Experience the best of Port Blair

Port Blair is the administrative centre of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, named after the naval surveyor Archibald Blair, and reached by air or by ship from the mainland. The British set up a penal settlement here in the nineteenth century, and many of the town's older buildings date from that time.

The Cellular Jail, built by the British between 1896 and 1906, held political prisoners from across India, and its surviving wings now form a national memorial and museum. Ross Island, the former British headquarters on an islet off the harbour, is a ruin overgrown with trees. Havelock Island, reached by ferry, has the beaches of Radhanagar.

The islands' food mixes Bengali, Tamil and other influences with seafood: fish curries, coconut dishes, prawns and rice, and fresh coconut water. The best season is October to May, when the weather is drier and the sea calmer. June to September brings heavy monsoon rain.