Diglipur Island is located in the North Andaman Islands at a distance of about 320 Kilometers from Port Blair. Diglipur has a total geographical area of about 1400 square kilometers and is considered the biggest inhabited town of the Andaman Islands. Just like the other islands in Andamans, people living here are also seen living together like a small India, speaking various Indian languages and belong to varied religious and cultural beliefs. The majority of the population speaks Bengali, Hindi, and Tamil having said that numerous other people are speaking Telugu and Malayalam too. They practice agriculture as their main occupation. Diglipur has rice, coconut, areca nut and vegetables grown there and they also do sell out their goods to the capital town. Other supplies are brought in to Diglipur from the capital town of Port Blair, hence here goods and services might happen to be expensive than Port Blair.
Diglipur houses some of the most exotic and unique sights which will for sure make it a treat to your experiences when you visit them. The platter of unique sights in Diglipur has in stock the most distinctive twin-islands- The Ross n Smith Islands, the Saddle peak-highest peak of the entire Andaman archipelago, The Kalpong river- a rare case of the only flowing river in an Island surrounded by sea. The only hydro-electric project on the island is on this river. Apart from all these solitary treats that Diglipur feeds you with, there are multiple Turtle nesting sites here. By the time you complete going through this page, you will be familiar with all the must-visits of this immaculate destination.
People of Andamans, irrespective of where they live and what they do are related to tourism and always stay enthusiastic to see improvement in the tourism infrastructures.
A few years back, many local youths of Diglipur have vowed to put in all efforts to bring Diglipur in the list of most preferred tourist destinations for travel and nature lovers. These youths have registered a Society called “Diglipur Association for Rural Tourism and Ecological Development (DARTED)”, which has identified various locations to add to the list of tourist spots to be visited in Diglipur. Among the new findings are Mud Volcanoes at Hathi Level- Shyam Nagar, Alfred Caves at Pathi Level, Ramnagar, Freshwater streams, etc.
Though Diglipur is still growing in tourism infrastructures and facilities, but slowly and steadily it is earning popularity among travelers as an offbeat destination. People planning to do something out of the box and something away from the regular itineraries, always have in mind of visiting the North Andamans during their visit. This has brought a buzz of touching Diglipur and people have started asking for Diglipur and they try to make their duration elastic to group in this place in their itinerary. We would love to make you aware of how you may plan Diglipur in your itinerary in our coming sections, so come along!
What to Expect while visiting Diglipur?
The island being our home, we visit all the places annually to stay updated and to make sure our travelers see the place through our eyes while planning and stay clear on their expectations before they land in.
If you are out of those folks who are looking for a peaceful, soulful and unique experience from your few days of the vacation, and if you wish to stay away from the monotonous hurried life of the city and commercial activities, you can expect all this in Diglipur. As mentioned already, Diglipur is a destination that has attracted many travel and adventure lovers from across the world- who has visited and experienced its serenity and hence made it popular under the tag of An offbeat destination or an out of the box experience, make sure that you have the right information and a firm plan before you reach Diglipur. You can consider it to be a civilized and nicely maintained village.
Diglipur has proper blacktop roads and the Andaman Trunk Road connects Diglipur to the other islands. It is not on an easy connection with other islands and the connection to the main town is 12 hours away. The telecom connections are even not very strong-not to mention the internet here as the broadband services can provide internet that too at a speed of 2G or even lower. The telecom service providers here are- Airtel and BSNL only. Hence the suggestion from our island experts say that- a pre-planned and well-designed itinerary will help you stay in track and get the best out of the time you have invested in your trip. A detailed Diglipur tour package can be referred for an itinerary understanding of Diglipur.
By investing your time in visiting Diglipur, you come much closer to nature. The flora & fauna, the beaches, the caves and almost everything you can do here will keep you soaked into nature. The places you stay in will all be eco stays with the necessary amenities and interiors; the power supply is drawn from the hydro-electricity project on Kalpong River. It is satisfactory; however, there are certain power cuts experienced in the islands for a short duration and you cannot expect a proper power back up during the power cuts. Food is not an issue until you keep your food ordered in advance. Many hospitality ventures come up for making the experiences better. You can find details about these in our “Accommodation” & “Food” segments.
Accommodation options at Diglipur
There is just 1 (one) private accommodation namely Pristine Beach Resort. This property has been in the industry for about 10 years now. It is located near the Kalipur Beach famous for turtle nesting and is preferred by travelers and has decent service feedbacks from their in house guests. They have all the necessary amenities but do not expect the luxury of star category amenities while you plan to stay in them as it is a remote location having an eco-tourism theme.
There is a resort of the Andaman & Nicobar Department of Tourism- The Turtle Resort. This resort is located near to the Pristine Beach Resort. Pre-booking is mandatory in all of these properties during the high seasons to ensure you have a reservation and don’t get stuck with your plans. Try to secure your bookings in any offbeat destination through a local tour operator because the online bookings mostly won’t work due to the poor internet connectivity in the islands. There are some departmental guest houses/ lodges also which have to be checked to be availed on the spot only.
Food options in Diglipur island
Seafood is the specialty of the entire Andaman Islands. So there is no question or doubt in what to explore in food for a non-vegetarian. However, if you are a vegetarian, the choices are no less. We haven’t discovered any pure-veg restaurant until now, but the restaurant of Pristine Beach Resort – The Pride, serves delicious vegetarian food. But the condition is that you need to order a few hours before if possible order your lunch and dinner during the breakfast itself to have it served on time because they prepare food based on their occupancy and not all of the supplies are available on the go. There are other eating joints as well and most of them follow the Dhaba, canteen or eat-like-home concepts. They all are hygienic and serve good food to treat your hunger though they have a limited choice of menu to offer.
During our recent visit, we discovered a new restaurant (not a luxurious one though), namely- The New Hira Family Restaurant, located in Shubhashgram. It serves delicious and affordable food and they understand the hospitality expected by the guests coming in. You may give it a try while you visit.
How many days will it take to cover all of Diglipur?
Technically, 4 -5 days are required to cover Diglipur where you cover all the points. However, in 3 complete days, you will be able to cover the major points. Specifically, Ross and Smith Island which is the major attraction in Diglipur. Each way travel towards Diglipur from Port Blair is of an entire day. So assume 2 days will go only into traveling. The remaining days that you stay in Diglipur can be used to explore its various attraction points.
For Diglipur trip there are a lot of possible combinations that our island experts may help you with.
