Beaches in Andaman

Best Beaches in Andaman: At a Glance

If you are short on time, these are the beaches most trips are built around, and what each is best for:

• Radhanagar Beach (Havelock): the headline beach, wide white sand, calm water for swimming and Andaman's most famous sunset.
• Elephant Beach (Havelock): the snorkelling and water-sports beach, with coral close to shore.
• Kala Pathar Beach (Havelock): a quiet, scenic beach named for its black rocks, best for photos and a slow morning.
• Bharatpur & Laxmanpur (Neil): shallow, calm, family-friendly water and a classic sunset point.
• Corbyn's Cove (Port Blair): the closest beach to the city, fringed with palms, with jet-ski and speed-boat rides.
• Wandoor & Chidiya Tapu (Port Blair): the gateway to the marine national park, and the best sunset-and-birding beach.

Andaman Beaches: Quick Comparison

Use this table to match a beach to what you want to do, then plan which island to base yourself on. All best-time and access details are confirmed in the island sections below.

Beaches in Havelock (Swaraj Dweep)

Havelock, officially Swaraj Dweep, is the beach heart of Andaman and where most trips spend the bulk of their time. It is reached by ferry from Port Blair in about 1.5–2 hours and holds the islands' most famous stretch of sand along with the best snorkelling and diving. Read the full Radhanagar Beach guide and Elephant Beach guide for deeper detail on the two headline beaches.

Radhanagar Beach (Beach No. 7)

Radhanagar sits on Havelock's west coast, about 12 km from the jetty, roughly 30 minutes by auto, taxi or scooter. It's a wide, uncrowded beach for swimming, sunsets and simply slowing down, and it's at its best from November to April. Arrive late afternoon and stay for the sunset.

Radhanagar is the beach Andaman is famous for, a long curve of soft white sand backed by forest, with shallow, generally calm water that is good for swimming. It is regularly rated among Asia's best beaches (often cited from a 2004 Time magazine ranking). There are no water sports here, which is part of the appeal: it is a place to swim, walk the full length of the sand and stay for the sunset. Lifeguards are usually on duty and a flag system marks safe swimming zones.

Elephant Beach

Elephant Beach is tucked into the forest fringe of north-west Havelock, where the coral sits close to shore for snorkelling, sea walking and water sports. The sea is calmest and clearest from November to April. Getting there means either a ~30-minute speed-boat ride from Havelock jetty or a roughly 2 km guided forest trek, which can be muddy and is sometimes closed in the monsoon.

Elephant Beach is Havelock's activity beach. The reef sits close to the shore, so snorkelling, sea walking, jet-ski and banana-boat rides all run from here, making it the best single spot to combine water sports in one stop. It gets busy with day-trippers by late morning, so go early. For the activities themselves, see the Andaman adventure activities guide.

Kala Pathar Beach

Kala Pathar is on the road past the resorts in south-east Havelock, about 10 km from the jetty, an easy add-on to a Radhanagar day. It's a beach for photography, quiet mornings and a short stop between dives, and mornings are when it's calmest, from November to April.

Kala Pathar is named for the dark rocks scattered along the shoreline against pale sand and turquoise water, a striking contrast that makes it one of the most photogenic beaches on Havelock. It is quieter than Radhanagar, with limited swimming, so most travellers come for the scenery, a walk and photos rather than to spend the whole day. Read the full Kala Pathar Beach guide for timings and nearby stays.

Vijaynagar Beach (Beach No. 5)

Vijaynagar runs along Havelock's east coast, lined with mahua trees, a short ride from the jetty, and many Havelock resorts sit right along it. It's good for long, calm walks and relaxed swimming near the main resort strip, at its best from November to April.

Vijaynagar is the long, shallow beach that runs along Havelock's resort belt. The water is calm and the firm sand makes it good for long walks; because the better-known resorts back onto it, it is the beach many visitors actually wake up to. It pairs well with Radhanagar and Kala Pathar on a single Havelock day.

Beaches in Neil Island (Shaheed Dweep)

Neil Island, officially Shaheed Dweep, is the quieter, slower counterpart to Havelock, a compact island of coral reefs, paddy fields and three main beaches, reached by a short ferry from Havelock or Port Blair. It suits families and anyone wanting calmer water and fewer crowds.

Bharatpur Beach

Bharatpur sits right next to Neil jetty on the island's east side, a short walk from the boat and the most accessible beach on Neil. It works for families, with snorkelling and glass-bottom boat rides over shallow coral, and stays calm from November to April.

Bharatpur is Neil's activity beach: shallow, clear and calm enough for children, with glass-bottom boats, snorkelling and jet-ski rides running from the sand. Its position right by the jetty makes it the easiest beach to reach on the whole island.

Laxmanpur Beach

Laxmanpur is Neil's west-coast sunset beach, about 2 km from the jetty and a short auto ride away. The sand is strewn with shells, there's a natural rock arch nearby, and the late-afternoon light from November to April is the reason to come.

Laxmanpur is Neil's long, white sunset beach, with shallow water at low tide that exposes a wide stretch of sand and shells. The natural coral rock formation locally called the Howrah Bridge sits at the far end (best seen at low tide), making this the island's classic evening spot.

Sitapur Beach

Sitapur is at the easternmost tip of Neil, about 5–6 km from the jetty. It's a sunrise beach, best at dawn between November and April, when an early-morning walk along it is at its most peaceful.

Sitapur is Neil's sunrise beach, a quiet, sandy cove framed by low cliffs at the island's eastern end. With Laxmanpur for sunset and Sitapur for sunrise, Neil lets you bookend a day with both.

Beaches Around Port Blair

Port Blair is the entry point to Andaman and home to the beaches you can visit on arrival or departure day, without a ferry. They range from the city-close Corbyn's Cove to the marine-park gateway at Wandoor and the sunset-and-birding beach at Chidiya Tapu.

Corbyn's Cove Beach

Corbyn's Cove is about 7 km south-east of Port Blair city, 15–20 minutes by taxi or auto and the closest beach to both the city and the airport. It's the spot for a quick beach fix close to town, with jet-ski and speed-boat rides, and stays good from October to May.

Corbyn's Cove is the coconut-palm-fringed beach nearest Port Blair, which makes it the natural choice for arrival or departure day. The water is calm enough for a swim and there are jet-ski, speed-boat and banana-boat rides on the sand, plus cafes behind the beach.

Wandoor Beach & Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park

Wandoor is about 25–30 km south-west of Port Blair, around an hour by road. It's the launch point for snorkelling and glass-bottom trips out to the marine national park islands, best from November to April, though Jolly Buoy is usually open only from November to mid-May.

Wandoor is the gateway to the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, from where boats run to Jolly Buoy and Red Skin islands for some of Andaman's clearest snorkelling and glass-bottom coral viewing. Jolly Buoy is a plastic-free zone and only one of the two islands is open at a time on a seasonal rotation, so check which is open before you go.

Chidiya Tapu (Munda Pahad Beach)

Chidiya Tapu is about 25 km south of Port Blair, around an hour by road. Come for sunsets, bird watching and a quiet end to the day, with late afternoon best for the sunset and early morning for the birds, anytime from October to May.

Chidiya Tapu, also called Sunset Point and Bird Island, is the best sunset beach near Port Blair, with a rocky-and-sand shore backed by mangroves and dense forest. It is a prime spot for endemic and migratory birdlife in the morning. Swimming after dark is not advised because of saltwater crocodiles in the creeks.

Beaches in North & Middle Andaman

Beyond the Havelock-Neil-Port Blair triangle, the far north around Diglipur holds Andaman's most remote and pristine beaches. They take more time and a permit to reach, but reward you with sand you may have largely to yourself.

Ross & Smith Islands

Ross & Smith lie near Diglipur in North Andaman, twin islands joined by a natural sandbar you can walk across at low tide, which is the whole reason to make the trip. They're at their best from November to April. You reach them by boat from Aerial Bay jetty in Diglipur, and you'll need a permit from the forest department.

Ross and Smith are two small islands linked by a thin natural sandbar that surfaces at low tide, letting you walk from one to the other across the sea. It is one of the most pristine beaches in Andaman and, because the journey is long, one of the least crowded.

Kalipur & Turtle Beach

Kalipur is near Diglipur in North Andaman, about 18 km from Diglipur town. It's known for turtle nesting and a rare mix of black and white sand, and the time to come is the winter months, with nesting roughly from December to February.

Kalipur is one of the few beaches in Andaman where four species of sea turtle are known to nest, which is why it is also called Turtle Beach. The shoreline mixes pale and dark volcanic sand, and a local turtle-nesting programme runs in the nesting season. See the Andaman beaches guides for the nesting calendar.

Best Time to Visit Andaman's Beaches

The best time to visit the beaches in Andaman is October to May, with the calmest seas and clearest water for swimming and snorkelling from November to April. The southwest monsoon (June to September) brings rough water, reduced underwater visibility and choppy ferry crossings, and many water-sports operators and outer-island boats pause, so it is the weakest window for beach activities, though the islands are at their greenest.

How to Reach the Beaches & Plan Your Andaman Beach Holiday

Fly into Veer Savarkar International Airport, Port Blair, the only airport, which has direct flights from Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru and Visakhapatnam. From there, government and private ferries reach Havelock (Swaraj Dweep) in about 1.5–2 hours and Neil (Shaheed Dweep) in about 1–1.5 hours, so book them ahead in peak season. Indian nationals don't need a special permit for the main islands, though you should carry photo ID; remote beaches such as Ross & Smith near Diglipur do need a forest-department permit, arranged locally.

To see the headline beaches without rushing, most travellers spend two to three days on Havelock, a day or two on Neil and the arrival/departure days around Port Blair. If you would rather have stays, ferries, transfers and activities arranged end to end, TravelTriangle's Andaman tour packages and Andaman honeymoon packages bundle the beach islands into customisable trips through verified local agents, backed by 40 Lac+ travellers since 2011. For a beach-focused itinerary, browse Andaman beach packages.

Planning a trip around these beaches? Browse the full Andaman travel guide for islands, ferries and itineraries, see the complete 25 best beaches in Andaman list, or jump straight to bookable Andaman tour packages.