Havelock Island

Havelock Island (officially renamed Swaraj Dweep, though universally known by its colonial name), 41 km from Port Blair by high-speed ferry (90 minutes on Makruzz or Green Ocean), is the Andaman Islands' premier tourist destination and the location of Radhanagar Beach — ranked Asia's best beach by Time magazine in 2004 and still consistently ranked among Asia's finest for its 2-km arc of powder-white sand backed by primary tropical forest and fronted by turquoise water over a white sand bottom.

• Radhanagar (Beach 7 in the official numbering, 12 km from Havelock town jetty by road) is most spectacular at sunset, when the western sky turns pink and orange over the calm bay — the beach is one of India's most photographed natural scenes.
• Elephant Beach (Beach 15, accessible by a 45-minute speedboat from the jetty or a 45-minute jungle walk trail) is the island's premier snorkelling site: coral gardens in 1-3 m of water directly accessible from the shore without any diving certification — the visibility is 20-30 m on calm days, with parrotfish, clownfish, sea turtles, and Moorish idols among the most commonly seen species.
• Vijayanagar Beach (Beach 5, 3 km from the jetty on the eastern coast) and Kalapathar Beach (Beach 9, 11 km south of the jetty, no facilities, best for sunrise) complete the island circuit.
• The diving and snorkelling schools (Barefoot Scuba, Padi 5-star rated, with over 30 dive sites around the island) offer Open Water Diver certification courses that make Havelock the most beginner-accessible scuba destination in India.
• For vegetarian travellers, Havelock has improved significantly: the island's main village has dosa and South Indian breakfast restaurants, the resorts (Barefoot at Havelock, Mango, Emerald Gecko) all provide vegetarian meal plans, and the growing café culture on the beach road includes fresh-juice and salad cafés.
• November-April is optimal; government ferry tickets sell out weeks ahead in December-January — book in advance.