Mumbai Holidays

If you want to see Mumbai at its best and meet the real people of the city, this is the tour for you. It’s worth the early start to see the city as it wakes, when it’s cooler and the industrial morning routines are in full swing. This trip really gives you an insight into the spirit and culture of Mumbai.

Down at the docks, watch the Koli fisher-folk, the original Mumbai inhabitants, hauling and grading 25 tonnes of fish straight from the boat. Led by a Mumbai storyteller, you’ll learn all about this community and migration in Mumbai, meeting people who’ve come from all over to make a living here, from fishermen to flower women.

Next stop is the newspaper distribution centre where vendors sort newspapers in seven different languages in the middle of the road. Unlike the rest of the world, the newspaper industry in Mumbai is thriving. You’ll delve into why this is and talk to some of the staff to learn how the printing industry works. The office is near the Victoria Terminus railway station, which you will visit to see its awesome architecture. Next visit a Synagogue, where you’ll learn about Judaism and other religions in Mumbai.

At the market, you’ll encounter all kinds of colourful produce and learn what’s endemic to the country, it’s a very popular photography stop. You’ll see more morning activity, from milkmen driving past to the bustle at the flower market.

Experience the madness that is Bollywood, from joining a dance workshop to visiting a working film set and trying your hand at dubbing in the sound studio. Bollywood is such an integral part of Indian culture and the stars are revered as role models.

This full-day tour kicks off with a Bollywood dance workshop led by a professional choreographer, who’ll teach you ten minutes of an iconic dance routine. Your performance will be recorded to take away on a USB. Next, you’ll visit a production studio where you’ll watch a film or TV shoot in action. It’s very immersive and you’ll get a chance to chat with actors and crew in between takes.

After lunch (own expense), head to the recording studio where you can try dubbing some Bollywood dialogue over a film clip. You’ll be given a classic Bollywood line often about the underdog’s place in society and triumphing over bad guys, and then you’ll perform it in Hindi to the clip. It’s great fun and you get an idea of how hilariously over the top Bollywood can be. If there’s time after the studio tour, you can visit the Bollywood Museum to see hand-painted movie posters before ending the trip at an old-school theatre, where you’ll watch an excerpt of a Bollywood movie.

Explore Mumbai’s colonial history on this half-day tour, led by a local storyteller. The tour focuses on the tales behind the city’s famous colonial buildings, not just the dates and facts. These landmarks are woven into Mumbai’s past, set against a backdrop of modern Indian culture.

People still work at the BMC building and thousands of travellers pass through the Victoria Terminus Station every day. It is a living heritage and a vital part of understanding the city.

The tour starts at the Victory Arch, the Gateway of India, which was built to commemorate King George V. Continue to key sites like the high court and Yacht Club, which are examples of stunning colonial architecture. At the police headquarters, which used to be the Royal Alfred Sailors’ Home, you’ll learn about its connection with the film Alien – the film director Ridley Scott named the spaceship Narcissus after a boat in one of Joseph Conrad’s books, which was set in Mumbai.

Highlights include the Regal Cinema, where you’ll hear about the first Bollywood film that came to Mumbai and a visit Watson's Hotel, which hosted Mark Twain and was the city’s first iron cast building, located in the Kala Ghoda art district of Mumbai. Guests love meeting the Dabbawalas, the couriers who deliver over 500,000 lunch boxes in the city per day, with a staggering 99 percent accuracy despite the fact that they still work without any kind of technology.

If you love street food, this tour of Mumbai’s Khau Gully, which translates to food lane, is a must. This trip was devised to give travellers an understanding of what quintessential street food is like in Mumbai. You’ll visit the city’s various communities and hear the stories behind their dishes and ingredients. It’s one of the best ways to learn about Indian culture and history because there’s so much woven into food, from migration to politics.

Foodies rave about this experience; you get to taste around eight different dishes over three and a half hours. You’ll try signature snacks like the Bombay burger and bhel puri, which is made of puffed rice, vegetable and tamarind sauce. People enjoy the pav bhaji, a vegetable curry with bread that was loved by workers from Mumbai’s cotton mills. You’ll also get to visit some of the oldest restaurants in Mumbai, including a famous puri. Then there’s the 100-year-old Irani cafés that sprung up in the early 19th century, when bakers migrated here from Iran. Here you can enjoy tea and to meet the people who’ve been running the cafés for what feels like eternity.

The tour ends in Girgaon Chowpatty beach, where you’ll witness real street food culture. On a Sunday, when families want to escape the kitchen, they get dressed up and go down to eat at the beach. You can sample treats like dosas from southern India that have been adapted Bombay style.