Mumbai

From historic landmarks and buildings, beautiful beaches, to ancient temples and other religious/cultural centres, the sights and experiences that Mumbai offers a visitor are endless.

• The Gateway of India
  Mumbai's most famous monument, this is the starting point for most tourists who want to explore the city. It was built as a triumphal arch to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary, complete with four turrets and intricate latticework carved into the yellow basalt stone. Behind the arch are steps leading down to the water, where you can take a short cruise through Mumbai's splendid natural harbour.
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST)
  India's most beautiful railway station is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture with stained-glass windows, towering spires, domed arches and buttresses and pillars with animal images carved into them.
• Marine Drive
  Built in 1920, Marine Drive runs along the shoreline of the Arabian Sea from Nariman Point to the foot of Malabar Hill, passing Chowpatty Beach along the way, and offering amazing views of sunset. Tourist brochures are fond of stating it as the Queen's Necklace, because of the dramatic curve of its streetlights at night.
• Chowpatty Beach
  Located on Marive Drive, Chowpatty beach comes alive in the evenings, as locals come to stroll among the balloon sellers, fortune tellers, magicians, nut vendors, ferris wheels and shooting galleries. The beach is well-known for it's stalls selling "Bhel-Puri and Pani -Puri chat" a favourite fast food among the Mumbaites and visitors to the city. Eating at the collection of stalls is an essential part of the Mumbai experience. Chowpatty is a great place to witness the annual Ganesh Chaturthi Festival in August/September when large images of the Lord Ganesha are immersed in the sea.
• Juhu Beach
  Stretching from Santacruz to VileParel, uptown Juhu Beach, located 30 km from the heart of the city, is a bourgeois paradise, filled to the gills with screaming children, and courting couples. Just like its downtown counterpart, this beach is best visited on weekend afternoons and evenings, when it comes alive with children's rides, carvnival-like amusements and food stands.
• Mahalakshmi Temple
  Located just off the sea in Mahalaxmi, this popular temple has beautiful golden images of Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati and Mahakali. During Navaratri, devotees throng this temple in great numbers to offer coconut, flowers and sweets to the goddesses.
• Elephanta Caves
  The Elephanta Caves are located on an island about 10 Kms. away from the Gateway of India. These caves consist of temples carved from rock which date back to the 7th century. One can reach the caves by taking a ferry from Gateway of India.

• Ganesh Chaturthi/Visarjan (around September)
  Mumbai's biggest and most atmospheric festival honours Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of good fortune and remover of obstacles. Every year on the fourth day of the waxing moon in the Hindu month of Bhaadrapada (which normally falls in August or September), thousands of brightly painted clay images of Ganesh are displayed in pandals (tents) around Mumbai. The festival cultimates in the Ganesh Visarjan, with thousands of processions converging on Mumbai's beaches to immerse the idols in the sea, accompanied by drum beats, devotional songs and dancing.
• Navaratri Puja (September-October)
  While not on the same scale as the festivities in West Bengal or the Ganesh Chaturthi festivities earlier in the city, Navaratri is celebrated with fervour in Mumbai, with the traditional dandiya and garba. Over the past two decades a number of urban innovations have crept into this performance, beginning with the emergence of disco dandiya. This jazzed-up dance with pop music in the background dominates Navaratri in Mumbai.