Baratang Island

Limestone Caves · 90 min mangrove ride

Baratang is the day trip you do for the journey as much as the destination. It starts before dawn with a convoy drive through the Jarawa tribal reserve, followed by a speedboat ride down a narrow mangrove creek that closes in like a green tunnel on either side.

At the end of it: limestone caves formed over millions of years, reachable only by a short trek through forest and, at times, mudflats. It's a long day — 12 hours door to door from Port Blair — but nothing else on the islands looks quite like it.