Closer to Myanmar than to mainland India, and it feels it. Three islands do almost all the work — a colonial port town with a very heavy history, and two reef islands where the whole day runs on the ferry timetable.
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There are more than five hundred islands in the Andaman and Nicobar chain and you are allowed to visit a handful of them. Almost every trip is the same three: Port Blair, Havelock and Neil. That is not a lack of imagination — it is where the permits, the ferries and the infrastructure are.
Port Blair is the arrival point and the only real town. It is also where the history is, and the Cellular Jail is not a light morning. Havelock (Swaraj Dweep) is the busy one: Radhanagar for the sunset, Elephant Beach for the snorkelling, and most of the dive schools. Neil (Shaheed Dweep) is forty minutes further, smaller and slower, and the one people wish they had given an extra night.
The thing that actually shapes an Andaman trip is the ferry. Private catamarans run two or three sailings a day between the islands, they sell out weeks ahead in season, and the government ferries are cheaper and far less reliable. Build the itinerary around the boats, not the hotels.
Twelve months, honestly. Green means go, amber means it depends, rust means don't.
Two nights on Havelock and one on Neil is the usual mistake. Tell us your dates and how you feel about boats and we will split the nights properly — and leave the buffer day your flight home needs.
Getting there, getting between islands, sleeping, eating and the day-by-day plan. One long honest page each.
A best-time-to-visit guide and a full top-places page are being written for the Andamans now, and will be listed here as they go live.
Two written end to end so far, with the rest queued up next. Each one gets access, timings, tides, what it costs and whether it is worth the trip across.
Everything below is either half-drafted or already snorkelled and waiting to be typed up.
Nights split properly across the three islands, ferries booked in the right order, and a buffer day where you actually need one. No packages, no commission.
