Andaman Islands

The Andaman Islands sit 1,400 kilometres from the Indian mainland in the Bay of Bengal, and they contain some of the most biologically intact coral reef systems in the Indian Ocean alongside a human history — of indigenous peoples and colonial imprisonment — of extraordinary moral complexity.

Radhanagar Beach on Havelock Island has been consistently rated among the best beaches in Asia for the quality of experience it provides: the sand is white, the sea is the specific turquoise that comes from a coral base at three metres depth and an absence of river runoff to cloud the water. The coral is intact in ways the reefs of Southeast Asia no longer support at this density.

The Cellular Jail at Port Blair — built by the British to house Indian independence activists in solitary confinement, each cell designed so no prisoner could see any other — is the most direct monument to the cost of the independence movement. The prisoners included Veer Savarkar and hundreds of others whose names are recorded in the cells where they were kept. The light and sound show performed at the jail each evening is the only heritage production in India that is genuinely difficult to watch.

Places to Visit in Andaman Islands

• Radhanagar Beach, Havelock
• Cellular Jail, Port Blair
• Neil Island
• Ross Island

Things to Do in Andaman Islands

• Snorkeling and scuba diving
• Cellular Jail light and sound show
• Island-hopping by ferry
• Sunset at Radhanagar Beach