Diglipur Island Andaman Travel Guide | Diglipur Places to Visit

Diglipur is a town located in the North Andaman Island of the north and Middle Andaman district. Though the town in itself doesn’t have a lot of tourism potential, the villages and beaches around the area is what we’ll be covering in this Diglipur travel guide. Diglipur has a mixed population of Bengali, Malayali, Tamil and Telugu people and Hindi is widely spoken and understood everywhere here.

My visit to Diglipur was planned rather spontaneously and came to fruition at the very last minute. I had been in Port Blair for 8 days waiting for the cyclone to clear so the ferries heading to Hut Bay in Little Andaman could resume. I had told myself that I’d wait exactly 2 more days and if things still appear bleak, I would head somewhere else. Quite serendipitously, I received a message on Instagram by a fellow blogger and traveller asking me if I wanted to join her on a road trip to Diglipur with two other people. It felt like the timing had been just right and so, without a second thought, I agreed. And that is the story behind how this Diglipur travel guide was born!

How to Reach Diglipur Island

There are several ways to reach Diglipur from Port Blair. This Diglipur travel guide will take you through the details of all three methods to reach Diglipur, including be land, air and sea:

Diglipur Island by Road

Disclaimer: if you’re planning to do a road trip to Diglipur, be ware that the road conditions aren’t ideal. The roads used to be taken care of by PWD and since the NHAI has taken over, they are redoing the roads starting from Chidiya Tapu in South Andaman. There’s still some time to go before they can reach all the way up to North Andaman. Moreover, because of COVID, you need extra time to get your vaccination cards verified. We’ll get into the details of this in a bit in this Diglipur travel guide.

The roads from Port Blair to Diglipur go through the infamous Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) that cuts through the Jarawa Tribal Reserve. For this reason, during a road trip to Diglipur, vehicles are not allowed to stop along the Jarawa Reserve. Passengers are also not allowed to photograph the journey through the Jarawa Reserve. You might also spot some Jarawa people along the way – I did on my way back from Diglipur to Port Blair – but make sure to not interact with them (wave/ speak at) in any way since this is a legal offence.

The Jarawas are a negrito tribe who have lived uncontacted for many years but the ATR threatens their lifestyle. Some Jarawas, however, have been integrated into mainstream society. For example, Strait Island near Long Island in Middle Andaman is inhabited only by Jarawa people who hold government jobs such as school teachers, police officials, forest rangers and more. Outsiders (tourists and islanders alike) are not allowed to enter the Strait Island.

Anyway, getting back on the topic of this Diglipur travel guide:

One way to reach Diglipur is by hiring a private taxi. There are only SUV taxis available to Diglipur due to the road conditions. These usually cost about INR 18,000 for a round trip of three days. This is how I initially went up to Diglipur from Port Blair with 3 other people. The journey took us 15 hours with ample rest and food stops in between.

Another way to reach Diglipur by road is to hop on to a shared tempo traveller taxi from Port Blair. These cost somewhere around INR 1500 and the journey takes 12 hours to complete. These are AC taxis and a rather comfortable way of reaching Diglipur. However, these shared taxis must be booked in advance. You can find out the contacts around the Port Blair bus stand. Or try this number for Devi Winger Taxis – (+91) 9933206607.

The cheapest way to reach Diglipur by road is by bus. There are both private and government (STS) buses running this route. Tickets for the private operator Anand Travels can be booked online here. According to this Diglipur travel guide, this is the most convenient way to travel to Diglipur by bus since the Anand bus has pushback seats.

There are two types of government (STS) buses running through the ATR: one is Express the other is ordinary. The only difference between the two is that Express does not stop in the middle to pick up passengers on the go. It only takes passengers who have pre-booked their seats. You can do so at least a day prior from the Port Blair bus stand. The ordinary STS bus stops to pick up passengers on the way, making it slower.

To regulate traffic through the ATR, there are a set number of conveys running each day from Jirkatang. So make sure to check with your driver and start accordingly. To check the STS bus schedule through the ATR, click here. I hope you are able to plan your road trip well with the details given here in this Diglipur travel guide. I know it can be a little bit of a challenge to travel through the ATR, but the route is beautiful and is one experience of a lifetime! Trust this Diglipur travel guide, going through all these troubles is definitely worth it because Diglipur is just that mesmerising!

Diglipur Island by Sea

To reach Diglipur by sea, there are two alternative routes you can take. One is the inter-island Port Blair to Diglipur ferry that sails from Phoenix Bay Jetty in Port Blair to the Aerial Bay Jetty in Diglipur two days a week. This journey takes a little less than 12 hours to complete. This Diglipur travel guide recommends taking the Coral Queen ship. It is newer and well-maintained as compared to the other ships running this journey.

The other way to reach Diglipur by sea is to take the government line ferry that sets sail from Port Blair and touches Havelock Island, Neil Island, and Long Island and finally stops at Rangat. These Andaman line ferries operate about 3 to 5 times a week. From Rangat, you can continue the journey to Diglipur by road. This is definitely a great way to reach Diglipur as per this Diglipur travel guide. You can even consider halting your journey at Long Island for a few days before resuming to Diglipur!

Important: Both inter-island ferries and line ferries have been suspended since the COVID lockdown and have not yet resumed. Please check with the DSS information centre (03192 232714) about their resumption.

Diglipur Island by Air

There are three possible ways to reach Diglipur by air in this Diglipur travel guide. The first option is to take the Pawan Hans Helicopter service between Port Blair and Diglipur. This service runs 5 times a week and takes only 1.5 hours to complete! However, this is a fairly expensive journey for tourists – which costs about INR 3500 one way. Getting a seat on the helicopter service is also a bit tricky since most of them are reserved for government officials and medical emergencies. Tourists are only given a seat if there’s one remaining at the last minute.

Important: The helicopter schedule across A&N Islands has become irregular since the COVID lockdown. Please check with the Tourist Information Centre (03192 232694/ 232747)

The next option to reach Diglipur by air according to the travel guide is to take the seaplane service that used to operate from Port Blair to Diglipur before the COVID lockdown. This service has since not resumed but people seem hopeful that it might be operational once again soon.

The last option to reach Diglipur by air according to this Diglipur travel guide is not yet functional. It is by taking a flight to the Diglipur Airport which was supposed to start getting constructed in June 2019 but got delayed due to COVID restrictions.

COVID restrictions have been quite a buzzkill in the Andaman tourist industry, eh?

How to Get Around in Diglipur Island

The easiest way to get around in Diglipur is to have your own private cab. But this, of course, is not always possible due to budget restrictions. Alternatively, there are several two-wheeler rentals in Diglipur available throughout the Diglipur bazar. But be prepared to be riding through some incredibly bumpy roads! For the hardy travellers who don’t mind roughing it out – *cough* much like myself *cough* – the local bus service in Diglipur is quite feasible throughout the region. Taking the bus is my personal recommendation in this Diglipur travel guide as it is safe, convenient and most importantly, cost-effective!

Best Time to Visit Diglipur Island

The best time to visit Diglipur Island depends on what are the most important activities for you to do. The monsoons and the post-monsoon cyclone season usually ends by the first week of December. So from mid-December to April is usually a good time to visit Diglipur, or anywhere in the Andaman Islands.

However, if you’re looking to specifically experience the turtle nesting at Kalipur and Ramnagar Beaches, hiking the Saddle Peak and the swiftlet nestings at Alfred Caves, mid-December through late January is usually the best time to visit Diglipur Island.

For experiencing turtle hatching, swimming and snorkelling, this Diglipur travel guide recommends that February to April is usually the best time to visit Diglipur Island. During these months, the waters remain beautifully calm and you can even swim from Kalipur Beach to Craggey Island if you are a seasoned swimmer! (Details below)

Where to Stay in Diglipur Island – Pristine Beach Resort

Though Diglipur has slowly started to come up on the tourist map, there are a few places to stay in Diglipur that have propped up both in the town and on the beachside village of Kalipur. But if you ask me about places to stay in Diglipur, I would recommend the Pristine Beach Resort in Kalipur without batting an eye. This resort is run by Mr Alex Rajan and is the oldest private place in the Diglipur region that has been welcoming tourists for as long as 2008! Back then, he started off with a few rooms and mostly international clientele but now it’s a full-fledged resort with several room categories, a fully functional restaurant and a bar. Trust this Diglipur travel guide, Pristine Beach Resort is the place to be!

Pristine Beach Resort comes with 3 different room categories to suit most budgets. They have beautiful wooden cottages lined up one after the other amidst endless coconut and areca nut palm trees. Apart from these, they also have basic wooden huts for long term rentals they give out to volunteers or researchers. Mr Alex’s is a massive property with several fruits and vegetables growing right in his backyard. These include bananas, papayas, almonds, chiku, lentils, ladyfingers, brinjals and more. The resort also has a WiFi connection in a region where even BSNL mobile connectivity is hard to find. Mr Alex himself is a warm and friendly host who makes for an excellent company over dinnertime when you’ve come back from your explorations during the day. The food here is yum, and very reasonably priced.

One quick property tour with Mr Alex and you’ll understand how much love and effort has been put into Pristine Beach Resort. He has painstakingly built this resort with his father and has singlehandedly put the Diglipur map on the tourist radar. For a Diglipur travel guide, there is no other place I would recommend!

Diglipur Places to Visit

There are some incredible places to visit in Diglipur Andaman. I spent a week in the area, taking one day at a time to slowly go around all these places. Let’s dive into the Diglipur places to visit section of this Diglipur travel guide!

Kalipur Beach for Turtle Nesting and Hatching

The Kalipur Beach, on which the Pristine Beach Resort is located, is a haven to witness turtle nesting and hatching. Several kinds of turtles come here to lay eggs – including Olive Ridley, Hawk’s Bill and Leatherback Sea Turtles. Since this Diglipur beach is a black sand beach, it makes it perfect to witness the massive sea turtles lay their eggs here. During the nesting months of December and January, Mr Alex from Pristine Beach Resort often keeps a track of the high tide timings at night and takes his guests on a walk to try the luck with a turtle sighting. During the spring months of March and April, you can witness these eggs hatch and tiny turtles make their way to the sea! This is one of the most wonderful Diglipur places to see – and definitely on the top of my Diglipur travel guide!

Important: Please make sure to switch off all flashlights while walking along the beach in search of turtles. Flash photography and videography must also be strictly not used as these white lights harm the eyes of the turtles and disorients them. You may use a red flashlight to look at the turtles.

Alfred Caves and Ramnagar Beach

Alfred Caves are probably one of the most fascinating places to visit in Diglipur Andaman. Located in Ramnagar village, Alfred Caves are a set of 41 stone caves. On the surface, there’s nothing much exciting about them but once you climb down the 10 feet caves on all fours, you enter a whole different world altogether. The ground is a thick layer of bat poop and tiny bats can be seen whizzing past all around you. But what’s really special is that these caves are home to the Edible-nest Swiftlet nestings. These nests are made by swiftlet birds by hardening their saliva. The best time to witness this marvel is in late December/ January. Mr Alex from Pristine Beach Resort can put you in touch with a guide and that is the best and most sensible way to go about exploring these caves. It’s definitely one of the most adventurous Diglipur places to see, and highly recommended in this Diglipur travel guide as well!

After the sweaty business of hiking up to the caves, you can consider taking a swim in the pristine waters of Ramnagar Beach as well. The beach has gazebos where you can sit under a shade, and also changing rooms and toilets for both men and women. It’s a very well-maintained beach, one that is seldom visited by tourists. This Diglipur travel guide recommends definitely putting this on your list as well!

Saddle Peak National Park

At 732 meters above sea level, Saddle Peak is the highest peak of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Being the hiking enthusiast that I am, ever since I heard about this mountain, I set my heart to go up to it. Throughout my journey, I heard various rumours about how Saddle Peak has been closed off for so and so reasons but all these rumours were put to rest when I reached Pristine Beach Resort and was reassured by Mr Alex that the hike to the mountain is, in fact, open.

First things first, the best way to access Saddle Peak is by going on a guided trek. Check out this Saddle Peak National Park Hike Tour recommended by this Diglipur Island Andaman travel guide.

The Saddle Peak trek starts from Lamiya Bay Beach which is just about 4 kilometres away from Pristine Beach and is also the last bus stop on the stretch. Once you reach Lamiya Bay, you must register with the Forest Office and pay an entry fee of INR 50 since it is a national park area. Saddle Peak is also the originating point for River Kalpong – the only river of the Andaman Islands. So during the Saddle Peak trek, as you near the base of the mountain before the incline begins, you come across five freshwater crossings which are your only water sources for the entire hike – an important tip to remember from this Diglipur travel guide.

I started the Saddle Peak trek at 6 am. To climb all the way to the top and then come back down, took me a total of 11.5 hours! The entire stretch is about 8 kilometres long – of which 3 kilometres is a plain walk through a beautiful padauk forest. The rest of the 5 kilometres is a steep incline up the mountain. The humid rainforest adds to your exhaustion. Here’s a tip from this Diglipur travel guide – make sure to carry enough water and some snack like bananas, biscuits, packed sandwiches and juice boxes for the way. The trail is well marked with blue signboards that were installed by Mr Alex along with the Forest rangers. It’s definitely a task, but this Diglipur places to see is definitely well worth it!

At the top, there once used to be a wooden constructed viewpoint you could climb up but by the time I visited, it was washed down during the cyclone. However, I was told that they’re now building an iron viewpoint so hopefully, by the time you go decide to go, it should’ve been constructed! All I could see was overgrown bushes and through them, a beautiful view of Lamia Bay, Kalipur Beach and Craggey Island on one side and Mayabunder and Rangat on the other. Needless to say, Saddle Peak is definitely one of the best places to visit in Diglipur Andaman.

For a more visual description of the Saddle Peak hike, check out the Diglipur highlight on my Instagram!

Ross and Smith Islands

The Ross and Smith Islands are a pair of “twin islands” that are adjoined by a sand bar in between. During the high tide, this sand bar remains submerged in water but during low tide, it appears and you can walk all the way. Of the two, Ross is uninhabited whereas Smith has a small population living on the other side which is called “Sagar Dweep”. Ross and Smith is probably the best Diglipur beach there is as the waters here are exceptionally clear and it is a great place for swimming.

To get to Ross and Smith, you must hire a boat from the Aerial Bay Jetty. Unfortunately, the tickets are not per person, but instead per boat. Each boat costs INR 5,000 so if you’re a solo traveller – it could come out to be quite expensive. The twenty-minute boat ride is a great journey with a view of Saddle Peak in the distance. As of yet, tourists are not allowed to spend the night at Ross and Smith but the government is planning some tourism infrastructure at Smith Island in the upcoming years. So hopefully spending a night at Ross and Smith would be possible soon! Trust this Diglipur travel guide, Ross and Smith Islands are some of the most beautiful Diglipur places to visit!

Craggey Island

If I had to pick, I’d say of all the places to visit in Diglipur Andaman, Craggey Island was my absolute favourite. This tiny island is located just a few hundred meters off Kalipur Beach. I know several people who have also swum this distance but unfortunately, I could not because of strong winds and choppy waters. Mr Alex helped us arrange a fisherman dinghy that took us to the Island and this is where I went snorkelling for the very first time in my life. I had no fins or snorkel, just a mask to help me see the world underwater but trust me, it was one of the most magical and unforgettable experiences I’ve ever had. The visibility is fantastic and the coral gardens are massive and so rich. I saw a whole lot of fish, a cleaning station and a lobster before we surfaced and hopped back on the boat. If you take up one piece of advice from this Diglipur travel guide, let it be this – absolutely do not miss a chance to visit Craggey on your Diglipur tour itinerary!

Shyam Nagar Mud Volcanoes

Similar to the mud volcanoes at Baratang, the Shyam Nagar mud volcanoes are a fascinating geological phenomenon. However, I ended up not visiting this place during my time in Diglipur but I hear it is worth mentioning on this Diglipur travel guide. Shyam Nagar is located about 40 kilometres from Diglipur and after walking a little bit, you reach an area where the grey mud bubbles up as the gases trapped below the surface try to escape through the soil. It’s quite a sight to behold, definitely one of the most fascinating places to visit in Diglipur Andaman!

Diglipur Travel Guide – General Information

Internet and Network Connectivity in Diglipur Island

You can count on almost no mobile and internet connectivity in most of Diglipur. In Diglipur town, you get decent 4G speed for both BSNL and Airtel. Areas away from the town will have no Airtel connectivity and a limited, patchy network for BSNL. However, Pristine Beach Resort has good WiFi – as has already been mentioned in this Diglipur travel guide.

ATMs in Diglipur Island

There are several ATMs in Diglipur town but it’s difficult to find ATMs in the villages around Diglipur. It’s recommended that you keep enough cash on you as most places do not take online payments – apart from Pristine Beach Resort.

Wine and Beer Shop in Diglipur Island

There is one ANNIDCO wine and beer shop in Diglipur town and that’s about it. This Diglipur travel guide recommends that you stock up here beforehand itself. Alternatively, there is an in-house bar at Pristine Beach Resort which you could avail.

Language in Diglipur Island

Hindi is widely spoken and understood in all of Diglipur. English can be communicated fairly easily as well – though not everywhere. So you don’t have to worry about language barriers in Diglipur.

Diglipur Island Market and Bazar

The Diglipur bazar is very well stocked for all basic needs so you don’t have to worry about this at all. Disglipur bazar also has several sweet shops, samosa shacks and small dhabas selling basic food like idli, vada, dosa etc. Even in the villages shops selling basic goods like chips, biscuits, cigarettes etc can be found easily as per this Diglipur travel guide.

Diglipur Travel Guide – Frequently Asked Questions

Is Diglipur worth visiting?

Diglipur is definitely worth visiting – no questions asked! As is evident in this Diglipur travel guide, it can be quite a challenge to reach Diglipur Island but this painstaking journey becomes all worth the while as you begin exploring the beautiful natural spots this Island has on offer.

Is Diglipur open for tourists?

Diglipur is open for tourists. There are no permits required to visit Diglipur but to get to certain places around Diglipur, such as Ross and Smith Islands and Alfred Caves, special permits are required. You can find more details about these specific permits in the relevant sections in this Diglipur travel guide.

What is there to see in Diglipur?

There’s a lot of natural beauty in Diglipur. From pristine beaches to untouched islands, turtle nestings and hatcheries, snorkelling and swimming spots, there’s all this and more! Check out the details of what to see in Diglipur in the “Diglipur Places to Visit” section of this Diglipur travel guide.

How to reach Diglipur from Port Blair?

There are three ways to reach Diglipur from Port Blair. These include going by road, by air or by sea. Check out the “How to Reach Diglipur Island” section in this Diglipur Island travel guide for details on how to reach Diglipur from Port Blair.

We love transparency! My stay was sponsored by Pristine Beach Resort during my time in Diglipur, but my words and views are all mine!

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