Andaman Trip from Coimbatore: Permits, Ferries & the Islands Most Tourists Miss

I’ve taken over 40 groups from Coimbatore to the Andaman Islands over the past eight years, and the questions are always the same: which flight do I book from CBE, do I need a permit, and which ferry won’t leave me stranded. Most travel content about Andaman is written for Delhi or Mumbai travellers. This post is specifically for Coimbatore. I’ll cover real flight options from CBE, the permit rules that matter, a frank comparison of the ferries, the season rule I tell every client before they book, and a handful of islands that standard 5-night packages from any operator — including mine — tend to skip.

Quick Answer

• Flights: IndiGo runs a seasonal CBE→IXZ direct; otherwise connect via Chennai (MAA). Return fares range ₹7,000–16,000 depending on route and advance booking.
• Permits: Havelock and Neil Island are open — no permit. Baratang needs a same-day Restricted Area Permit (RAP) through a local operator. North Sentinel is strictly off-limits.
• Ferries: Book Makruzz or Nautika online, 2–4 weeks ahead. Government ferry is a last resort.
• Season: November to April only. May to October means monsoon, cancelled ferries, and suspended water activities.
• Duration: 5 nights / 6 days covers Port Blair + Havelock + Neil comfortably. Add 1–2 days if you want Baratang or Jolly Buoy.

Getting to Andaman from Coimbatore: Flights

Most travellers from Coimbatore default to the Chennai connection without checking whether the direct CBE→IXZ route is running. The direct flight saves 3–4 hours of total travel time and is worth checking first, though it’s not available year-round. Here’s the practical breakdown:

My advice: search the CBE direct first on IndiGo. If it’s showing for your dates, book it — it’s consistently priced competitively and removes the stress of a connection. If it’s not operating, the CBE→MAA→IXZ via Chennai is perfectly smooth and both IndiGo and Air India run it reliably. Port Blair airport (IXZ, Veer Savarkar International) is a small airport — immigration is fast, baggage comes out quickly.

Permits: What You Need and What You Don’t

Andaman permit rules confuse a lot of first-time visitors. The short version: the islands most tourists visit are open and require nothing extra. The complications arise only if you want to go to Baratang or any restricted island. Here’s what actually applies:

No Permit Required

• Havelock Island (Swaraj Dweep): Fully open to Indian and foreign tourists. No permit, no registration beyond your ferry ticket.
• Neil Island (Shaheed Dweep): Same — open, no permit needed. The island is small and relaxed; most visitors come for a day or stay one night.
• Port Blair and surrounding attractions: Cellular Jail, Ross Island, North Bay — all open without any special permit.

Restricted Area Permit (RAP) — Baratang Island

Baratang requires a Restricted Area Permit. The good news: this is not something you arrange months in advance. Any registered tour operator in Port Blair can get it for you on the same day or the evening before. The process involves joining a convoy that departs from the Jirkatang checkpoint at 6:00 AM sharp — there’s no flexibility on timing. The convoy drives through the Jarawa tribal reserve to reach Baratang, and this arrangement is strictly enforced. From Baratang you take a boat through mangrove creeks to reach the limestone caves. The whole trip is a full day from Port Blair. Almost no standard packaged itinerary includes this, but I consider it one of the more rewarding days you can spend in Andaman.

Off-Limits: North Sentinel Island

North Sentinel Island is strictly prohibited and this is not a grey area. The Sentinelese tribe has had no contact with the outside world by their own choice, and Indian law prohibits approaching within 3 nautical miles of the island. This comes up in conversation occasionally and the answer is always the same: it is not accessible, not legally, not practically.

Little Andaman

Little Andaman requires an Inner Line Permit. It’s a full day’s journey south of Port Blair by government ferry, and it’s not typically on tourist itineraries. The infrastructure for visitors is minimal. Unless you have a specific reason to go, it’s not worth the logistics within a standard 5–6 night trip.

Ferry Comparison: Makruzz vs Nautika vs Government Ferry

The inter-island ferry is the piece of the Andaman trip that goes wrong most often for self-booked travellers. The mistake is either booking the government ferry to save money or — worse — arriving at the jetty expecting to buy a ticket on the spot for a private ferry. Both approaches will cause problems during peak season. Book your private ferry as soon as your flights are confirmed.

My firm recommendation: use Makruzz or Nautika. The government ferry is not a romantic local experience — it’s slow, the schedule shifts, and in choppy weather the open deck is miserable. The price difference across a 6-day trip is not significant enough to justify the risk of a missed day on Havelock. Book both directions (Port Blair→Havelock, Havelock→Neil or Neil→Port Blair) as soon as you have your travel dates.

When to Go: The Nov–Apr Rule

This is non-negotiable. The Andaman tourist season runs November to April. Outside those months — specifically May through October — the Southwest monsoon turns the Andaman Sea into an unpredictable and often unpleasant place for tourists.

Here is what monsoon season in Andaman actually means in practice:

• Private ferries (Makruzz, Nautika) cancel sailings with 12–24 hours notice when seas are rough. This is not occasional — it happens regularly from June onward.
• Over 80% of water activities — snorkelling, scuba, sea walks — are suspended. Visibility underwater drops sharply.
• Radhanagar Beach and Elephant Beach are physically accessible but swimming conditions are poor and operator boats are often not running.
• Several island day-trip operations shut down entirely from May.

Within the November–April window, here’s how I think about the sub-months:

• December to February: Best overall. Calmest seas, best underwater visibility, best conditions for diving and snorkelling. Also the most crowded and marginally more expensive to book.
• November and March–April: Excellent weather, slightly fewer crowds in November, slightly busier in March–April around school holidays. Still great for all water activities. March and April see warmer temperatures — carry more water.

If a client comes to me asking about a June Andaman trip, I redirect them to a different destination. The Andaman monsoon is not like a Kerala monsoon where the greenery is part of the appeal — there is nothing to gain from going in the off-season.

Islands Most Tour Groups Never Visit

Standard 5-night Andaman packages are built around Port Blair, Havelock, and Neil. That’s a solid trip. But after taking dozens of groups there, I’ve started adding a day or half-day to routes that most operators don’t bother including. Here’s what gets missed:

Ross Island (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island)

A 20–30 minute ferry from Phoenix Bay Jetty in Port Blair, Ross Island was the administrative headquarters of the Andaman Islands under British rule. What’s there now is genuinely unusual: crumbling colonial-era buildings — the Chief Commissioner’s house, the church, the bakery — being slowly consumed by tree roots, with spotted deer wandering freely through the ruins. The entry fee is ₹200. Most Port Blair day itineraries send tourists to Cellular Jail and North Bay Island and skip Ross entirely. That’s backwards in my opinion — Ross Island is more interesting.

Jolly Buoy Island

Part of the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, Jolly Buoy has the best coral reef coverage I’ve seen in the Andamans — cleaner and more intact than Elephant Beach on Havelock. The catch: it’s closed from May to December for reef conservation and restoration. If you’re visiting in the November–April window, getting to Jolly Buoy should be a priority. Day trips go from Wandoor Beach (about 25 km from Port Blair). Snorkelling equipment is available for hire on the island. Numbers are controlled, so the experience is less crowded than Havelock’s beaches.

Baratang Limestone Caves

I mentioned this in the permits section. The Baratang trip is a full day from Port Blair — the early morning convoy through the Jarawa reserve, then a boat ride through narrow mangrove creeks, then a short walk to the limestone caves. The caves themselves have stalactite and stalagmite formations and a mud volcano nearby. It’s not the most visually dramatic thing in Andaman, but it’s completely different from the beach-and-snorkel experience, and the mangrove creek section is genuinely beautiful. Almost no standard package includes this. The Jarawa convoy protocol means you need to be organized about the early departure — your operator in Port Blair handles the RAP paperwork.

Cinque Island

North and South Cinque Islands are part of a wildlife sanctuary and are accessible only by day-trip boat from Port Blair. The snorkelling and underwater visibility here is exceptional — the water is clear and the coral is relatively undisturbed. These trips are not widely advertised and suit experienced swimmers more than beginners. Not on any standard package; requires a local operator to arrange a boat.

Scuba Diving in Andaman

Andaman is the best scuba destination in India — not close. The water is warm, the visibility is good in season, and there’s enough variety in dive sites that even experienced divers find it worthwhile. Here’s how to think about it depending on your experience level:

No Certification? Resort Dive (Discover Scuba)

A resort dive or Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) experience lets you go underwater to about 6–9 metres with an instructor alongside. No certification required, no prior swimming ability needed beyond basic comfort in water. Cost is approximately ₹3,500–5,000 per dive including equipment. The whole experience runs about half a day. Most dive centres on Havelock (there are several at Govindnagar and around the jetty area) offer this daily. It’s a legitimate introduction and most first-timers come back impressed.

PADI Open Water Certification

If you want to dive independently and take it further, the PADI Open Water course is 3–4 days, involves classroom learning, pool sessions, and 4 open-water dives. Cost on Havelock runs ₹20,000–25,000 depending on the centre. You leave with a globally recognised certification. Factor this into your trip duration — it adds 3 days that are dive-focused.

Best Dive Sites

• Elephant Beach (Havelock): Good for beginners and DSD dives. Accessible by boat from Neil’s Cove jetty. Coral coverage, reef fish, occasional sea turtles.
• Lighthouse (Havelock): Wall dive, better for certified divers. Strong current at certain tidal windows.
• Aquarium (Havelock): Calm, clear, excellent for Open Water students. Dense fish life.
• Bharatpur (Neil Island): Good coral garden, calm conditions most of the season.

Visibility is best December through February. By April it starts to reduce. From May onward, diving is effectively suspended at most centres.

Practical Information

What to Pack

• Reef-safe sunscreen: Standard sunscreens with oxybenzone damage coral. Several beaches in the national park zones require reef-safe. Carry your own — it’s not widely available in island shops.
• Rash guard: Better sun protection than sunscreen alone for hours in the water. Also protects against jellyfish contact.
• Underwater camera or GoPro: Rental GoPros are available on Havelock but quality varies. Bring your own if you care about footage.
• Dry bags: Essential for boat transfers, especially on government ferry or open boats to smaller islands. Electronics and documents go in these.
• Light cotton clothes: Humidity is high. Linen or cotton breathes. Leave synthetics at home.
• Water shoes: Coral and rocky entries at several beaches and dive sites. Saves your feet at Elephant Beach and Jolly Buoy.
• Cash: Carry enough INR for the islands. ATMs exist on Havelock near the market area, but queues can be long and machines run out during peak season. Neil Island has limited ATM access.
• Photocopies of permits and IDs: Keep a photocopy of your Aadhaar/passport separate from the originals. Required at Baratang checkpoint and some national park entry points.

Frequently Asked Questions

At Vistaar, we’ve been building Andaman itineraries specifically for travellers from Coimbatore and South Tamil Nadu for years — from the CBE flight routing to the ferry bookings to permits for Baratang. If you want an itinerary that actually uses your time well rather than the generic Port Blair loop, take a look at our Andaman 5-night package or browse our full range of domestic tours. If you have specific questions about the trip — diving certification, off-season options, or combining Andaman with another destination — reach out directly and I’ll give you a straight answer.