Neil Island and Havelock — 5 Nights of Island Experiences

This trip starts on the water. You are met at the airport, taken to the jetty and put on the ferry to Neil, the smallest and quietest of the three islands. That only works with a morning arrival, so we match your flight to a sailing before anything is booked; if the two cannot be made to meet, we will say so and suggest a first night in Port Blair instead. On Neil, the afternoon is for Laxmanpur, the long western beach, where the island gathers for sunset.

Morning on Neil depends on the tide: the rock arch beyond Laxmanpur is a walk across sharp reef that is possible only when the water is out, so real shoes are needed and the hour is not ours to choose. Bharatpur, beside the jetty, is the calm beach for a swim if the tide is wrong. The ferry to Havelock is a short one. Your introductory dive is intended for this afternoon, but only if the ferry’s arrival and the dive operator’s availability allow it; a same-day dive is not guaranteed. If today does not fit, the dive moves to the next suitable morning.

A morning boat from the jetty takes you round to Elephant Beach, which has no road to it. The reef here is close to the shore and shallow, which makes it the island’s place for snorkelling; the activities on the beach are run locally and paid for there, and you choose on the spot. As the boats run at present, this is a morning trip, and you are back with part of the afternoon left. Sailings and visibility both come down to the state of the sea on the morning itself. The rest of the day is free.

Two beaches on opposite coasts, taken in the order that suits them. Kalapathar is on the east side and is best before the heat: a narrow strip of sand with dark rocks at its southern end and few people. After lunch the car crosses the island to Radhanagar, the wide white beach on the west coast that most visitors come for. There is time to swim where the water shelves gently, and then to wait for the sunset, which is the busiest and best hour there.

By the middle of the day you are back across the water at Port Blair and settled into the last hotel of the trip. If the afternoon allows, this is the moment for the Cellular Jail, the national memorial at the centre of the town’s history, and for its evening show. The trip ends with a night here on purpose. A crossing delayed by the sea then spoils an afternoon, where on the morning of a flight it would cost the flight.

The trip ends with the morning drive to Port Blair’s airport. Mainland flights mostly leave before midday, so plan on an early start. Anything you did not manage in Port Blair yesterday, such as the Samudrika museum or Corbyn’s Cove, fits only if your departure is in the afternoon; ask us and we will tell you plainly.