4 Days In Mumbai, India, And The Kebab Counter Won

I have done this trip three times now, and the version below is the one I would hand a friend. Mumbai rewards people who commit to a neighbourhood for half a day instead of criss crossing the city chasing pins on a map. The traffic will punish you otherwise.

No rental car. I walked where walking made sense, took taxis for the longer hops, and gave one full day to the ferry out to Elephanta because that island eats a day whether you plan for it or not.

Four days, twenty stops, museums and kebabs and one very loud flower market. Timings and rough durations are in each section so you can cut what you do not want.

Day 1, Colaba and the Fort Walk

Day one stays in the south, almost entirely on foot. Market first while it is still bearable, then the Gateway, then a long slow afternoon in Kala Ghoda with lunch and the museum back to back. It ends on Marine Drive at sunset and at a kebab counter after dark. Nothing here is more than a ten minute taxi from anything else, which is the whole reason to start in Colaba.

Colaba Causeway

First stop, around 9, while half the shutters were still coming up. Colaba Causeway is one long shopping street rather than a market square, so you walk it end to end with the traffic grinding along beside you. Walking really is the only sane option here, parking is a losing game.

Everything is on offer. Oxidised jewellery, sandals, sunglasses, bags, the whole category of things you did not plan to buy. Prices near the Gateway end are quoted high because tourists pay high. Start low, look bored, walk away. Half the time you get called back. I paid 450 rupees for a pair of shoes and knew I had been gently taken.

The street vendors can be pushy. The shopkeepers in the proper stores near the McDonald’s were the ones who actually bothered showing me options. Give it 45 minutes to an hour, longer if you are genuinely shopping.

Five minutes on foot to the Gateway.

Gateway Of India Mumbai

Mid-morning, and the plaza already had that pleasant churn of boat touts, photographers and school groups. Entry is free, there is a quick security check, and then you are standing on the Apollo Bandar waterfront with the Arabian Sea in front and the Taj Mahal Palace at your back. The arch is better in person than in any photo I had seen of it, which surprised me.

Two honest notes. The water right at the wall is dirty and nobody pretends otherwise. And by late morning the crowd is thick enough that a clean photo takes patience, so sunrise is the move if photos matter to you.

I stayed about half an hour watching the ferries load. Twenty to thirty minutes covers it unless you are getting on a boat.

From here, taxi to Kala Ghoda, ten minutes, or walk it in twenty if the heat is behaving.

Kala Ghoda Cafe

Lunch, around 12.30. The cafe sits off Rope Walk Lane in a small lane that is genuinely easy to walk past, old wooden interior, a bar counter at the back you do not notice at first. No reservation meant twenty minutes of standing, drink in hand, which seemed about standard.

The masala cappuccino is the thing to order. Chai spice folded into coffee, odd on paper, addictive in the cup. Cheese chilli toast came recommended by the waiter and earned it. The Parsi pora and the rosti were both solid, and the mutton salli boti came apart under a fork.

Not everything lands. The carrot cake with orange rind was dry at the edge and the mango tart had a base like a coaster. Pricing is firmly international, not neighbourhood.

You could do this in an hour, two if you linger over a second coffee.

Two minutes on foot to the museum.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya

After lunch, into the museum on Mahatma Gandhi Road, which is as much about the building as the collection. Indo-Saracenic, domed, set back behind its own gardens, cool and quiet the second the door shuts behind you. Tickets at the entrance, audio headsets available if you would rather not take a guide.

The sculpture galleries and the miniature paintings are what I kept coming back to, though the arms and armour room pulls the crowd. Every object has a plaque that actually explains itself, which is rarer than it should be.

When I visited there was a special show on the Pathare Prabhus, one of the city’s oldest communities, built out of family photographs, heirlooms and recipes. It read less like a museum display and more like someone’s living room.

Give it two to three hours. Four if you read everything, and some people do.

Fifteen minutes on foot west to Marine Drive.

Marine Dr

By then it was around 5.30, which is the right time and also the crowded time. The breeze off the water does the heavy lifting here. Even in strong sun it comes in cool, and the whole sweep of the promenade fills up with families, couples and people who have clearly come alone with headphones in.

I sat on the sea wall and did nothing for an hour.

If you want quiet, come mid-afternoon instead and accept the heat. Evening is prettier and busier, and the buildings behind you light up in a way that explains why locals call this stretch the city’s heartbeat without embarrassment.

Thirty minutes to 90, entirely depending on whether you brought good company or good music.

From here, taxi back down to Colaba for dinner, ten minutes.

Bademiya, Colaba

Late, around 9.30, on Tulloch Road, and the smell of charcoal reaches you before the signage does. The grills are on one side of the road and the dining room on the other, with separate counters for veg and non veg. There is indoor seating with a wait of 20 to 30 minutes on a weekend evening, and there is the roadside counter with no wait at all.

Take the counter. Eat standing. That is the whole point of the place.

Seekh kebabs, the sigdi chicken leg with real charcoal flavour, baida roti, an egg roll, and a cold Thums Up. The chicken tikka was dry and the gravies taste mostly of tomato, so order off the grill and leave the curries alone. The rating sits at 3.7 and I think that is fair, legacy carries some of the reputation.

Half an hour, start to finish, and then a short walk back to the hotel with greasy fingers and no regrets.

Day 2, CSMT and the Elephanta Ferry

Only three stops today, and that is not laziness. The ferry out to Elephanta Island and back swallows five or six hours once you count the queue, the crossing, the steps and the monkeys. I put the station first because it is twenty minutes away and best before the heat lands, then the boat, then seafood that makes the day feel earned.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus

First stop, around 8, before the day fully warmed up. CSMT opened in 1887 as Victoria Terminus and people still call it VT. Victorian Gothic stonework, a central clock tower, stained glass, and a dome that looks faintly absurd on a working commuter station handling millions of people.

My favourite detail came from a local standing beside me. The carved animal heads jutting off the facade are not decoration, they are drainage spouts. Once you know, you cannot unsee it.

Peak hours are genuinely crushing and the platform signage will confuse a first timer, so admire it from the outside, step into the main hall briefly, then get out of the commuters’ way. Metro and taxis are right there.

Give it 30 to 45 minutes, more if you photograph buildings seriously.

Ten minutes by taxi back down to the Gateway for the ferry.

Elephanta Caves

Mid-morning boat, and this is the stop that defines the day. Ferries leave from the Gateway, roughly 290 rupees return, first one around 9.30, and they push off once the seats fill. The crossing runs 45 minutes to an hour with a seagull escort the whole way, fed by passengers throwing crisps.

On the island there is a kilometre of flat walking or a toy train for 10 rupees, then 120 steps up past souvenir and jewellery vendors. Negotiate those. The sixth century rock cut caves at the top are extraordinary, and the Trimurti in Cave 1 is the reason you came.

Closed Tuesdays, learn that before you queue. Carry cash and a hat, the waiting area at the Gateway has no shade. Monkeys will take unattended water bottles.

Budget five to six hours door to door. I took the 6pm ferry back and got the sunset.

From the jetty, ten minutes by taxi to Kala Ghoda for dinner.

Trishna

Early evening, on Sai Baba Mandir Marg, almost directly across from the cafe I had lunch at yesterday. Book ahead. Regulars will tell you the same thing and the queue at the reception desk on a weekend proves it. Walk in, give your name and party size, wait.

The butter garlic crab is the dish everyone sends you here for and it deserves the fuss, deshelled, rich, best mopped up with neer dosa or appam. Bombil fry melted and was not greasy. Surmai rawa fry, prawns in green chilli, and a glass of bright pink solkadhi to settle a heavy meal.

The crab is expensive. Everything else is priced fairly, and the staff will steer you honestly if you say what you like. Our server took better care of us than I expected on a full night.

Plan 90 minutes to two hours, then a short taxi back south with the windows down.

Day 3, Temples, Laundry and Flowers

The busiest day of the four and the one that needs taxis. We go from the open air laundry at Lower Parel to a temple on the sea, then a causeway shrine, then a ninth century water tank on Malabar Hill, then north over the sea link to Bandra. Start early. Keep small notes for the flower stalls.

Dhobi Ghat

I started early, around 8, looking down from the bridge at Saat Rasta in Lower Parel. Rows of concrete wash pens, hundreds of men working in a rhythm that clearly predates anyone standing there watching. It has been running since around 1890. Clothes dry without pegs, wedged between twisted lengths of rope, and the high rises stand right behind it in a contrast nobody has to point out.

Honest part. It is loud, crowded, and it smells. Walking down into the lanes with a guide is possible and the dhobis I met were friendly about explaining the sorting, but I understood the reviewers who said they felt strange doing it. I would not stay longer than 30 minutes.

Twenty from the bridge is plenty if you only want the view and the photographs.

Ten minutes by taxi west to the temple.

Shri Mahalakshmi Devi Temple

Mid-morning, and the taxi cannot take you to the door. You get out on Bhulabhai Desai Road, walk about 400 metres, then climb somewhere between 50 and 100 steps, past stalls selling lotuses, marigolds, garlands and prasad. The scent on that approach is half the visit.

Inside, the three goddesses sit together, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi in the centre holding a lotus, and Mahasaraswati, dressed in gold and pearls. Separate queues for men and women, and the whole premises is cleaner and better organised than I had braced for. I was there on a quiet weekday morning and had darshan in under a minute. On a Friday that would have been a different story.

Do not leave immediately after. The smaller shrines behind the main temple are where people actually linger.

Thirty to 45 minutes. Then walk along the seafront, 10 to 15 minutes, to Haji Ali.

Haji Ali Dargah

Close to midday and the humidity was doing its worst. The dargah sits on an islet about 500 yards offshore, reached by a narrow pedestrian causeway with the Arabian Sea slapping at both sides. At high tide the walkway floods, so check tide timings before you commit to it. That is not a suggestion.

Bring your own head covering, dress with covered shoulders and legs, and expect to leave your shoes. The white marble shrine of a fifteenth century Sufi saint draws visitors of every faith, and the atmosphere inside is calmer than the causeway suggests.

Two things to prepare for. Persistent requests for money along the path, and sections fenced off for the coastal road works. Forty five minutes is enough unless you are here to pray.

Finding your driver again at the entrance is its own small sport.

Taxi up to Malabar Hill, 15 minutes.

Banganga Tank

Early afternoon, down the steps at Teen Batti on Malabar Hill. A rectangular stone tank, ninth century, part of the Walkeshwar temple complex, ringed by shrines, memorial stones and tall deepstambhas. The legend has Rama firing an arrow into the ground here when he could find no fresh water, which is where the name comes from. Fresh water metres from the sea.

The strangest thing about it is the quiet. Noise just stops at the top of those steps.

I will be straight with you. It is not well kept. There was rubbish along the edges and no facilities at all, which feels like a waste of something this old. Come on a weekday morning or early afternoon and it is still worth the detour for the reflections and the old houses crowding in.

Give it 20 to 30 minutes.

Taxi north over the sea link to Bandra, 30 to 40 minutes depending on traffic.

Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount

Late afternoon on Mount Mary Road, up on the hillock in Bandra West. Semi Gothic, pale, very clean, with plenty of seating inside and a view out toward the Arabian Sea from the grounds. People of every faith come here to make a wish, and you will see candles left rather than lit, since lighting them is not allowed.

A practical warning. Google Maps tried to route me through residential societies that do not allow you through, so approach from Mount Mary Road properly. There is a small museum and show opposite for 50 rupees a head, worth the twenty minutes.

The feast in the second week of September turns the whole road into food stalls and lights, though shops start shutting around 10 even when the listings say later.

Thirty to 45 minutes.

Taxi to Dadar, 25 to 30 minutes.

Flower Market Dadar

Early evening, and here is where I got it wrong. I turned up at dusk expecting the market from the photographs and found the tail end of a working day, vendors packing down, the map pin not even in the right place. The actual flower trade sits inside the wholesale market down the road, nearer the railway station.

So I came back at 4.30 the next morning instead, and that is the version to copy. Stalls go up around 4, buyers flood the street by 5, and the smell of marigold and tuberose is genuinely overwhelming. Roses by the kilo, floral jewellery vendors taking orders on the spot, prices that make you wonder what you have been paying at home.

Twenty to 30 minutes is all you need, and bring small notes.

I walked back to Dadar station with a bag of roses I had absolutely no use for, took a taxi south, and that was day three gone.

Day 4, Girgaon to Bandra

Last day, and I made it deliberately gentle. Morning on the sand at Chowpatty, an hour in the wooden lanes of Khotachiwadi, then the long hop north to Bandra for the fort, the promenade and the painted walls of Chapel Road. It finishes at sunset and on foot, which is how I like to leave a city.

Chowpatty

First stop, around 7.30, at the Girgaon end of the sand where Marine Drive curves to a stop. Mornings here belong to walkers, a few swimmers, and men setting up stalls that will not sell anything for hours yet. The sand is coarse and grey and the light off the water is better than it has any right to be.

Nothing to do. That is the appeal.

I walked the length of it barefoot, bought tea from a cart at the road end, and watched the city get going behind me. Come back after dark some other evening if you want the bhel stalls and the noise, because the beach has two completely different personalities and the morning one is the restful half.

Give it 30 to 45 minutes.

Ten minutes on foot inland from Charni Road to Khotachiwadi.

Khotachiwadi

Mid-morning, in the lanes off Charni Road East in Girgaon, and the change in scale is abrupt. Narrow alleys, wooden balconies, external staircases, pastel bungalows built in a Portuguese influenced style that once filled this whole quarter. Only a few dozen houses survive now, squeezed between newer blocks on every side.

It is residential, so keep your voice down and do not photograph through people’s windows. Someone will be sitting on their steps watching you, politely.

I liked it more than I expected to. The lanes take ten minutes to walk end to end, which means you walk them three or four times noticing different doors, different tiles, a crucifix set into a wall. Christmas is apparently the time to come, when the houses are decorated.

Thirty to 45 minutes, unhurried.

Taxi north to Bandra, about 40 minutes with traffic.

Bandra Fort

Around 4, which is not a casual choice. The garden gate opens 6am to noon and again 4pm to 6pm, so people turn up at 3.30 and wait, as I did. No entry fee.

Calling it a fort is generous. One wall remains on one side, and the rest is a well kept garden with an amphitheatre and a children’s play area on top. What you actually come for is the view of the Bandra Worli Sea Link stretching out over the water, best in the half hour before sunset when the whole thing turns gold. Taj Lands End sits right next door.

There are stray dogs barking near the gate who settle down once you are inside, and snack stalls outside selling tea and Maggi. Weekend evenings get packed. A weekday is calmer.

An hour, 90 minutes if you stay for the sunset properly.

Five minutes on foot down to the promenade.

Bandstand Promenade

Just after sunset, and the Bandstand walkway was doing what it does every evening. Joggers, couples sitting on the rocks with their backs to everyone, kids on the low wall, the sea link lights coming on in the distance. The rocks below the path are sharp and uneven, so pick your spot rather than scrambling.

It is not a beach. It is a sea wall with a good view and better people watching.

Walk the length of it and you pass the gates that tourists queue to photograph, Shah Rukh Khan’s house among them, which I found funnier than impressive. The breeze at this hour is the best thing Bandra offers.

Thirty to 45 minutes, slower if you stop.

Ten minutes on foot inland to Chapel Road.

Chapel Rd

Last stop of the trip, around 7.30, walking the lanes off Chapel Road in Bandra West with the streetlights just on. Painted walls everywhere, murals running the length of buildings, faces and lettering and bursts of colour that change every time anyone repaints. Crosses set into niches at the corners, old Catholic bungalows with their names on tiles by the gate.

Actually, scratch the sunset timing. Come at four in the afternoon so you can see the artwork properly, then let it get dark on you.

Quiet residential streets, so wander rather than march. People live behind these walls and they are used to visitors, up to a point.

Give it 40 minutes to an hour, which includes doubling back twice because the lanes do not go where you think they do.

I took an auto back to the main road, sat in traffic, and let four days in Mumbai settle. A good last hour.

Four days is enough to stop feeling ambushed by Mumbai and not quite enough to get smug about it. If I had a fifth I would spend it entirely in Bandra, slowly working through the lanes off Chapel Road, and then back to Marine Drive at dusk because I never got tired of that wall.

If you have a stop you would swap in, tell me. I keep rewriting this list every time I go back.