Pradeep Umbarkar, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Cellular Jail
Seven wings radiating from a central tower, built so that no cell ever faced another — and three of them are still standing above Port Blair.
Built so nobody could see anybody
The design is the point. Seven three-storey wings ran out from a central watchtower like spokes, and each wing faced the BACK of the next, so a prisoner could not see, signal or speak to another prisoner anywhere in the building. The isolation was the sentence as much as the distance from the mainland was.
Explore The Cellular Jail on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
What is left
Four wings were lost to the 1941 earthquake, the Japanese occupation and later demolition. What survives is enough to understand the plan and more than enough to understand the intent.
The wings
- Three arms remain, and you can walk a corridor and look into the cells — small, single, with a high barred opening that faces a blank wall by design.
The central tower
- The hub the wings radiate from. Standing in it is the clearest explanation of the building anyone can give you, because the whole geometry resolves at once.
The gallows and the oil mill
- Both are preserved. The mill is the one people find hardest — prisoners were harnessed to it to extract oil, and the quota was the discipline.
The museum rooms
- Records, photographs and the names of those transported here. It is a straightforward account and worth the twenty minutes before you walk the wings rather than after.
Getting there
It is in the middle of Port Blair, which makes it the one sight on the islands that needs no planning at all.
From town
- A short drive or a walk from most of central Port Blair, above the harbour on Atlanta Point. Every driver and every auto knows it.
From the airport
- Around fifteen to twenty minutes. Itineraries routinely do the jail on the afternoon of arrival, which works because it needs no daylight to speak of.
The evening show
- The sound-and-light performance runs in the courtyard after dark and is a separate entry from the daytime one. Seating is outdoors and open to the weather.
When to visit
The building is roofed and shaded, so this is less weather-dependent than anything else on the islands.
Season
- October to May is the settled season across the Andamans. The jail itself is visitable year round; it is the ferries either side of it that the monsoon disrupts.
Hour
- Late afternoon. The light down the corridors is better, the heat has gone out of the courtyard, and you can stay on for the evening show rather than making a second trip.
How long
- Two hours is comfortable for the wings, the tower and the museum. The show adds about an hour on top and is usually a separate visit in the same evening.
Worth knowing
A few practicalities and one point of tone.
It is a memorial
- People died here and the building is treated accordingly by Indian visitors. It is a national memorial rather than a ruin, and the register inside is a quiet one.
The show is in Hindi
- The main sound-and-light narration is generally performed in Hindi, with English performances less frequent. Worth checking on the day rather than assuming.
Photography
- Permitted in the open areas. The strongest picture is the corridor perspective down a wing, not the courtyard.
Combining it
- Corbyn’s Cove is seven kilometres away and is the standard pairing for a half day. Ross Island is a separate boat trip and does not fit the same afternoon.
Nearby
The rest of South Andaman.
Frequently asked
Plan your journey
Our travel designers turn knowledge and inspiration into a journey crafted entirely around you.
Plan My Journey →