Neil Island is about an hour from my dive centre by ferry, and it is where I send people who look like they need a rest. Havelock is where I work. Neil is where I go on my off days when I want to cycle for an hour, eat a fish thali, and not check my phone, mostly because the phone does not work there anyway.
I run Frogman, a dive centre in Havelock, so I see Neil a little differently than a tour operator does. This is the guide I give my own guests when they ask “should we add Neil to the trip?” Short answer: yes, for two nights. Here is the full version.
What Neil Island actually is
Neil Island, officially renamed Shaheed Dweep in 2018, is a small, flat island about 37 to 40 km from Port Blair, in the same island group as Havelock. Both names are still used on ferry tickets and signboards, so do not let that confuse you.
The whole island is under 20 square km. No hills worth mentioning. Five villages, a few thousand people, and so much farmland that locals call it the vegetable bowl of the Andamans. A lot of the produce you eat in Havelock restaurants grew on Neil.
The difference from Havelock is pace. Havelock has the famous beaches, the dive centres, the cafes. Neil has paddy fields, cycle tracks, and four beaches where the main activity is sitting down. If Havelock is the trip, Neil is the pause.
How to reach Neil Island in 2026
There is no airport on Neil, so everyone flies into Port Blair first and then takes a ferry. You have two routes:
From Port Blair: private ferries take roughly 1.5 hours. Most of them actually run Port Blair to Havelock to Neil, so check whether your boat is direct. Government ferries cost very little, but tourist quotas are tiny and booking them is a headache, so almost every traveller I know uses the private ones.
From Havelock: this is the easy hop, 45 to 60 minutes on a fast catamaran. In season there are around seven sailings a day, starting around 9:15 am with the last one mid afternoon. Timetables shift every season, so check current timings when you book.
The main private operators are Makruzz, Nautika, Green Ocean and ITT Majestic. Tickets generally run ₹1,600 to ₹3,000 depending on the boat and class. If you want open air on deck instead of an AC cabin, Green Ocean 1 is the only boat that allows it, and on a calm day it is the nicer ride.
A few boarding rules people learn the hard way:
- Carry a printed ferry ticket and your original photo ID. Several jetties refuse soft copies on the phone.
- Reach the jetty 45 to 60 minutes early. Boarding closes 30 minutes before departure and they do not wait.
- If you are connecting ferries on the same day, keep a buffer of 1.5 to 2 hours between boats. Ferries run late when tides misbehave.
- Indian travellers need no permit for Neil, just valid ID. Foreign nationals no longer need a Restricted Area Permit either, only a valid passport and Indian visa. Citizens of a few specific countries (Pakistan, China, Afghanistan) still need prior approval.
If you get seasick on buses, take a tablet half an hour before the ferry. No shame in it. Half my crew does the same on rough days.
The four beaches, and which one is for what
Neil keeps it simple. Four main spots, each with one clear job.
Bharatpur Beach: swim and snorkel
The beach right next to the jetty, barely a ten minute walk. Shallow turquoise lagoon, soft white sand, coral starting a little way from shore. It is the safest swimming beach on the island and the centre of all the water activities. It is also the busiest, because every ferry unloads next to it. Go early morning if you want it quiet.
Laxmanpur Beach: the sunset
A long stretch of white sand on the west side. Every evening the whole island slowly drifts here, and for good reason. These are among the best sunsets I have seen in the Andamans, and I watch the sun set over water most days of my life. No jet skis, no noise. One warning: sandflies show up in the late afternoon. Carry repellent, or do what locals do and rub on coconut oil mixed with a little neem oil.
Sitapur Beach: the sunrise
The opposite end of the island, in direction and in mood. Rocky in places, bigger waves, and the first light of the day. Worth one early alarm during your stay. The cheaper huts cluster around this side, so on a budget this becomes your neighbourhood.
Natural Bridge: go at low tide, wear proper footwear
A big rock arch carved by the sea, near Laxmanpur. Locals call it Howrah Bridge. It is the most photographed thing on Neil, and the one attraction with strict timing: you can only walk out to it at low tide, usually a window somewhere around noon to 4 pm, but ask your hotel for that day’s tide. At high tide the path is underwater and dangerous, and swimming there is prohibited.
The walk itself is half the fun. The receding tide leaves dozens of pools full of trapped sea life: starfish, sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, small reef fish, and sea urchins, which are the reason you wear closed shoes with grip, not floaters. And watch where you step. Those pools are living things waiting for the tide to come back, not props for photos.
Things to do beyond the beaches
Honestly, the best thing to do on Neil is very little. But a few things are worth your time:
Cycle the island. Neil is flat and small enough to cover in a relaxed half day. Bicycles are cheap to rent, electric scooters start around ₹399 a day, and autos from the jetty start around ₹400 if you would rather be driven.
Snorkel at Bharatpur. Guided snorkelling runs around ₹1,000 with gear. The lagoon coral is shallow and easy.
Glass-bottom boat. For grandparents, small kids, or anyone who does not want to get wet. Roughly ₹800 to ₹1,200 for about 20 minutes, or around ₹1,800 for the fancier “dolphin” version with bigger viewing windows. Go between 8:30 and 11 am, when the sea is calm and the view underneath is clearest.
Try a dive. Yes, there is scuba diving on Neil, with beginner dives typically around ₹3,500 to ₹4,500, and the reefs are quieter than Havelock’s. One honest note from a dive instructor: whichever island you dive on, check that your operator carries emergency oxygen on the boat. Neil has no hyperbaric chamber and only a basic health centre, so the operator’s safety setup matters more there, not less.
Walk through the villages. Coconut farms, vegetable fields, people who still wave at strangers. This part of Neil stays with you longer than any beach photo.
When should you visit Neil Island?
November to April is the season. Temperatures sit around 24 to 32 C, the sea stays calm, ferries run on schedule, and snorkelling visibility is at its best. December to March is peak, and Neil has limited rooms, so book stays three to four weeks ahead.
May to October is monsoon. The island turns deep green and hotels drop prices, but ferries get cancelled without much warning when the sea turns rough. If your return flight from Port Blair is tight, do not gamble with monsoon ferries. I have seen guests stuck on the wrong island watching their flight leave without them.
Where to stay and what the food is like
Neil has three broad tiers. Bamboo eco huts near Sitapur and Bharatpur for ₹500 to ₹800 a night: a cot, a mosquito net, a fan, and the occasional gecko roommate. Mid-range AC rooms for ₹1,500 to ₹3,000, the sweet spot for most families. And proper resorts from ₹5,000 upwards, names like SeaShell, Pearl Park and Holiday Inn, if you want a pool and a spa with your sea view.
Now the food, and here is the thing nobody warns you about: meals take time on Neil. Kitchens cook from scratch with whatever was harvested or caught that morning, because frozen supplies are hard to ship in. A dinner order can take an hour. Do not fight it. Order, take a walk on the beach, come back. The fish is fresher than almost anywhere you have eaten.
For a treat, Dugong by SeaShell is the fanciest meal on the island. Avisa in Ram Nagar does very good grilled fish. Vibes and Dives near Sitapur is where the dive crowd hangs out. And at the other end, the small shacks in the Neil Kendra bazaar serve a fresh fish thali for about ₹100, possibly the best value meal in the Andamans.
What nobody tells you about Neil
This is the section I wish someone had written before my first visit.
Carry cash. Lots of it. UPI and card machines fail whenever the network drops, which is often, and there are only a couple of ATMs on the whole island, both in the Neil Kendra market, neither guaranteed to be working. There is no foreign currency exchange at all. Withdraw what you need in Port Blair.
Your phone will mostly not work. BSNL is the only network with usable coverage. Jio and Airtel are patchy at best, often dead. Download offline maps, keep your bookings as printouts or screenshots, and tell your family you will be quiet for two days. Honestly, this ends up being the best feature of the island.
Medical care is basic. A small government health centre handles cuts and fevers, and anything serious gets evacuated by boat to G.B. Pant Hospital in Port Blair. Carry your own medicines, ORS, and motion sickness tablets. Emergency numbers are 102 or 108 for an ambulance, 112 for everything.
Do not take shells or coral, even dead pieces from the beach. It is a criminal offence and bags get checked at the airport. Single-use plastic is banned across the islands too. The rules sound strict, but they are a big part of why these islands still look the way they do.
Where diving fits in a Havelock plus Neil trip
Most travellers do Port Blair, then Havelock, then Neil, then back. If that is your route, here is how I would slot the water stuff in.
Do your diving in Havelock. That is where the best dive sites in the Andamans are, boat rides to most of our sites take about ten minutes, and the safety setup is stronger. If you have never dived before, a beginner dive in Havelock needs no swimming background. Nervous about that part? I wrote an honest answer on whether scuba in Andaman is safe for non swimmers. It is.
Then use Neil as the lazy leg at the end. There is one real planning rule hiding here: you should not fly within 18 to 24 hours of diving, and I explain why in my piece on flying after scuba diving. A Neil stay after your Havelock dives solves this neatly. Dive with us, ferry to Neil the next day, cycle and eat and watch sunsets for two days, then ferry to Port Blair for your flight. No stress about the gap.
And if you catch the bug and want a certification, the PADI Open Water course in Havelock takes about four days, which fits before a Neil finish. Couples doing the slow version of this trip can steal the structure from my Andaman honeymoon itinerary.
Questions people ask me about Neil Island
Is one day enough for Neil Island? You can do it as a day trip, but you will spend more time on jetties than on beaches. Two nights is right. One day for Bharatpur and the Natural Bridge, one for cycling, the Sitapur sunrise and the Laxmanpur sunset.
Can I visit Neil directly from Havelock? Yes, it is the easiest hop in the Andamans. 45 to 60 minutes by private ferry, several sailings a day in season.
Do foreigners need a permit for Neil Island? Not anymore. A valid passport and Indian visa is enough for most nationalities.
Will my phone work on Neil? Only really on BSNL. Jio and Airtel are unreliable to non-existent. Plan for a quiet two days and carry printed tickets.
Is Neil Island good for scuba diving? It has quiet, pretty reefs and beginner dives are available. For more dive sites, better boats, and stronger safety backup, Havelock is the diving base. My honest suggestion: dive in Havelock, relax on Neil.
When is the Natural Bridge accessible? Only at low tide, usually between roughly noon and 4 pm, but it shifts daily. Ask your hotel for that day’s timing and wear closed shoes.
Come say hi on your way through Havelock
If Neil is on your Andaman plan, Havelock almost certainly is too, and that is where you will find us. Message me your travel dates before you lock your ferries, and I will help you line up your dives so the timings work with the boats and your flight home.
WhatsApp us at wa.me/919531924029 or call 095318 53676. Even if you only want ferry advice and a restaurant tip for Neil, ask. That part is free.
