The Andamans Wiki
Practical, insider guides to the islands, beaches and secret shores of the Andamans — how to reach, what to carry, permits, and local logistics written by island residents.
Port Blair & around
Town Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram)
The capital and gateway to the islands — airport, ferry jetties, the Cellular Jail, and a base for Ross, North Bay, Corbyn's Cove and day trips south and west.
Island Ross Island (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep)
The ruined British capital of the Andamans, ten minutes by boat from Port Blair — colonial buildings swallowed by banyan roots, deer on the lawns.
Island North Bay Island
Port Blair's coral island — sea walk, glass-bottom boats and snorkelling over a shallow reef, usually paired with Ross Island.
Attraction Cellular Jail (Kala Pani)
The colonial prison at the heart of Port Blair — a national memorial to the freedom fighters transported here, with a museum, the gallows and the surviving wings.
Attraction Cellular Jail Light & Sound Show
The evening show in the jail courtyard — the story of Kala Pani told through narration, lighting and the voice of the old peepal tree. Book ahead in season.
Attraction Marina Park & Rajiv Gandhi Water Sports Complex
Port Blair's harbour-front — where the boats for Ross and North Bay leave, with water sports, an evening promenade, food stalls and a sea-facing park.
Beach Corbyn's Cove
Port Blair's own beach — a palm-lined crescent 7 km from town, good for a swim, a jet-ski and a sunset without leaving the capital.
Havelock (Swaraj Dweep)
Island Havelock Island (Swaraj Dweep)
The Andamans' most-visited island — home to Radhanagar Beach, Elephant Beach and the best diving in India.
Beach Radhanagar Beach (Beach No. 7)
Havelock's west-coast showpiece — a two-kilometre arc of white sand, glassy water and the best sunset in the islands.
Beach Elephant Beach
Havelock's water-sports beach — a shallow reef metres from the sand, snorkelling, sea walk and jet-skis, reached by boat or a jungle trek.
Beach Kalapathar Beach
Havelock's quiet east-coast beach of black rocks and turquoise shallows — the place for sunrise and a slow morning.
Neil's Cove
The hidden lagoon a kilometre north of Radhanagar Beach — a rocky, forest-backed cove that few visitors reach, with a serious crocodile caveat.
Neil (Shaheed Dweep)
Island Neil Island (Shaheed Dweep)
Havelock's smaller, slower neighbour — three beaches, one natural rock bridge, and not much else to do but relax.
Beach Bharatpur Beach
Neil Island's jetty beach — the swimming, snorkelling and glass-bottom-boat spot, minutes from where the ferry drops you.
Beach Laxmanpur Beach & the Natural Bridge
Neil's sunset beach (Laxmanpur 1) and the coral rock arch known as the Natural Bridge (Laxmanpur 2), reachable at low tide.
Beach Sitapur Beach
Neil's sunrise beach on the island's eastern tip — open sea, real waves, limestone cliffs and almost nobody around.
South Andaman
Island Jolly Buoy Island
A strictly protected coral island in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, open only half the year — glass-bottom boats, snorkelling and a total ban on plastic.
Island Red Skin Island
Jolly Buoy's counterpart in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park — open the half of the year Jolly Buoy is closed, with the same protected reef and the same plastic ban.
Attraction Chidiya Tapu
The southern tip of South Andaman — Port Blair's sunset drive, a birding forest, and the trailhead for Munda Pahad and its cliff viewpoint.
Suicide Point (Munda Pahad viewpoint)
The black cliff at the end of the Munda Pahad trek from Chidiya Tapu — open sea on three sides and the best vantage on South Andaman's southern tip.
Munda Pahad Beach
A quiet white-sand beach at the end of the forest trail from Chidiya Tapu — reached on foot, with no facilities and few people.
Beach Wandoor Beach
The long shore at Wandoor village, 25-odd km from Port Blair — sunsets, driftwood, and the jetty for boats into Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park.
Bunker Beach
A rocky shore on the Port Blair–Chidiya Tapu road with two wartime bunkers standing on it — the easiest bunkers to reach on South Andaman.
Kurmadera Beach
A remote west-coast beach beyond Collinpur — rare pure coral sand, a climbable rock with North Sentinel on the horizon, and an empty sunset shore.
Shoal Bay 19
A hidden beach at the end of the numbered Shoal Bay settlements north of Port Blair — a short walk through fields and mangroves to clean, empty sand.
North & Middle Andaman
Island Baratang Island
Limestone caves reached by boat through mangrove creeks, a mud volcano and Parrot Island — a long day trip north from Port Blair through the Jarawa reserve, or by sea.
Island Ross & Smith Islands (Diglipur)
Twin islands in the far north joined by a white sandbar you can walk across at low tide — arguably the most beautiful beach in the Andamans, and the hardest to reach.
Across the islands
Activity Scuba Diving & Coral Reefs
Where to dive and snorkel in the Andamans, what it costs, what you'll see, when to go — and how not to wreck the reef while you're at it.
Island life — what the Andamans are actually like
Who settled these islands and what they speak, why crime is low, the old place names everyone still uses, and how a Union Territory with one MP is actually run.
Island Barren Island
India's only active volcano, 135 km north-east of Port Blair — visited by boat for diving and snorkelling, with landing prohibited.
When to visit the Andamans — season, weather and tides
Month by month: which months are wet, which are dry and harsh, when boats get cancelled on clear days, and why the tide decides what a beach looks like when you arrive.
Getting around the Andamans — autos, scooters and ferries
Metered autos, scooter hire, and the real decision every visitor faces: private catamarans at two to three times the price, or government ferries whose tickets are gone by Saturday.
Power, internet and money in the Andamans
Rolling blackouts and why island electricity is expensive even subsidised, which SIM actually works where, and why UPI has quietly made cash optional across the islands.
Eating and drinking in the Andamans — late-night food, water and alcohol
Food delivery runs almost round the clock in Port Blair and barely at all elsewhere. Water bottles under 2 litres are not sold. Alcohol is thinly stocked — but you may fly in five litres of your own.