Beyond Havelock: An Offbeat Island-Hopping Route Through the Andamans

Havelock is beautiful. It's also where almost everyone goes. The Andamans begin where the ferries stop.

Most trips to the Andaman Islands look remarkably similar: fly into Port Blair, overnight there (usually reluctantly), take the Makruzz to Havelock for three or four days, squeeze in a day on Neil Island, head home. It's a good trip. It's also a very small slice of a very large archipelago.

The truth is that the Andamans are 572 islands. Fewer than forty are inhabited, and only a handful see real tourism. Some of the most beautiful — the ones with empty white-sand beaches, healthy coral, untouched mangroves — sit a few hours' boat ride from the well-trodden circuit, in waters that most travellers never see.

Here's a ten-day offbeat route we've done ourselves and now recommend to couples and small groups looking for something quieter.

Mesmerising Island Life

Day 1: Port Blair — Use It, Don't Skip It

Port Blair has a reputation as a transit stop. That's unfair. The Cellular Jail is a genuinely moving piece of Indian history, and the small Anthropological Museum gives you context for the Jarawa, Onge, and Sentinelese communities you'll hear referenced throughout your trip.

Stay at the Sinclairs Bayview or, for something more characterful, a homestay in the quieter Corbyn's Cove area. Eat at New Lighthouse Restaurant on the seafront for fresh tandoori fish served at plastic tables under the sky.

Use the afternoon to sort your permits — some of the islands further out (Long Island, Diglipur region) require permits your hotel or operator can help with.

Day 2–3: Long Island

Skip Havelock's morning ferry and instead take the Makruzz or a government ferry to Long Island, a small community of about 1,500 people on the eastern side of the archipelago.

Long Island is what Havelock was twenty years ago. There are no paved roads on most of the island — you walk, or you cycle. There are maybe five homestays and one proper guesthouse. There is no nightlife, no beach shacks, no rows of scooter-rental shops.

What there is: Lalaji Bay, a stretch of perfectly white sand reached by a forty-minute hike through jungle (or a local dinghy, if you prefer). The snorkelling off its northern rocks is some of the best we've done in the Andamans — healthy brain coral, parrotfish, the occasional green turtle.

Stay at the small Blue Planet guesthouse or with the Ramesh family, whose simple rooms face a coconut grove. Dinner is fresh fish, chapati, and a kerosene lamp on the verandah.

Day 4–5: Rangat and the Mayabunder Road

From Long Island, take the morning boat to Yerrata Jetty and drive north up the Andaman Trunk Road. This is one of the most beautiful drives in India — dense tropical forest, occasional glimpses of water, villages built entirely on stilts in the wake of the 2004 tsunami.

Base yourself in Mayabunder, a quiet harbour town in the North Andaman region. From here, two half-day excursions are worth your time:

Karmatang Beach — a nesting site for olive ridley and green sea turtles. If you visit between January and April, you may see hatchlings released at dusk.

Avis Island — an uninhabited sliver of sand and palm, reached by a short boat hop. Bring your own snorkel gear and packed lunch.

Accommodation in Mayabunder is simple — a couple of government lodges and one or two family-run guesthouses. This is rough travel by Havelock standards, but it's real.

Day 6–7: Diglipur and the North

Continue north to Diglipur, the northernmost town on the road network. This is the launching point for two standout experiences:

Ross and Smith Islands — twin islands connected by a strip of pure white sand that appears and disappears with the tide. Go early, before any day-boats arrive from Port Blair, and you may have them to yourself for an hour. One of the most photographed beaches in the Andamans, and also one of the least crowded because of how far it is to reach.

Saddle Peak — the highest point in the Andamans (732m), a half-day hike through dense rainforest. Permits are required; organise through your Diglipur guesthouse.

Stay at Turtle Resort (government-run, serviceable) or the small Pristine Beach Resort near Kalipur Beach. Kalipur itself is a quiet, brown-sand beach that's a nesting site for four species of sea turtle. Between January and March, you may see them at night.

Day 8: Long Drive Back South — Or the Scenic Cheat

You have two choices here.

The real traveller's option: drive back south on the Trunk Road, stopping at Baratang for the limestone caves and the extraordinary mud volcanoes — an alien landscape of grey bubbling craters unlike anywhere else in India. This is a full-day drive with multiple ferry crossings.

The cheat: fly from Diglipur back to Port Blair (a small aircraft operates this route intermittently — check schedules in advance). If available, this saves a day.

Day 9: Neil Island — The Quiet One

You can't really visit the Andamans without some beach time, but our preference is Neil Island (Shaheed Dweep) over Havelock (Swaraj Dweep). Neil is smaller, slower, and retains more of the sleepy village feel that Havelock has largely lost.

Rent a scooter. Ride the seven kilometres to Laxmanpur Beach for sunset and the famous natural coral bridge. Visit Bharatpur for an easy snorkel. Eat a lazy dinner at Garden View — homely food at plastic tables, served by a family who's been there twenty years.

For a unique stay, try Pearl Park Beach Resort (wooden cottages in coconut groves) or the smaller Emerald Gecko if you prefer to be right on the beach.

Day 10: One Last Swim, Then Port Blair and Home

A slow morning swim at Sitapur (Neil's eastern beach, excellent for sunrise), a last thali lunch, and the ferry back to Port Blair.

Logistics Worth Knowing

Ferries change on short notice. Book your inter-island tickets a week or two in advance where possible, and keep a day of buffer in your itinerary.

Permits matter. Some islands, and some beaches within islands (like parts of Havelock), are restricted. Work with a knowledgeable local operator to sort this cleanly.

Cash is essential. ATMs outside Port Blair and Havelock are unreliable. Carry more than you think.

The network is patchy. Only BSNL works reliably outside Port Blair, Havelock, and Neil. Download offline maps before you set out.

Coral is fragile. Please — please — don't touch it, don't stand on it, don't buy it. Use reef-safe sunscreen (bring it with you; you won't find it locally).

When to Go

November to February is high season — dry, sunny, calm seas. March to early May is hotter but wonderful for diving. June to September is the monsoon; many of the islands we've described above become effectively unreachable as ferries are cancelled regularly. For the route we've described, January to March is the sweet spot.

The Andamans reward the traveller who goes beyond the obvious. Spend the extra three days, take the slower boat, stay in the simpler room — and you'll come home with a version of the islands almost no one else has seen. If you'd like help pulling together a trip like this, including permits, ferry timings, and the small homestays we trust, that's exactly what we plan at OurTaleOfTravel.