Neil Island in the Bay of Bengal

Neil Island is close to Port Blair, the administrative center of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

There are daily ferries to Neil Island for around Rs200 which takes about 2 hours. Neil Island is surprisingly small and after the Tsunami of 2004 it became even smaller.

Sunset Point, main street at Neil Island, a sleepy village

Neil Island turned out to be perfect for me. There isn't a lot to do except walking around the island (the widest point of the island is about 5km), swim and snorkel a bit and relax. Watch out for the sand flies. I spend 8 days at Neil Island and finished Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, finally!

Around Neil Island there's plenty of mangrove forests

On arrival at Sunset Point I found me one of the few little and friendly guest houses. They are all located in walking distance of the jetty on the west point of the island. The beach here is good for snorkeling. A bit further north the beach becomes rocky and you will find a lot of mangrove forests.

Yours truly swimming at Neil Island

The best way to explore Neil Island is on foot, or if you like on bicycle, which the guest houses have available for rent. You can cycle around the whole island in a day, visiting some other beaches and mangrove forests. There are a few caves in which you can swim and snorkel.

My favorite food stall at Neil Island

The village has a few restaurants with limited dishes, some have to in advance ordered but you won't starve.

At low water, some beaches (not all!!) are very rocky

Many of the islanders are refugees. They fled East Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh.

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