By road
~37-54 km from Port Blair, a 90-minute to 2-hour ferry ride
Bay of Bengal islands · Andaman & Nicobar
Neil Island, Andaman & Nicobar
The Andamans at bicycle pace · ~37-54 km from Port Blair, a 90-minute to 2-hour ferry ride
Getting there
By rail
Not rail-connected; the islands are reached only by air or sea
By air
Veer Savarkar International Airport, Port Blair, ~37-40 km
Best time to visit
November to April — dry and calm
Don't miss
Bharatpur Beach
Laxmanpur sunset point
Sitapur sunrise beach
Things to do
Cycling the whole island
Snorkeling right off the beaches
Shore fishing
Where to eat
What to pack
Cycle-friendly wear, snorkel set, cash (few ATMs)
A quieter corner
The natural rock bridge at low tide on Laxmanpur II
About Neil Island
- Island
Where it is
Neil Island, officially Shaheed Dweep, is a small island in Ritchie's Archipelago in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, north-east of Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair) and south of Swaraj Dweep (Havelock).
History
Named in colonial times after James Neill, a British officer who fought in the uprising of 1857, the island was uninhabited until the late 1960s, when refugees from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, were settled here to farm. In December 2018 it was renamed Shaheed Dweep, the island of martyrs, as a tribute to Subhas Chandra Bose.
People
Most of the islanders are Bengali-speaking families descended from settlers who arrived from the late 1960s onwards. Farming is the main livelihood, and the island supplies vegetables to the rest of the Andamans, alongside a growing trade in guesthouses and dive shops.
Known for
- Bharatpur, Laxmanpur and Sitapur beaches
- The natural rock bridge at Laxmanpur
- Snorkelling over shallow coral reefs
- Cycling between farms and beaches
Did you know?
Neil Island's villages take their names from the Ramayana, among them Ramnagar, Sitapur, Laxmanpur and Bharatpur, and its best-known beaches are named after them.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.