An Ultimate Guide to Plan Your Leisure Trip in Havelock

 

Swaraj Dweep or Havelock Island, is one of the most beautiful islands in the entire Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

Situated approximately 40 kilometers northeast of Port Blair, Havelock is 92 Sq. KM in area, spanning 18 km in length and 8 km in width.

Havelock is famous for some of the best white sand beaches in the world. The color of the water in and around Havelock is simply breathtaking. With myriad hues of aquamarine, teal, and turquoise blending together, the water here is so beautiful it's really hard to describe the color in one particular shade. In my opinion, the unique shades of the Andaman sea in Havelock, should have its own name of Havelock Green.

Andaman Sea at Havelock

How to Reach Havelock

Ferries provide a very easy connectivity from Port Blair to Havelock. We visited Havelock on April 2022, and after the lifting of COVID restrictions, we saw a number of private operators running their ferries in the Port Blair-Havelock route. Makruzz, Green Ocean, Nautika are some of them.

Makruzz Gold

We availed the Makruzz Gold, and it was really good. We booked the deluxe class, which is on the upper deck. We booked the 2*2 seats, and had great visibility from the large windows. Even though you can't go outside at the deck, the visibility from the large windows from your seat is good enough for capturing snaps or recording a video. In my opinion do not book the royal class which is a cabin of 8, but only 2 seats among them have window access. The premium class on the lower deck, looked a bit busy, and unless you are restrained with your budget, I would recommend to avoid it.

All the private operators now operate from Haddo Jetty, which is the most developed port of Port Blair. Please note previously they were operating from Phoenix Bay jetty, however recently this has changed.

In the Haddo Jetty, you will be asked to show your RT-PCR test report or double vaccination certificate, so please keep them handy.

The Journey towards Havelock

The ferry time  from Port Blair to Havelock was around 1 hour and 15 minutes for us. The sea was pretty calm when we travelled, hence we reached 10 minutes before time. The journey through the deep blue ocean was very beautiful, and we didn't experience any turbulence. Most of the passengers also looked very comfortable, and the stories of sea-sickness didn't really look applicable at least when the sea is calm. The Makruzz leaves Port Blair, and sails past the north bay island. You get a great view of the dense palm tree plantation of the north bay island and the lighthouse in this trip.

View from Makruzz - North Bay Lighthouse

The color of water in the deep sea is blue, however as you approach Havelock, due to the presence of corals underneath, and due to the shallowness of water, the colors get changed dramatically.  You can see those beautiful aquamarine shades, as your vessel approaches havelock jetty.

The embarking and disembarking from the vessel is hassle free. After collecting our luggage and taking few photos of the jetty, we came out of the jetty area. Numerous auto rickshaw and car drivers will be waiting for you, when the vessel  reaches Havelock, so no advance booking of transport is necessary. Drop to any hotel near Vijaynagar or Govindanagar beach, costs you 200 rupees from the jetty, it's a fixed price in Havelock, so don't worry about bargaining, just take a cab and reach your hotel. It will take 10 to 15 minutes to reach your hotel from the jetty, depending on the location.

View From Havelock Jetty

Beaches of Havelock - Kalapatthar Beach

Whenever you are visiting any of the Andaman islands, please keep a note of the high and low tide timings. This plays a huge role in your travel experience. The beauty of the beaches is very much dependent on this, so please keep this handy.

Please note apart from Radhanagar beach, which always receives sea waves, beaches like Kalapatthar and Vijaynagar, becomes dry in low tide, and hence should be avoided during this time.

Immediately after checking in our hotel, and after a quick bath, we started for Kalapatthar beach. The high tide time for that day was around 11.30 a.m. When we reached the beach, it was 1.30 p.m. and the timing was just perfect for visiting the beach.

The route from Dolphin resort to Kalapatthar beach is around 5 km, through the Palm and Beetle nut plantations which are in abundance in Havelock. It takes around 15 minutes to reach Kalapatthar beach. The amenities setup by the tourism department is pretty decent. They have made few beach huts and sea beds for relaxing in the shades. However when you have such beautiful water in front of you, you can hardly resist the temptation of feeling the sand and water beneath your feet.

View from the beach huts - Kalapatthar Beach

Kalapatthar is an east facing beach, so 1 p.m. that day, was the perfect time for visiting the beach. The sunlight was coming just at the perfect angle from the back, to make the water look even more prettier. The high tide had receded an hour back giving back a broad section of white sand beach, which was just perfect for walking. We found the color of the water in Kalapatthar beach as most beautiful, in the entire Andamans. Its a gorgeous shade of bright teal. The white sand beach against that teal color looked mesmerizing. 

Color of Ocean - Kalapatthar Beach

From the busy section of the beach we walked around a kilometer on the right hand side, and found out some seclusion. We just setup our camera on the beach for shooting videos, and laid back on the beach. The sweet breeze coming from the sea was so relaxing, you will hardly realize the heat. The thick mangrove forest along the Kalapatthar beach is extremely pretty and we found a shade underneath that foliage, sat on the soft white sand, and just relaxed.

The ambience was therapeutic, as the gentle waves, sweet breeze and complete seclusion will provide you one of the most peaceful experiences you can ever have beside the ocean.

Boulders at Kalapatthar Beach

Kalapatthar gets its name from some big black boulders on the beach, which probably are some outcrop of the hills in Havelock. The rocks look really pretty, and is a favorite instagrammable location among the travelers. There were some exotic looking driftwood on the beach, and really looked picturesque.

Surreal Beauty of Kalapatthar beach

The coconuts in the Andamans are really supreme. The Nicobari Queen Coconut, which is orangish in color, have the sweetest of water I've ever tasted. So do not miss on that.

Kalapatthar beach has some stalls setup by locals for food and souvenirs, so if you want, you can buy something as memories. 

Radhanagar Beach - The king of all Beaches

Havelock rose to prominence as a world class destination because of Radhanagar beach. It's a dream beach, within any island. The beach is vast almost 3 km in length, and extremely broad, with soft powdery sand to walk on. However the most gorgeous part of the beach which we felt, is its location. It's on the western side of the island, which is actually a reserve forest. There are very few public beaches in earth which actually is inside a thick jungle, and Radhanagar definitely is one of them. The tall Sea Mohua trees, that fringe the forest looks absolutely thrilling against the white sands of Radhanagar.

Forested and Secluded Radhanagar Beach

After spending couple of hours in Kalapatthar we started around 3.30 pm towards Radhanagar beach. Radhanagar beach is almost 18 km from Kalapatthar beach, so it will take around 35 minutes time to reach there. The last part of the journey is through a forested area which looks very beautiful.

After reaching the beach, we as usual left the busy area to find some seclusion. This time we walked on the left hand side, towards the hill, which kind of guards Radhanagar beach from the rest of the island. The walk through the soft sand, with the thick foliage behind was absolutely pristine. The aroma of the foliage mixed with the sweet smell of the sea breeze created magic. We walked through the beach, sometime waded through the gentle waves, and enjoyed the ambience. Radhanagar beach is perfect for sea bathing and swimming so we saw some people enjoying the water.

The white sands of Radhanagar

After exploring the left side of the beach, we started to come back to the right hand side of the beach, from where you can see the famous sunset of Radhanagar. When we arrived at Radhanagar, around 3.30 pm there were very few people in the beach, but by the time we returned to the main busy section, it was almost 4.40 pm and people have started to gather to watch the sunset. In the main beach section there is a beautiful wooden watchtower constructed by forest department, which provides a bird's eye view of the entire beach. We enjoyed the view of the beach from the watchtower, it was really beautiful.

View of Radhanagar Beach from Watchtower

After coming down from the watchtower, we ditched the crowd once again, and started walking towards the right hand side, to find a secluded spot to enjoy the silence, which thankfully you can find easily in Havelock. The right side of the beach seemed even more picturesque with even thicker forest cover, so we decided, that we will come back to this side next morning during the high tide. We sat on the soft sand, and waited for the sunset.

Sunset at Radhanagar Beach

Unfortunately there were some clouds on the western part of the sky, so the sunset was not as beautiful, as we thought of, but that happens with nature. However the ambience of a golden sky flanked by clouds and the gentle golden waves of Radhanagar beach was beautiful nevertheless.

Since the beach is within a forest, the authorities do not allow people to stay at the beach beyond the sunset, so we left the beach and returned back to Dolphin Resort, which was our accommodation for the 3 days we spent in Havelock.

Food Options in Havelock

That day after returning to Dolphin resort, we had our dinner at the hotel restaurant, It's a pretty decent restaurant with the option of North and South Indian food along with Chinese. We had couple of more meals at this restaurant and will definitely recommend this.

Apart from the restaurant inside Dolphin resort, we also had a lunch next day at Full Moon Cafe. It was walkable distance from Dolphin resort. We really liked the food over there, we had fish and chips and also a Bengali style paturi (fish wrapped in banana leaf and steamed), both the dishes were awesome.

A walk on the Kalapatthar Beach

For a better fine dining option,  you may visit the Bonova restaurant at Sea Shell, Havelock. We had a dinner at their restaurant, and it was worth the price, with beautiful ambience and music.

VijayNagar Beach

Dolphin Resort, has their own private beach access towards the Vijaynagar beach. In fact in the Vijaynagar beach area, it is very difficult to find a public access to the beach, as most of the Vijaynagar beach are part of the resorts setup in the locality. This provides a very private experience of enjoying the beach for the hotel guests, which is otherwise very rare, in mainland India.

Palm Fringed Vijaynagar Beach

Dolphin resort is a vast resort sprawling over a huge land, and it has a lovely access to the beautiful Vijaynagar beach. Vijaynagar beach is a bit rocky, however looks beautiful in the high tide, when the rocks are hidden underneath the turquoise green water. The beauty of Vijaynagar beach is in its palm fringed coastline. neither Kalapatthar nor Radhanagar has this palm fringed coastline, so Vijaynagar beach has its own beauty in this regard.

A revisit to Neil's Cove during high tide

Next day at around 11 a.m. we once again visited Radhanagar beach, to enjoy the high tide and the color of Andaman sea during the high tide. While Radhanagar is famous for sunset, we liked the beach more, during the day time, as the beach is almost empty, and the sound of waves crushing against the shore really created a perfect symphony. As planned last afternoon, this time we decided to explore the right hand side of the beach, which is longer than the left hand side. The crescent shaped shoreline with thick forest cover looked absolutely beautiful. It's more of a cove on the right side, and is also known as Neil's Cove.

Pristine Neil's Cove at Havelock

We crossed the entry of the famous Barefoot Resort, and continued to walk through the soft sands. After walking for another 500 meters we found a driftwood on the beach, it looked so scenic on the empty beach, that we decided to seat there, and take some photos with it.

Incredibly beautiful Neil's Cove

Weather in Andaman Island is unpredictable. Here bright sunny days often gets short spells of a splashing shower. We were relaxing at the Neil's cove, suddenly we saw some dark clouds hovering in the distance over the ocean. It was raining heavily on the ocean, but we were still sitting dry, just a few hundred meters away from it and were enjoying the unexpected rain.

Rain on the Ocean - At Radhanagar

Slowly we saw the clouds sailing inside the island, and within a few minutes it started drizzling on the beach too. We took shelter inside the deep forest which is just beside the beach. Those, who were on the beach, also ran for cover. When the drizzle stopped and we once again came out on the beach, we experienced something magical. The beach was completely empty, there were no one except the two of us on the vast white sands of Radhanagar. the fragrance of the rain drenched forest and the sounds of high tide was a magical combination on that complete isolation. It felt like we have been cast away on a desolate island for days, where in front of us there's nothing except green sea and white sand. It was simply an amazing moment.

Cast Away - in Havelock

Dolphin Resort and Other Accommodations

Dolphin resort maintained by Aniidco is one of the better options to stay at Havelock. We stayed at the deluxe category rooms, which is extremely spacious, with a big balcony from where you can have a nice view of the ocean. There are executive rooms and VIP cottages also. VIP cottages have the best location, and newly built, however they come at a premium price of 15K + Tax per day.

There are some very good resorts which are within walkable distance from Dolphin resort, such as Coral Reef Resort, Tilar Siro by CGH earth and Sandy Waves Resort. All these resort looked beautiful from outside and they also have a private beach.

View of Radhanagar Beach - Near the Barefoot Resort

However the Barefoot Resort has the most beautiful location within Havelock. It is situated on Radhanagar beach, so one can visit the beach any time during the day, if staying in the resort. The resort's location within the forest provides a beautiful experience. In our opinion if budget permits, one should stay a night at Barefoot, for truly experiencing the mesmerizing beauty of Havelock.