single ventilation window set high in the wall. Return at dusk for the sound-and-light show, which runs the jail's history through projected narration and lit corridors. If time allows, take the 15-minute government ferry to Ross Island (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island) to walk the ruins of the British headquarters before the last boat back.

Board the morning government ferry or private catamaran (Makruzz or Nautika) from Phoenix Bay Jetty to Havelock Island. The private boats take roughly 90 minutes; the government ferry takes two hours. On arrival, transfer to your resort near Beach No. 7. After lunch, head to Radhanagar Beach on the west coast. The beach runs for 2 km with no development behind it, only forest. Arrive by 4 pm to watch the sun drop into the Bay of Bengal. The sand is powder-fine and the water is shallow enough to wade 50 metres out. This is the beach that made the Andamans famous.

Morning: choose your depth. Certified divers head to sites like Aquarium, Seduction Point, or the Wall at south Button Island, where barracuda schools, reef sharks, and Napoleon wrasse are common sightings. Non-divers can do a Discover Scuba session (PADI intro dive, no certification needed, maximum depth 12 metres) or try sea walking, where you wear a weighted helmet and walk the seabed at 5 metres depth. Afternoon: take the 25-minute forest trail to Elephant Beach for shore snorkelling. The reef starts in chest-deep water. Expect parrotfish, clownfish in anemones, blue-spotted stingrays, and healthy table coral. A glass-bottom boat runs the same route for those who prefer to stay dry.

Morning ferry from Havelock to Neil Island. The crossing takes about one hour. Neil is flat and small enough to cycle in half a day. Rent a bicycle and ride to Bharatpur Beach (Beach No. 4), where the reef is so shallow at low tide that coral heads break the surface. Snorkel here if the tide is right. Afternoon: cycle to Laxmanpur Beach (Beach No. 1) to see the natural rock bridge locally called the Howrah Bridge. The arch frames the sunset perfectly. Walk the tide pools on the rocky shelf for sea urchins, small crabs, and trapped reef fish. Dinner at one of the small beachside restaurants. Neil has no nightlife. The sky after dark is full of stars.

Early morning walk to Sitapur Beach (Beach No. 5) on the east coast for sunrise over the open ocean. The beach has rocky outcrops and tide pools but few people. Return to your guesthouse for breakfast. Board the midday ferry back to Port Blair. Afternoon: visit the Samudrika Naval Marine Museum for coral specimens and displays on the archipelago's marine ecology, or the Anthropological Museum for exhibits on the Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese, and Great Andamanese indigenous peoples. Browse the local fish market at Aberdeen Bazaar for a sense of daily island life. Evening free.

Final morning. If your flight is in the afternoon, use the morning for Corbyn's Cove Beach, the closest swimming beach to Port Blair at 7 km south of the town centre. The crescent bay has calm water and a row of coconut palms but is modest compared to Havelock. Alternatively, visit the Chatham Saw Mill on Chatham Island, connected to Port Blair by bridge, one of the oldest wood-processing operations in Asia and still functioning. Transfer to Veer Savarkar Airport for your departure flight. Those extending their trip can add Baratang (full-day excursion), Diglipur and Smith Island (2 extra nights), or a liveaboard diving expedition to Barren Island, India's only active volcano.