Explore All Andaman Tour Packages

The ship from Chennai — read this before you plan around it

Passenger ships to Port Blair do sail from Chennai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, run by the government's shipping directorate and booked on its own portal. But the Chennai crossing takes somewhere around sixty to seventy hours each way, and sailings go only a few times a month. That is close to six days at sea on a return trip, on dates you do not choose.

It is not a cruise, and it is not a shortcut — it is basic transport for islanders and the occasional traveller with time to spare. If you have a week off, flying is almost certainly the right call. We would rather say that plainly than sell you a sailing that swallows your holiday.

The ferry you actually need to worry about

Port Blair is the arrival point, but the beaches people come for are on Havelock (Swaraj Dweep) and Neil (Shaheed Dweep), reached by ferry. Air-conditioned private catamarans make the Havelock run in roughly an hour and a half, alongside cheaper and slower government boats, and the sailings are concentrated in the morning. In peak season these fill up. This connection, not the flight, is what most often breaks an Andaman itinerary — it is booked ahead as part of your package for exactly that reason.

Permits: Indian travellers do not need one

Unlike Lakshadweep, Indian citizens need no entry permit for the Andamans' tourist islands — you board with the same ID you would use on any domestic flight. Foreign nationals are issued a restricted area permit free of charge on arrival at Port Blair. The Nicobar group and the tribal reserve areas are closed to tourism altogether, for anyone, and no operator can arrange access to them.