Travel in Mumbai

One of our fifteen India trips goes to Mumbai. That is the number. The other fourteen do not go near it. The one that does — India's facets & Maldives, 15 days, from EUR 3,140 — is not a Mumbai trip. It is a Rajasthan route that spends its last two days in Mumbai and then flies you to a beach in the Maldives for four nights. It is also the most expensive India trip we sell.

Mumbai arrives on day 9, after eight days inland: two nights in Delhi, one in Agra for the Taj Mahal (closed on Fridays), two in Jaipur, one in Jodhpur, two in Udaipur. The itinerary does not say how you cover the leg from Udaipur to Mumbai, around 700 km, and no domestic flight is written into this route. Two of our other India trips name a domestic flight in the day plan; this one does not. Get that leg confirmed in writing before you pay anything.

Day 9 is Elephanta Island. The caves sit on an island off the coast and the ferry is the only way there, so the crossing and the caves take the morning and part of the afternoon. Back on the mainland, the day ends with a walk through the market in Colaba, past the old buildings along that stretch. The caves close on Mondays. If your dates fall that way, the two Mumbai days swap round.

Day 10 is the city itself. The Gateway of India, the ceremonial arch where arriving passengers once came ashore. Malabar Hill and the Hanging Gardens. Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat, the open-air laundry where the dhobis still wash by hand in rows of concrete vats. Then colonial Bombay in a run: the High Court, Mumbai University, the Flora Fountain, the library, the Prince of Wales Museum, Victoria Terminus station — now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus — and the Municipal Corporation Building. The day finishes at Mani Bhavan, the house Gandhi used in the city, kept as a museum of his life and his ideas.

That is the whole of it. Two days. Here is what is not in them. There is no Bollywood studio visit and no film-city tour, which is the thing most people expect from Mumbai. The only Bollywood on this trip happens on day 4, at the Raj Mandir cinema in Jaipur, a thousand kilometres away. There is no Dharavi tour. Marine Drive and Chowpatty are not in the day plan. Ajanta and Ellora, the cave complexes people often pair with Mumbai, are in no itinerary we run.

You also cannot buy Mumbai on its own. We have no city break here, no trip that starts here, and no route that joins Mumbai to the south. India – from north to south, 14 days from EUR 1,840, runs Delhi down to Kochi without touching it, and our Goa beach component starts and ends at Goa airport rather than coming down the coast.

The two Mumbai nights are at Hotel Fariyas in a Superior room. Rooms across this trip are Superior, with a suite in Jaipur. There is no five-star or luxury tier anywhere in our programme, and we would rather say that now than after you have booked. The trip is private and guided like everything we sell, with your own guide and driver and no fixed departure dates. Included: hotel accommodation, breakfast, a German-speaking guide, 24-hour contact throughout and a bottle of water on arrival. Not included: international flights. That matters more than usual here, because day 11 moves you from Mumbai to Male, and Mumbai to Male is an international flight. It is not in the price. Ask us to quote it or book it yourself, but do not assume it is covered.

If Mumbai is the reason you are travelling, weigh that ratio honestly: two days out of fifteen, at the end of a long overland route through Rajasthan, on the way to a beach in the Maldives. Tell us at the enquiry stage and we will look at what can be built around the city. Do not book this route expecting a Mumbai holiday.