Andaman Islands Holidays & Tailor-made Tours

The remote Andaman Islands offer superb scuba diving, snorkelling and an abundance of endemic nature to explore.

Located over 850 miles from the India mainland in the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Islands are a collection of 572 islands, of which 38 are inhabited. The population is about 380000.

The islands were originally inhabited by local indigenous people. In the late 17th century the Islands were nominally under the sway of the Marathas whose mighty empire covered much of the Indian mainland, and used the Nicobar Islands as a staging post for their forays into South East Asia. When the British ruled India and the Islands, they used them as a penal colony, and with this built the notorious Cellular Jail to house criminals and dissidents. These days, most of the population are settlers from the mainland who came to live on the Islands at the end of colonial rule. Most of the population live in the island’s capital Port Blair.

The main activities to enjoy are diving, snorkelling and relaxing on picture-postcard beaches. The other big draw, due to the islands remote location, is the sizeable endemic wildlife, birdlife, fauna and flora - the mangroves are particularly worth exploring.  The capital, Port Blair, is also an attractive place and has an interesting Anthropology and Marine museum which are worth a visit. 

The sea breezes make for a pleasant year round temperature, ranging from 23 to 30 degrees. The best time to visit is between December and March, away from the monsoon periods.

There are regular flights to/from the islands from Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.