Taraporewala Aquarium, Mumbai

Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, invites many curious eyes because of the sheer vastness of it. It is counted among one of the places to visit in Mumbai because of the slum houses as many as a million people crammed in pint-sized houses, dirty bylanes, open drains, and extremely filthy living conditions in average.

Located in the very heart of Mumbai, the Dharavi slum stretches between two of Mumbai’s major rail lines, which is what makes it such a convenient location to travel for work for the folk who live here. In a city where rents are sky high, Dharavi offers rather low rent for people who move into the city.

You can find a room complete with a cooking gas and a small colour TV for as low as 185 rupees a month. Dharavi has many small-scale businesses thriving, manufacturing everything from garments to pots and pans. The products are sold in local as well as international markets, where they are exported.

The annual turnover for these products is as much as 650 million dollars a year. Visit Dharavi to see the lifestyle of those living here, for it is not every day you get to step inside Asia’s largest slum.

Location: Spans over 500 acres in the heart of Mumbai

Best Time to visit: October-March

Entry fee: No entry fee

Timings: Not applicable

Distance from Mumbai Bus Stand: 10.4 km from MSRTC Mumbai Central

The Elephanta Caves are a major attraction in Mumbai because of its archaeological significance. This is where the caves are located, must have seen early settlements from 2nd century BC. The caves, however, are estimated to have been constructed sometime between 5th and 6th century AD.

One of the biggest caves here measures about 39 metres from the front to the back. The main body of the Elephanta Cave is about 27 square meters, supported by six rows of pillars. The caves show distinct artistic features from the time of its construction.

The caves feature rock-cut architecture, which makes the entire layout of the caves very interesting. The Elephanta Caves have a combination of sculpture art and aesthetic beauty carved into the rock formations.

This is what makes it popular among archaeologists as well as historians, who wish to find out more about the natives who moved on the Gharapuri Island (Elephanta Caves) in 2nd century BC. Come here to experience the ruins of an ancient world on the Elephanta Island, and see the caves and sculptures in their natural surroundings.

Location: Gharapuri, Maharashtra 

Best Time to visit: October-March

Entry fee: INR 10 (Indian), INR 250 (foreigner), free (child)

Timings: 9AM-5.30PM

Distance from Mumbai Bus Stand: 7.3 km from MSRTC Mumbai Central

As the name suggests, the Red Carpet Wax Museum is one of those tourist places in Mumbai that one simply cannot miss because the museum showcases lifelike statues of celebrities and prominent people from all walks of life, such as socialites, politicians, world leaders, scientists, social workers etc. The statues are made to be completely alike the person they have been constructed after, giving a very authentic feel to the statue.

Each statue is surrounded by the necessary ambience to give the statue and its theme a complete look and feel. Any individual can pose with the statues in the museum. The museum was constructed over a period of five years after which it opened its doors to the public in December 2016. The wax museum is one of a kind monument in the city of Mumbai, so make sure you drop by and catch a glimpse of it.

Location: 1st Floor, R City Mall, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, Amrut Nagar, Ghatkopar West, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Best Time to visit: Any time of the year

Entry fee: INR 250 (weekday), INR 350 (weekend)

Timings: 9.45AM-9.30PM

Distance from Mumbai Bus Stand: 20.5 kms from MSRTC Mumbai Central

A place that’s as unique as it can be, Mumbai’s Dhobi Ghat maintains and lives up to its 140-year-old tradition and profession in the heart of Mumbai city. There are as many as 1026 open “ghats” for washermen to wash clothes in, and almost all of them are occupied at the same time as they beat the dirt out of hundreds and thousands of dirty clothes from the city.

The Mumbai Dhobi Ghat is located very close to the Mahalaxmi railway station. The place is also famed to be the world’s largest washing centre because there’s no such other place for washing clothes in the world. Most of the clothes being washed here come from Mumbai’s hospitals, and hotels.

You can see likes of cleaned clothes and sheets being hung to dry in the open air after they have been thoroughly cleaned. Come here to see a very different face of the city of Mumbai. Lately, it has become a place for tourists to flock in out of sheer curiosity. 

Location: Dr E Moses Road, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai, Maharashtra 

Best Time to visit: October-March

Entry fee: No entry fee

Timings: 4AM-7PM

Distance from Mumbai Bus Stand: 2 km from MSRTC Mumbai Central

Home to the film fraternity of the country is perhaps one of the most popular among Mumbai tourist places. The Film City is so vast that more than a thousand sets can be erected here at the same time. Over the last few years, the Film City has become one of the major locations for shooting the Hindi serials.

Film City was built in 1911, under the guidance of veteran actor and producer V. Shantaram. The total area of the place is about 520 acres, built according to the outlines of the film city in California. The film city has elaborate sets of villages, mountains, mansions, gardens, fountains, streams, cities etc. More than 900 Hindi movies and Hindi serials have been shot in the Film City of Mumbai.

The studios are well equipped, complete with the electronic items necessary for shooting and extremely sophisticated instruments that give the kind of quality to the shows shot here, making Bollywood top in the game in the country.

Location: Inside Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagri Main Gate, Post Aarey Milk Colony, Goregaon East, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Best Time to visit: October-March

Entry fee: INR 599-INR 1699 per person

Timings: 10AM-5PM

Distance from Mumbai Bus Stand: 31.4 km from MSRTC Mumbai Central

One of the most visited places in Mumbai, the Gateway of India is counted among Mumbai tourist places that see excellent footfall at any time of the year. The attraction was built by the British in 1919, by the then Governor of Bombay, Sir George Sydenham Clarke, who laid the foundation of the monument in 1911. The plan was approved in 1914, after which construction began. The monument was built to honour the visit of King George V and Queen Mary, who was to arrive at Bombay.

The architectural design of the Gateway of India is done in the Indo-Saracenic style, along with Muslim architectural styles incorporated when it comes to the archways. 

The Elephant Caves are located quite close to the Gateway of India and can be reached via a ferry from here. You can pay the ticket price here and get on a motorboat to reach the Elephant Caves, which takes a little more than an hour to reach, being located 56 kilometres from the monument.

Location: Apollo Bandar, Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Best Time to visit: October-March

Entry fee: No entry fee

Timings: Can visit anytime

Distance from Mumbai Bus Stand: 6.4 km from MSRTC Mumbai Central

The dabbawalas of Mumbai have long been a centre of curiosity among the people because of their accurate delivery system that has been never altered its professionalism over the last 125 years. The Mumbai Dabbawala Center is definitely one of the places to visit in Mumbai. The Mumbai Dabbawala Centre originally started out as a one-man army, when a Parsi banker wanted to eat homemade food and gave this task to Mumbai’s first dabbawala.

His idea was appreciated by others and soon, more office goers joined in the demand for home cooked food that had to be delivered in office, giving rise to a business that has famously become a case study in universities across the world, who try to learn and decode the Mumbai Dabbawalas’ exceptional accuracy in delivering the tiffin boxes.

At present, the Mumbai Dabbawala Center has as many as 5000 dabbawalas who deliver food from home to office every day with the kind of constant accuracy they have mastered over more than a century.

Location: 23, Navyug Mansion, Sleater Road, Naushir Bharucha Marg, Opposite Krishna Palace Hotel, Grant Road, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Best Time to visit: Any time of the year

Entry fee: No entry fee

Timings: Not applicable

Distance from Mumbai Bus Stand: 2.1 km from MSRTC Mumbai Central

Formerly known as Victoria Terminus, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is Mumbai’s outstanding railway station. Although this is a railways station and not primarily counted among places to visit in Mumbai, this building, designed by British architect FW Stevens, sports excellent Victorian Gothic Revival architectural style.

The designs are based on medieval Italian models, known as High Victorian Gothic Design, is remarkable. The domes, corridors, arches, and turrets are therefore distinct and prominently archaic. The construction of the building began in 1878, taking up to a decade to complete. Numerous British architects and Indian craftsmen worked day and night to give the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus the definition of what it is today.

This is why the architectural style doesn’t just boast of Victorian style, there’s a distinctive feature of Indian architecture in the building as well, making it one of the attractions in Mumbai for history lovers and architects who love to study the significance of various architectural styles in the building.

Location: Opposite BMC Building, Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road, Fort/P D'Mello Road (PF-18), Mumbai, Maharashtra

Best Time to visit: Any time of the year

Entry fee: No entry fee

Timings: Not applicable

Distance from Mumbai Bus Stand: 5 km from MSRTC Mumbai Central