Mumbai

[auspal]

I will be in Mumbai for 11 days in September and have a few appointments to attend , as well as doing some touristy things.

Two questions :-

What are the best options for transport? Should I hire a personal driver and car or take separate taxis, and any recommendations for either?

Any ideas for tours?

 

[Ben170292]

When I was in Mumbai for transport I used the hotel cars and driver, busses, autos, taxis and walked a lot as well.

im not sure about any tours but definitely try and go to Elephanta caves, to get there you need to get a ferry from near the Gate of India to the island they are on. Beware though they might make you get off the ferry at another area on your return. This happened to us and it was a very shady looking area and no taxis in sight so took a while to get back to the hotel.

I also recommend doing a helicopter tour, we went with I think it was Raymond Aviation. It cost about $1500aud for 5 people for an hour or so taking off from Juhu Airport. We got to fly very close to the owner of Reliance Industries house 'Antilia' it's said to be one of the most expensive houses in the world, it is 27 Stories, but other buildings of the same height can be as many as 60 stories.
-Ben

 

[auspal]

Thanks for the info.

 

[crm911]

What are the best options for transport? Should I hire a personal driver and car or take separate taxis, and any recommendations for either?

Any ideas for tours?

Main thing to remember that unless your appointments are near your hotel or near one another, transit by taxi is very, very slow, so don't expect more than two appointments per day if one is in SoBo (South Bombay) and the other is in NoBo. Allow at least two hours to travel 20 km. Use taxis, but don't expect the driver to understand English. There are better airconditioned taxis, so ask the hotel about them.

Ask the hotel for tours - really not a lot to see other than some old buildings in SoBo, the Gateway of India, Elephanta Caves, Hanging Gardens/Kamala Nehru Park (to see Bombay from a height). There's plenty of "local culture" to see, e.g. temples, street shopping, random religious processions, etc.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I will be in Mumbai for 11 days in September and have a few appointments to attend , as well as doing some touristy things.

Two questions :-

What are the best options for transport? Should I hire a personal driver and car or take separate taxis, and any recommendations for either?

Any ideas for tours?

without doubt my number one recommendation for India is to arrange a car with driver! Especially to meet you at the airport. Arriving in india can be overwhelming with hundreds of people in the arrival hall, and many of those pestering you offering transport. If you manage to escape that, you then risk the taxi taking you for a ride.

With pre-arranged transport the words 'my driver is here' parts the Red Sea and your stress goes to zero.

we wanted to experience India on our first arrival and take an old Ambassador taxi - we did but it just wasn't worth the trouble. We got done with the fare and would have been far better off taking a taxi for a short ride around town if we wanted that experience. All our subsequent arrivals in India were with a car (you can book them on line very cheaply) and it worked perfectly.