After doing some research, we decided to visit 2 islands: Neil Island and Havelock. We started with 3 days on Neil island. Neil Island is as exotic as it can get. It is a very peaceful island with a tropical forest, different than any other islands I have visited. It is still very under developed, not to mention the electricity turning on and off all the time, but at the same time it is the home to many beautiful hotels for an unforgettable stay. I can imagine that to some people, the island might have very little to offer, but for people like me who really enjoy the beach life, the greenery and the calmness of this island, it truly is a worthy and an unforgettable experience. During our stay, the whole island was quite empty, which we found quite surprising because the high season was just about to start (it was November!). We were later told that this was due to the recent cyclone. Another thing that really caught my attention was the extremely friendly and helpful local people!
Hotels on Neil Island
We were very happy with our hotel choice on Neil Island. The name of the hotel was Neil Seashell (see my youtube video of the hotel). Staying in a decent hotel was important to us, because we knew we would spend quite some time in the hotel. The hotel consisted of many modern, wooden cottages located in a tropical forest. The cottages were literally located inside a garden of palm trees and other exotic plants. We were assigned a beautiful room, which we were extremely satisfied with. The room category of our assigned room was an “Andaman Cottage”, and although this was not the highest category, I still think this was one of the better rooms in the entire complex, if not the best. This room specifically stood out because it was a corner room, and also the closest room to the beach, so the view from bed of the sea shining through the forest of palm trees was amazing. Waking up early to this beautiful view while listening to the sounds of the jungle was an indescribable feeling.
The only downside with this hotel was the lack of swimming pool, because the rocks make the beach unswimmable. And I really mean unswimmable, even if wearing water shoes (yes, we tried!). There are a few hammocks on the beach, but unfortunately no sun loungers, so it might not be the perfect place for someone who wants to lie on the beach and tan all day. I guess this is because Neil Island is not yet prepared for non-Indian tourists, and Indian tourists are not exactly much into tanning or sitting in the sun. However, to me this makes the place even more unique and exotic to me. During the low tide, you can see all the rocks and it does not look too nice. The high tide was only in the morning, but even then it was impossible to swim. We were a little bit disappointed about this part at first, because it was not the kind of Andaman Islands that we had imagined. Of course, we already knew about this after checking the hotel reviews online, but we were hoping it would be a bit better than expected. However, we were told there were other beaches better for swimming nearby, so we were looking very much forward to check them out (see my next post!).
For someone who is on a stricter budget, there are plenty of other hotels on the island. For example, we visited the CS Premier hotel, a completely new hotel which had only been open for 1 week. We where given a tour of the hotel by a very friendly receptionist who showed us the rooms and the dining hall, and I was very positively surprised by this hotel. The interior was quite modern, with chandeliers and stylish furniture. The restaurant at the hotel had many options on the menu, and the meals were quite cheap. The only downside is that the hotel is not located on the beach, but on the other hand, we did not exactly use the beach in our hotel either.
The last hotel we visited was the Seashell Samsara, the newest hotel of the Seashell group on Neil Island. The only reason we visited this hotel was because we wanted to try a restaurant of another hotel for a change. However, it turned out it was the same exact restaurant as in our hotel, it even had the same name and the same menu! It really is a beautiful and a true luxury hotel though. The style of the hotel and the wooden architecture reminded a bit of the typical beach hotels in Thailand. In comparison to our hotel, it has a swimming pool. Other than that, I actually prefer our hotel, because of the wooden cottage (but still modern) style and the unique feeling it gives of staying in the middle of the jungle. If the Neil Seashell hotel would have had a swimming pool, it would have probably been the best hotel on the island.
Dining
Neil Island has many dining options. For example, there are many beachfront restaurants on the Bharatpur beach selling great food (see my next post). The best restaurant we tried however, was the Dugong restaurant at our hotel, and at the Seashell Samsara hotel (the exact same restaurant). As already mentioned, the Dugong restaurant is amazing and a must try when visiting Neil Island. I actually heard it is one of the better ones on the island, if not the best. Our breakfast was served here, and we also had most of our lunches and dinners here. We tried all kinds of dishes (e.g., fish curry, Asian style noodles, palak paneer, shrimp biryani and lobster). In addition to the delicious food, the restaurant is an experience in itself. It has panoramic windows so being there felt like sitting outside in the jungle but at the same time being inside an air conditioned room. Regarding the prices, I read that people find this restaurant to be rather expensive. It probably is more expensive than most other restaurants on the island, but the quality is perfect and the portions are quite big. Besides, for western tourists it is still very cheap. In fact, most dishes costed less than 10 USD! To give more specific examples: A big bottled beer costed 300 INR (4USD); prawn biryani was 600 INR (8.50 USD), palak paneer 450 INR (6.50 USD), a bowl of rice 170 INR (2.50 USD), roti 50 INR (1 USD) and lobsters were 700 INR for 350 grams (10 USD). I could not complain! I really recommend trying the lobsters; both the dry Tandori lobster and the masala lobster were amazing!!! It may also be worth mentioning that this restaurant is one of the few restaurants selling alcohol on the island, if not the only one. However, it is also worth mentioning that the Andaman Islands celebrate many holidays and no alcohol can be bought on those days. This happened twice to us during our stay on the Andaman Islands.
The food at breakfast was mainly Indian, which I really enjoyed. The only non-Indian foods were bread, pasta and eggs. The only bread available was toasted bread, and there were no toppings. However, there were all kinds of amazing Indian dishes such as parathas, sambar, masala omelette, upma and Idli. I loved it all!
Internet and phone reception
We read that there would be slow, but working internet in our hotel. This was not true, there was no internet anywhere. We were told it was because of the recent cyclone, but it seemed like there was an internet problem all over the Andaman Islands. On Neil Island, there was also no cell phone reception. Like literally none. So, forget about being connected to the rest of the world. The locals do however have cell phone reception, because they use some other phone company that is not available to us. A local told me that this is about to change soon, because two new phone companies will be available in the Andaman Islands in the upcoming year. However, I actually found it quite nice to live without internet and cell phone, and I realised how much time the Internet takes away from me. The life in the Andaman Island is just so different, and I am happy I got the chance to visit the islands now that it is still so exotic, and before it completely changes.
The time zone is the same all over India, but the Andaman islands are closer to Thailand than to the mainland India, so it gets dark much earlier than in the rest of India. But then again, the sun comes up much earlier too. Therefore, on the Andaman Islands, and especially on Neil Island, you should wake up early and just enjoy the beautiful nature, the scenery, the quietness and go to sleep early to be able to wake up early again the next day and do it all over again.
The Market
On one of the days of our stay, we decided to go for a walk to the market. Walking on Neil Island, especially in the dark can be a bit scary, because there are no pavements and the road is very narrow. It seemed specifically dangerous for pedestrians when 2 cars came at the same time, because it left zero room for the pedestrians, and the cars really were driving like crazy. As tiny as the island is, it is quite strange how many cars there actually are driving on the road, especially after dark. The constant honking was almost giving me a heart attack. We reached to the market place, or the “city center”, where there were a few small shops and plenty of people around. There were also many street dogs and cats running around. It was interesting how all the street dogs and cats lived in peace over here and it also seemed like the locals took good care of them. On the market you could find lots of exotic fruits and vegetables for purchase, but also some other things, such as saris and other Indian clothing. There were also some gift shops around selling all kinds of things made of shells and mini kiosks selling daily goods and snacks, such as Chips and Maggi instant noodles of Indian flavors. Those Maggi noodles seem to be a big thing over here. To enter the shops, we had to take of our shoes and leave them outside. We did not find anything for ourselves at the market, but it was nice to see where the locals hang out in the evenings.
In the next post, I will write more about the beaches of Neil Island. Meanwhile, check out my video of the Neil Seashell hotel.
Anyah Mroz 
One thought on “Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Neil Island – Part 1”