Hidden Gems in the Andaman Islands Beyond Radhanagar Beach

Ross Island, officially renamed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep, sits a short ferry ride from Phoenix Bay Jetty in Port Blair, with the crossing taking about twenty minutes and boats running through the morning and early afternoon. This was the administrative headquarters of the British penal colony before Port Blair took over, and what's left is a slow collision between colonial architecture and jungle: the old church, the bakery, and the chief commissioner's bungalow are all still standing, half-swallowed by banyan and rubber tree roots that have grown straight through the brickwork. Spotted deer and peacocks wander the grounds freely since the island has no permanent civilian population. Carry some cash for the entry ticket, and if timing allows, the evening light and sound show narrates the island's convict-era history against the ruins themselves, though it isn't run daily, so it's worth checking the schedule in Port Blair first.

Parrot Island, tucked into the mangrove creeks near Baratang, isn't actually home to parrots but to thousands of rose-ringed parakeets that return to roost on a cluster of mangrove trees every evening just before sunset. Getting there means first reaching Baratang, roughly a four-hour drive north of Port Blair along the Andaman Trunk Road, a stretch that cuts through the Jarawa Tribal Reserve and runs only in timed convoys with a police escort, with no stopping and no photography of the Jarawa community allowed along the way. From the Baratang jetty, a small boat weaves through mangrove channels for about twenty minutes to reach the roosting site. The spectacle lasts maybe ten or fifteen minutes as the sky fills with birds, so boatmen time the trip tightly around sunset.

Chidiya Tapu, the southernmost point of South Andaman, is about twenty-five kilometres from Port Blair down a road that runs along the coast through dense forest, and it's one of the few sunset points in the islands where you're genuinely likely to be one of a handful of people watching. The forest department runs a small guesthouse here, and the biological park nearby has a modest collection of local fauna, but the real draw is the walk down to the beach itself, framed by mangroves and usually empty by late afternoon. Birdwatchers rate it highly too, since the forest patches around Chidiya Tapu are one of the better spots on South Andaman to see hornbills and sea eagles without booking a specialised tour.

Smith Island, off the far northern tip near Diglipur, stays off most itineraries simply because of the distance. Diglipur is roughly twelve hours from Port Blair by road, or a shorter government ferry ride on specific days of the week, and either way it isn't a casual day trip. The payoff is a natural sandbar that appears at low tide and physically connects Smith Island to the neighbouring Curlew Island, letting you walk between two islands with water on both sides. There's no real infrastructure here beyond a forest rest house, which is exactly why it stays this quiet. Anyone planning this leg should build in at least two extra days and confirm the ferry timetable in Port Blair before heading north, since schedules shift with the season.

Mount Harriet National Park sits directly across the harbour from Port Blair, and getting there is itself part of the experience: a short ferry from Chatham or Phoenix Bay to Bamboo Flat, followed by a drive up a winding ghat road through semi-evergreen forest. At 365 metres, it's the second-highest point in the islands, and the viewpoint at the top looks straight back across the water to Ross Island and Port Blair harbour, a genuinely different angle on the same geography most tourists only ever see from sea level. There's a nature trail down to Kala Pathar beach on the other side for anyone who wants to turn it into a half-day trek rather than just a drive-up viewpoint stop.