Travel in Havelock Island

Havelock is the island the Andamans are known for, and it appears in our programme exactly once. One tour of the fifteen we run in India goes there: Travel component: Paradise Andaman & Nicobar Islands, five days from EUR 410. It is a beach component, written to be attached to the end of a longer India route, not a touring week around the archipelago. Knowing that before you enquire saves a conversation later.

The five days run like this. You land at Port Blair, a driver meets you at the airport and takes you to the ferry, and the crossing goes past a line of uninhabited islands to Havelock. That is day one. Days two, three and four have nothing scheduled at all. The itinerary names sunbathing, a swim in the sea and snorkelling over the reef, then says to plan the time entirely according to your own wishes. On day five you take the ferry back to Port Blair and are driven straight to the airport. Four nights on the island, three open days, a travel day at each end.

What the plan says about the place is short and accurate: fine white sand backed by dense rainforest, clear turquoise water, small colourful marine life on the reef. Dolphins and sea turtles live in these waters. The itinerary says they are there. It does not say you will see them, and neither will we.

Now the part worth reading twice. Radhanagar Beach, the stretch that put Havelock on every list of Indian beaches, is not named anywhere in the itinerary. Neither is Kalapathar. Neither is Elephant Beach. Havelock is also India's main scuba base, and there is no dive day in this plan or anywhere in our India catalogue. Nothing at all is scheduled between the two ferry crossings, so there are no excursions and no boat trips either. If your reason for going is a particular beach or a certified dive, ask us to price it in. Do not assume it sits inside the EUR 410.

Port Blair is transit in both directions: airport to pier on the way in, pier to airport on the way out. Day five carries the title "Historical Tour" in our itinerary, but the day it describes is the crossing and the drive, with no sightseeing in it. The Cellular Jail and Ross Island are not in the plan, so check with us before you count on them. And despite the component's name, nothing here goes to the Nicobars. The trip stays between Port Blair and Havelock.

The five days do not include getting to the islands either. The itinerary starts when you land at Port Blair, so the domestic flight from the mainland sits outside it and has to be written into the route you attach the beach to. That is why we quote the component and the main trip together. International flights are not included on any of our trips.

Inclusions match the rest of our India programme: hotel accommodation, breakfast, a German-speaking guide, 24-hour contact with our team, and a bottle of water when you arrive. No hotel is named for this component. That is settled when the trip is built, across our Standard, Deluxe, Superior and Executive room tiers, and there is no five-star tier on anything we sell. Because days two to four are empty, ask what the guide covers on a stay like this and we will put the answer on your quote rather than leave you guessing.

Every trip we run is private, with no fixed departure dates, so the component slots in on the dates your route needs. India renamed the island Swaraj Dweep in 2018; our itinerary still calls it Havelock, and so does this page. If a particular month matters to you, say so early and we will confirm what the ferries are doing before anything is priced.