Flight Destinations

Flights to Port Blair

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Port Blair is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which is a territory of India, situated in the Bay of Bengal some distance off the east coast of India. The islands are closer to Myanmar and Thailand than they are to India, and offer some beautiful scenery and fantastic beaches. Port Blair itself is more of a gateway to these beautiful islands, but it does also have some tourist attractions to offer.

Flights to Port Blair

The Port Blair Airport is more officially known as the Vir Savarkar Airport (airport code: IXZ), and is just 2 kilometres outside of town. Only domestic flights to Port Blair arrive here, so you will have to transfer in India when travelling from the UK. Jet Airways is usually an affordable option, offering a flight to Port Blair with stops in Bombay and Madras. Both BMI and Sri Lankan Airlines take a route through Colombo and Madras for their flights to Port Blair. Another option is with Virgin Atlantic, for stops in Delhi and Madras.

Port Blair Tourist Attractions

If you’re visiting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands you probably wouldn’t choose to stay for your entire holiday in Port Blair. The town is a major entry point for the islands and though it does have some nice features it really doesn’t do the rest of the islands any justice. By all means stay here for a day or two, maybe either side of arriving or departing from the islands, and by doing so you can visit the several tourist attractions that Port Blair has to offer.

Cellular Jail

The most famous landmark and attraction of Port Blair is the Cellular Jail. The islands have been used as a penal colony for hundreds of years and this was one of the later attempts at housing prisoners, who were mainly Indian freedom fighters, fighting for India’s independence. The British built the prison so that they could pretty much exile these political prisoners to stop them from being a nuisance, but the jail was famous for its cruel prisoner punishment. The Cellular Jail was built between 1896 and 1906 and had seven wings with a total of 698 cells. It was named the Cellular Jail because each cell housed only one prisoner and they were all kept in solitary confinement.

Only three wings remain today and they have been preserved as a national memorial and it’s a beautiful place with gardens that is far from the suffering of the past.

Ghandi Park

The multi-use Ghandi Park in Port Blair is good if you’re visiting with children. It’s a small park with amusement rides, a lake with nature trail, water sports, gardens, and a Japanese temple and bunker left over from WW2. Visitors with children could also visit the aptly named Mini Zoo in Port Blair which has a very small collection of birds and animals.

When Should You Visit Port Blair?

Port Blair and the rest of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has a tropical monsoon climate. This means you’ll find very little variation in the hot temperatures across the year, but there is a dry season you should head for. The dry season is short, lasting only from January to April and it’s not completely dry at this time, however, during the rainy season, May to December, it rains buckets! Average highs are around the high 20’s and low 30’s C.