Introduction
Bollywood flash, big-business glitz and the crushingly poor. Mumbai is the bubblegum glamour of Bollywood cinema, shopping malls full of designer labels, cricket on the Oval Maidan, promenading families eating bhelpuri on the beach at Chowpatty, red double-decker buses queuing in grinding traffic jams and the infamous cages of the red-light district.
This pungent drama is played out against a Victorian townscape more reminiscent of a prosperous 19th-century English industrial city than anything you'd expect to find on the edge of the Arabian Sea. It's a city with vibrant streetlife, India's best nightlife, and a wealth of bazaars.
Mumbai sprawls across a series of islands jutting out into the Arabian Sea from the west coast of India. Although it feels like a single land mass, the city is criss-crossed by creeks and streams, and large parts of southern Mumbai are built on land reclaimed from Back Bay. The touch of the British Empire is evident in the glorious colonial architecture of the old town at the southern end of the isthmus. Even today, Mumbai seems a world apart from the rest of Maharashtra, despite being the state capital. The old part of Mumbai is concentrated at the southern end of the peninsula. Fort was the centre of the British colonial quarter, served by the docks in nearby Colaba, and the streets are still lined with stately colonial mansions and civic buildings. Travellers gravitate towards Colaba, where you'll find most of the cheap hotels, excellent and inexpensive food and accessible nightlife. Fronting onto Mumbai Harbour are two of the city's best landmarks, the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower (commonly known as the Taj Mahal Hotel). Boats leave from the quayside to Elephanta Island, with its famous Hindu cave temples. East of Fort is Nariman Point, an upmarket area of modern office towers and government buildings, built on reclaimed land facing onto the Arabian Sea. From here, Marine Drive curls north around Back Bay to famous Chowpatty Beach and the headland at Malabar Hill. Trains from the northern suburbans terminate in Fort at Churchgate Station and Victoria Terminus (aka Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus), perhaps the most distinctive building in all of British India. Long-distance trains run from either Victoria Terminus or Mumbai Central Station, further north, near Tardeo. To the north are the posh suburbs of Greater Mumbai - Breach Candy, Bandra and Juhu - and also some of the largest slums. Here you'll find the two airports, Chhatrapati Shivaji International and the domestic Santa Cruz. In the far north of Mumbai is Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a vast area of protected woodland home to ancient Buddhist cave temples.
Destination Facts
Time zone: GMT +5.5
Area: 4200
Coordinates: 18.975 latitude and 72.82583 longitude
Population: 16400000
Currency: Indian Rupee (Rs)
Area codes: 022
Getting there and away
Mumbai beats Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai for international air traffic. It also has the busiest network of domestic flights, including flights to Aurangabad near the Ellora and Ajanta caves. National carrier Indian Airlines has been joined by various private carriers which are often more reliable - Jet, Air Sahara and Kingfisher Airlines are all good companies. The international terminal (Chhatrapati Shivaji) and the domestic terminal (Santa Cruz) are 30km (19mi) and 26km (16mi) respectively from downtown Mumbai. There are regular free shuttle buses between the two terminals. Long-distance buses depart from the state road transport terminal opposite Mumbai's Central railway station. It's fairly chaotic, and there are almost no signs or information available in English. The state bus companies of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh all have offices here. Two railway systems operate out of Mumbai. Central Railways handles services to the east and south, plus a few trains to the north. Western Railways has services to the north from Churchgate and Central stations. Trains travel frequently between Mumbai and Agra, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Pune and Varanasi. Taxis operate 24 hours a day from the airport, though they add a surcharge at night. A taxi from either airport to Colaba costs around 350.00 - be ready to bargain and pay extra for your luggage. Autorickshaws are a cheaper option - it's only a ten minute ride from either airport to Andheri or Vile Parle railway station, where you can catch a train into the centre. Minibuses outside the arrival hall offer free shuttle services to the domestic airport and Juhu hotels.
Getting around
Mumbai has one of the best public bus systems of any major Indian city. However, its red double-decker buses must run the gauntlet of the city's unbelievable traffic congestion. More useful, though no less crowded, is Mumbai's extensive network of suburban electric trains, but avoid rush hours when trains carry five times their maximum safe limit of passengers and you may be carried off several stops early, or miss your stop entirely, because of the heaving mass of humanity. Mumbai has a huge fleet of metered black-and-yellow taxis but, contrary to the practice in most other Indian cities, no autorickshaws are allowed in the city centre. Taxi meters are invariably out of date, so fares are calculated by using a conversion card. Note that taxis outside tourist sites and entertainment venues may ask for flat rates or refuse short journeys.
Weather
Mumbai is prone to high temperatures, high humidity and tropical rain, though the climate is tempered by the influence of the Arabian Sea. Rainfall averages a soggy 2200mm (85in) per year, with the heaviest falls coming in the monsoon season from June to September. Recent years have seen massive floods, cited by many as evidence of global warming. January is the coolest month, though 12 ° C (53 ° F) is about as low as it goes. March and October tend to swelter, with temperatures rising as high as 38 ° C (100 ° F).
Places of Interest
Mumbai is the bubblegum glamour of Bollywood cinema, shopping malls full of designer labels, cricket on the Oval Maidan, promenading families eating bhelpuri on the beach at Chowpatty, red double-decker buses queuing in grinding traffic jams and the infamous cages of the red-light district.
This pungent drama is played out against a Victorian townscape more reminiscent of a prosperous 19th-century English industrial city than anything you'd expect to find on the edge of the Arabian Sea. It's a city with vibrant streetlife, India's best nightlife, and a wealth of bazaars.
Related posts: India Country, Delhi City, Goa City
Bollywood flash, big-business glitz and the crushingly poor. Mumbai is the bubblegum glamour of Bollywood cinema, shopping malls full of designer labels, cricket on the Oval Maidan, promenading families eating bhelpuri on the beach at Chowpatty, red double-decker buses queuing in grinding traffic jams and the infamous cages of the red-light district.
This pungent drama is played out against a Victorian townscape more reminiscent of a prosperous 19th-century English industrial city than anything you'd expect to find on the edge of the Arabian Sea. It's a city with vibrant streetlife, India's best nightlife, and a wealth of bazaars.
Mumbai sprawls across a series of islands jutting out into the Arabian Sea from the west coast of India. Although it feels like a single land mass, the city is criss-crossed by creeks and streams, and large parts of southern Mumbai are built on land reclaimed from Back Bay. The touch of the British Empire is evident in the glorious colonial architecture of the old town at the southern end of the isthmus. Even today, Mumbai seems a world apart from the rest of Maharashtra, despite being the state capital. The old part of Mumbai is concentrated at the southern end of the peninsula. Fort was the centre of the British colonial quarter, served by the docks in nearby Colaba, and the streets are still lined with stately colonial mansions and civic buildings. Travellers gravitate towards Colaba, where you'll find most of the cheap hotels, excellent and inexpensive food and accessible nightlife. Fronting onto Mumbai Harbour are two of the city's best landmarks, the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower (commonly known as the Taj Mahal Hotel). Boats leave from the quayside to Elephanta Island, with its famous Hindu cave temples. East of Fort is Nariman Point, an upmarket area of modern office towers and government buildings, built on reclaimed land facing onto the Arabian Sea. From here, Marine Drive curls north around Back Bay to famous Chowpatty Beach and the headland at Malabar Hill. Trains from the northern suburbans terminate in Fort at Churchgate Station and Victoria Terminus (aka Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus), perhaps the most distinctive building in all of British India. Long-distance trains run from either Victoria Terminus or Mumbai Central Station, further north, near Tardeo. To the north are the posh suburbs of Greater Mumbai - Breach Candy, Bandra and Juhu - and also some of the largest slums. Here you'll find the two airports, Chhatrapati Shivaji International and the domestic Santa Cruz. In the far north of Mumbai is Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a vast area of protected woodland home to ancient Buddhist cave temples.
Destination Facts
Time zone: GMT +5.5
Area: 4200
Coordinates: 18.975 latitude and 72.82583 longitude
Population: 16400000
Currency: Indian Rupee (Rs)
Area codes: 022
Getting there and away
Mumbai beats Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai for international air traffic. It also has the busiest network of domestic flights, including flights to Aurangabad near the Ellora and Ajanta caves. National carrier Indian Airlines has been joined by various private carriers which are often more reliable - Jet, Air Sahara and Kingfisher Airlines are all good companies. The international terminal (Chhatrapati Shivaji) and the domestic terminal (Santa Cruz) are 30km (19mi) and 26km (16mi) respectively from downtown Mumbai. There are regular free shuttle buses between the two terminals. Long-distance buses depart from the state road transport terminal opposite Mumbai's Central railway station. It's fairly chaotic, and there are almost no signs or information available in English. The state bus companies of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh all have offices here. Two railway systems operate out of Mumbai. Central Railways handles services to the east and south, plus a few trains to the north. Western Railways has services to the north from Churchgate and Central stations. Trains travel frequently between Mumbai and Agra, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Pune and Varanasi. Taxis operate 24 hours a day from the airport, though they add a surcharge at night. A taxi from either airport to Colaba costs around 350.00 - be ready to bargain and pay extra for your luggage. Autorickshaws are a cheaper option - it's only a ten minute ride from either airport to Andheri or Vile Parle railway station, where you can catch a train into the centre. Minibuses outside the arrival hall offer free shuttle services to the domestic airport and Juhu hotels.
Getting around
Mumbai has one of the best public bus systems of any major Indian city. However, its red double-decker buses must run the gauntlet of the city's unbelievable traffic congestion. More useful, though no less crowded, is Mumbai's extensive network of suburban electric trains, but avoid rush hours when trains carry five times their maximum safe limit of passengers and you may be carried off several stops early, or miss your stop entirely, because of the heaving mass of humanity. Mumbai has a huge fleet of metered black-and-yellow taxis but, contrary to the practice in most other Indian cities, no autorickshaws are allowed in the city centre. Taxi meters are invariably out of date, so fares are calculated by using a conversion card. Note that taxis outside tourist sites and entertainment venues may ask for flat rates or refuse short journeys.
Weather
Mumbai is prone to high temperatures, high humidity and tropical rain, though the climate is tempered by the influence of the Arabian Sea. Rainfall averages a soggy 2200mm (85in) per year, with the heaviest falls coming in the monsoon season from June to September. Recent years have seen massive floods, cited by many as evidence of global warming. January is the coolest month, though 12 ° C (53 ° F) is about as low as it goes. March and October tend to swelter, with temperatures rising as high as 38 ° C (100 ° F).
Places of Interest
Mumbai is the bubblegum glamour of Bollywood cinema, shopping malls full of designer labels, cricket on the Oval Maidan, promenading families eating bhelpuri on the beach at Chowpatty, red double-decker buses queuing in grinding traffic jams and the infamous cages of the red-light district.
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