Mumbai travel guides & articles
All 18 in-depth pieces we’ve published on Mumbai — newest first.
Tours & tickets
A Mumbai Morning at the Gateway of India
Between 6.30 and noon you can have the arch, the harbour launches and most of Colaba largely to yourself.
Fifteen Weekend Escapes Within Two Hours of Mumbai
Ferries, forts, a car-free hill station and a river that runs to a dam schedule: the trips out of Mumbai that work in a weekend, and the timings that decide whether they do.
Mumbai's Bollywood Day from Film City to Midnight Comedy
One workable Mumbai itinerary: nine in the morning on a working film set in Goregaon, after midnight in a 60-seat comedy room in Khar.
Mumbai's 9am Ferry to Elephanta and the Day Around It
How to catch the first launch from the Gateway of India, and what the caves show you once you are inside. Where to eat at either end of the crossing, too.
Bandra to Marine Drive on Mumbai's Coastal Road
An afternoon heading south down Mumbai's western edge, from the mangroves at Carter Road to the Art Deco parapet at Marine Drive, with notes on which stops are worth making and which ones you have to time.
Two Days in Mumbai on Trains, Ferries and Foot
A car-free weekend route through Mumbai built on the suburban railway, the Elephanta ferry and about fifteen kilometres of walking, with real timings, fares and door policies.
Kanheri, Leopards and Mumbai's Forested Northern Edge
A day inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the 2,000-year-old monastery above it, and the other caves and sanctuaries reachable from the same station.
Ganpati in Mumbai from the 5am Queue to Chowpatty
Mumbai's Ganeshotsav is eleven days, a dozen pandals and one immersion night. Here is how to plan it around the queues that are actually worth standing in.
Riding Mumbai's Western Line After Midnight
The Western Line shuts for about three hours a night. This guide covers the last local out of Churchgate, what is still serving at 01:30, and how to get back once the trains have gone.
The Pre-Dawn Fruit Rush at Crawford Market
Mumbai's wholesale fruit auction moved to the suburbs decades ago, but the 4am reselling rush at Crawford Market, and the string of markets and midnight kitchens around it, is still the city's best excuse to skip sleep.
Mumbai's Dhobi Ghat, Before the City Wakes Up
At first light, thousands of dhobis turn a strip of concrete pens below Mahalaxmi into the world's largest open-air laundry — here is how to see it, and what else in Mumbai runs on the same visible, hereditary rhythm.
How Mumbai Eats When the Monsoon Floods the Streets
When the rains close half the city, thirteen kitchens under tarpaulin and tin roofs keep Mumbai fed — from a 1904 Irani café to a pani puri counter with actual seats.
Mumbai's Art Deco Mile: Bombay's Jazz-Age Architecture Walk
A walking route through the Fort-to-Marine-Drive ensemble that makes Mumbai the world's second-largest home of Art Deco architecture, from working cinemas to sea-facing apartment blocks.
The Parsi Cafés of Mumbai: Bentwood Chairs, Berry Pulav and a Fading World
A working itinerary through Mumbai's last Irani cafés and Parsi kitchens — bentwood chairs, checkered oilcloth, berry pulav and bun maska, from Ballard Estate to Dadar Parsi Colony, with the door policies, hours and cash rules that actually matter.
Marine Drive After Dark: The Queen's Necklace and the City That Refuses to Sleep
How to spend a night on Mumbai's 3.6-kilometre seafront curve, from chai stalls and cricket floodlights to the one terrace built for a crowd.
The Men in White Caps: Inside Mumbai's 130-Year-Old Lunchbox Delivery Machine
How to actually watch — and understand — the dabbawalas who move 200,000 home-cooked lunches across Mumbai every working day, without an app or a single spreadsheet.
Chowpatty and Beyond: A Local's Guide to Mumbai's Street Food
A dish-by-dish, stall-by-stall crawl through Mumbai's street food — from a 5am dosa counter to a 3am kebab stall — with exact prices, who cooked it, and where to stand.
The Best Mumbai Slum Tours With Local Guides
Nine Dharavi tours run by people who actually live there — ranked honestly by ethics, price, group size and which one suits a couple, a family or a curious solo traveller.