Islands of Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep has 36 islands in total, but only ten are inhabited and just a handful are open to tourists. Each one has a distinct character — Agatti with its airport, Bangaram for honeymoons, Minicoy for its unique Mahl culture. Pick your island carefully; it defines the entire trip.
Agatti Atoll Agatti Island — Gateway to Lakshadweep
Agatti is the only Lakshadweep island with an airport, making it the entry point for nearly every visitor. The island itself is a long, narrow coral sliver with a world-class lagoon, basic but comfortable accommodation, and some of the best snorkelling in India.
Bangaram Atoll Bangaram Island — The Uninhabited Resort Escape
Bangaram is the one Lakshadweep island where you can drink wine with dinner. It's also uninhabited, reef-ringed, and the reason half of Indian honeymooners go to Lakshadweep in the first place.
Kavaratti Atoll Kavaratti — The Capital You Probably Shouldn't Visit First
Kavaratti is the administrative headquarters of Lakshadweep. It's also one of the least tourist-friendly islands in the chain, despite being the most populous. Here's when it's worth the detour and when it isn't.
Amindivi Subgroup Kadmat — Lakshadweep's Diver Island
Kadmat is what serious divers pick when Bangaram is booked out and Agatti feels busy. A 9-kilometre sliver with the archipelago's longest continuous beach and the only dive centre that runs properly structured courses.
Minicoy Atoll Minicoy — The Southernmost Island That Feels Like Somewhere Else
Minicoy sits 200 kilometres south of the rest of Lakshadweep. The language is different. The architecture is different. The food is different. If you want the strangest, most un-Indian corner of India, this is it.
Kalpeni Atoll Kalpeni — The Reef-Walk Island
Kalpeni has the shallowest, clearest lagoon in Lakshadweep, protected by three tiny sister islands that function as a natural breakwater. That geography makes it the best island in the archipelago for reef walking and glass-bottom boating.
Amindivi Subgroup Amini — The Traditional Craft Island
Amini makes coir. Amini carves coconut shell. Amini has been producing both for longer than most Indian states have existed. If you want to see Lakshadweep's traditional economy still functioning, skip the tourist islands and come here.
Andrott Atoll Andrott — Lakshadweep's Largest Island, Barely Visited
Andrott is bigger than any other island in Lakshadweep — nearly five square kilometres. It's also almost off-limits to casual tourists. Foreigners can't usually come here. Indians rarely bother. Which leaves a strange sort of island: substantial, historic, and quiet.
Amindivi Subgroup Kiltan — A Northern Island Most Tourists Skip
Kiltan sits at the north end of the Lakshadweep chain, closer to Mangalore than to Kavaratti. It's a working fishing island with almost no tourist infrastructure — which is exactly why a handful of travellers come looking for it.
Amindivi Subgroup Chetlat — The Island Where Ship Schedules Go to Die
Chetlat is remote, tiny, and visited by fewer outsiders in a year than Agatti sees in a day. Ship schedules are irregular, accommodation barely exists, and yet for a certain kind of traveller, none of that is a problem.
Bitra Atoll Bitra — The Smallest Inhabited Island in India
Bitra is 0.1 square kilometres of land ringed by a coral lagoon, inhabited by fewer than 300 people, and effectively closed to tourism. You will probably never visit. Here's why it still matters that the island exists.