The objective of the present work is to study the influence of curvature on local boiling heat transfer coefficient and two-phase pressure drop in helically coiled tubes with water as the working medium. In helically coiled tubes, the geometric parameters like pipe diameter and coil diameter vary the curvature and hence secondary flow which affects the heat transfer distribution and pressure drop. The present work investigates the characteristics of flow boiling in helically coiled tubes. Very less information is available on the influence of curvature on flow boiling system. The local wall temperature is measured not only in the axial direction (along the length of coil) but also in the circumferential direction using thermal imaging technique. Experiments are performed with six helically coiled test sections made of SS 304 tubes having inner diameters varying from 6 to 10 mm. The coil diameter to the tube diameter ratio ranges from 14 to 58 and coil pitch is 50 mm. The effect of geometric and operating parameters like tube diameter, coil diameter, heat flux and mass flux on local boiling heat transfer coefficient and two-phase pressure drop is analysed. In the subcooled region and in a low quality region, boiling heat transfer coefficient in helical coils is much higher (12%–100%) than in straight tubes. However, in a high quality region, the boiling heat transfer coefficient in helical coils is same as in straight tubes. A correlation is suggested for two-phase pressure drop in helical coils. © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS