Barefoot at Havelock

There are no lit pathways at Barefoot at Havelock. The resort decided its resident endemic owls mattered more, so at night you are handed a torch and the jungle does the rest. That one detail tells you most of what you need to know about this place on Beach No. 7, the Radhanagar stretch of Havelock (Swaraj Dweep) that the resort's homepage notes was named Best Beach in Asia by Time Magazine.

Built from cane, thatch and conviction

Calling itself the first sustainably designed and operated resort in the Andamans, Barefoot put its 31 tents, cottages and villas on stilts so they do not interfere with the runoff after rain, and built them from cane, thatch and wood on what was once a banana plantation. Hundreds of endemic saplings planted at the start have grown into canopy, and over 50 bird species and subspecies have been logged inside the resort, including most of the 22 Andaman endemics. The 380 sq ft Nicobari Cottages wear bamboo-matting walls and palm thatch; the timber Andaman Villas add a walk-in jungle shower under a glass skylight; and the circular Nicobari Villa's thatch dome was built with the guidance of a Nicobari village head. Water comes from the resort's own perennial spring and wells, never the island supply, and an in-house RO plant fills your bottle so plastic ones stay in port.

The name of our bar pays homage to Zoe, a resident dugong who grazes in the vicinity.

Named after the neighbours

Every venue honours a local: The Swimming Elephant restaurant remembers Rajan, the late elephant famed for his swimming; the Dugong Dugon bar salutes Zoe; and the Robber Crab Cafe toasts the coconut-cracking crustacean itself. Much of the produce is grown organically on site or bought from island vendors, and most of the team come from Andaman settler communities, including the Karen. In 2025 the resort took Gold at the Indian Responsible Tourism Awards for sustainable leadership. Fly to Veer Savarkar International in Port Blair, then take the boat out.