A wise man once said: ‘You have never really visited a country until you have tasted its food.’ We can’t help but agree. In Mumbai, it’s hard to stay away from the enticing variety of street food, whose delicious aromas make you salivate just by walking past a street food vendor.
This food tour will introduce you to a variety of cuisines that make Mumbai the street food heaven that it is. We’ll head to the queen of the suburbs, Bandra, where you’ll be introduced to multiple food stalls tucked away in different corners, all of which are frequented by celebrities as well as everyday people. Starting with a complimentary sampling of the famous Bombay toast, we will cover a range of cuisines from the south Indian dosa to a guided session on how to eat the famous chat variety pani puri; dripping wet and overflowing with spicy, flavoursome water, you pop it into your mouth and crunch into it all at one go and wait for the explosion of tastes that follows. Calm your taste buds with a variety of sweetmeats to choose from: jalebi rasgulla, gulab jamun, ras malai, pedas, ladoo etc.
Then it’s time to mingle with the local crowd as we head to a popular watering hole that ensures the trip ends on high spirits.
Bombay es la mega metrópolis de la India y un faro que sigue atrayendo a los visitantes con su hechizo. Conozca de primera mano el espíritu y el fervor de la capital de la India mientras nosotros nos encargamos de los aspectos prácticos de su recorrido por la ciudad. En cada rincón Bombay muestra un embriagador revoltijo de monumentos grandiosos, edificios coloniales, ceremonias pintorescas, bazares antiguos, boutiques resplandecientes, restaurantes de lujo, casas de comida humildes, y mucho más.
Entre en la magnífica Chatrapati Shivali Terminus, una bulliciosa estación de ferrocarril de estilo gótico victoriano que fue declarada Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Unesco. Después haga un corto recorrido en taxi por calles flanqueadas por hermosos edificios de estilo indo-sarraceno y monumentos que nos devuelven a la época de los atildados "sahibs" ingleses y las elegantes "mensahibs". Cuando llegue a la majestuosa Puerta de la India, verá cómo este icono de la ciudad se levanta orgulloso y perfilado por el mar azul, que está moteado por los coloridos botes de pesca y los relucientes yates.
Desde la Puerta, y tras un dinámico recorrido por el famoso paseo marítimo, accederá al centro de la religión hindú. En lo alto de una colina se encuentra Babulnath, el templo de Shiva, de 200 años de antigüedad. Se ven devotos hindúes que transportan leche y agua que se vierte en la Linga, el símbolo creativo que representa al dios Shiva.
Un breve trayecto desde Babulnath nos lleva al corazón de la devoción musulmana.
Cuando llegue al singular Dhobi Ghat, las famosas lavanderías al aire libre, recibirá el saludo de los múltiples colores y aromas característicos de Bombay, y podrá observar cómo se lavan y se golpean contra las piedras muchísimas prendas de colores.
Elephanta caves are situated on the famous Elephanta Island. They are dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. These ancient Shiva cavesback to 5th century BC. It's a 2 hour ferry ride through the Arabian Sea (two and fro) from the gateway of India. It would be an enchanting and a divine experience to see and understand the different forms of Lord Shiva!
At dusk, leave the hotel and immerse yourself in the scintillating after-dark ambience of this intriguing city. This city of many facets that enjoys its status as a commercial capital by day, transforms itself from a flourishing centre of commerce and trade into a dazzling entertainment centre when the sun sets and the lights come on.
Start the tour by visiting a night market meeting localites followed by a short movie at cinema hall. Next, it’s a scenic drive past the impressive gothic style buildings -High Court, the Art District of Kala Ghoda, Victoria Terminus, the Centre of Science and the landmark Gateway of India at Apollo Blunder. You will also travel down the Art Deco Marine Drive, referred to as the Queen’s Necklace at night due to the vision it creates with the curved shape of the bay being accented by thousands of sparkling lights. Before returning to the hotel, proceed to one of the city’s trendy bars to enjoy a nightcap before concluding what will surely be a memorable evening.
After a leisurely breakfast, drive to Lalbagh market (Closed on Mondays). The first thing that strikes you about Lalbagh market is its rural colour, a quality absent in other city markets; here one finds shops selling an array of spices, chillies, rustic lanterns, metal trunks and colourful cow bells of various sizes as gifts – articles which the migrant worker might take home on his periodic visits to the village. As the city evolved into a factory town and became the largest centre of India’s most important cotton industry, it became the heart of Mumbai’s textile mill villages, popular as a social meeting place for workers and their families.
On your return, visit the Crawford Market, named after Bombay's first municipal commissioner, Arthur Crawford. Poised between what was once the British Fort and the local town, the Crawford Market has elements of both. The markets façade features a blend of Flemish and Norman architecture, with a bas-relief above its main entrance depicting Indian peasants in wheat fields. Lockyard Kipling, father of the famous author Rudyard Kipling, designed the frieze; the Kipling’s' cottage still stands in the market to this day. The Crawford Market resembles a scene from Victorian London, with its sweet smell of hay and 50-foot-high sky-lit awning that bathes the entire venue in natural sunlight. As Mumbai's main wholesale market for fruit, since March 1996, you will find mountains of fresh fruits and vegetables amongst a wide variety of items for sale here.
Next on your agenda is a place where tide of human life rolls down the centre of the street, unruffled by vehicles from all quarters ploughing their way through it. No visit to Mumbai is complete without a foray into the bazaars of Bhuleshwar. The city’s densest concentration of lifestyle and retail jeweler’s stores is a crush of shop fronts, street stalls, hawkers and handicrafts and a seething mass of people. It may look like absolute chaos but the areas are closely knit, and cohesively built around the traditional residential complex, temples, flower markets, community halls, cow shelter and bazaars. Within a few square kilometres there are a dozen bazaars and more commodities for sale than you will see probably anywhere else in a lifetime. Later visit Colaba Causeway Market, a narrow, busy street filled with shops and Indian designer boutiques. Souvenirs, trinkets and handicrafts are a highlight of this particular area and it is often referred to as a delightful visual introduction to the sights and sounds of ‘Maximum-City Mumbai’.
Drive to the Churchgate Railway Terminus to see the `Dabbawallahs’, members of the Bombay Union of Tiffin Box Carriers, described by Prince Charles as the symbol of this enigmatic and intriguing city. Each morning, the 2500 dabbawallahs call on suburban housewives who pack a freshly cooked lunch into small circular aluminium or stainl ess steel containers - `dabbas’.
Typically the dabbawallahs collect 30-40 boxes, range them out on a long pole and cycle to the nearest station. Here he hands them over to a fellow dabbawallah who then transports them into the city for delivery to the consumer. Over 100,000 lunches of maybe sabze (vegetable curry), chapattis (Indian bread), dal (lentils) and pickle, make their way daily across town to the breadwinner and back again. The service which costs a few rupees a week is a good example of the fine division of labour in India, reliable and efficient for the dabbawallahs pride themselves on never losing a lunch .
Arrive at Kala nagar (Bandra east) sky walk and walk over to witness the organised chaotic traffic snarls of a local Mumbaikar. Arrive at Bandra station and we meet our car over here to continue the drive through Chimbai Village to get feel of old Bandra, which is quite a blend old world charm and modern India. With the city’s largest Catholic population living in this area it boasts of largest number of Roman Catholic Churches in the world! The Catholic influence is a part of the areas’ charm; picturesque bungalows which are in today time more famous for their inhabitants who quite often are Film personalities.
Walk of the Stars adds a little more glitz and glamour to its Bollywood style. The sea-facing promenade features the handprints and signatures of Bollywood stars embossed on brass plates on tiles along the path. Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Meena Kumari, Shammi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi and Sridevi are among the stars featured. The new Walk of the Stars will also feature several statues of Bollywood legends, including Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. The statues are life-size brass representations of each star, sitting on benches. Later proceed to The Mount Mary Church, it is the most prominent and largest and oldest church in the city. Castella de Aguada literally meaning “Fort of the Water point” is popularly known as Bandra Fort. Built by the Portuguese in 1640 as a watchtower to oversee the Arabian waters, the strategic value of this fort was enhanced in 1661 after the Portuguese ceded the 07 Islands of Bombay to the British.
Many popular mainstream Indian cinema films have been shot at this scenic location. Pali Hill one of the city’s most affluent residential area, which was many originally rich orchards and forest, that have over the years given way to large scale residential development. The only trace of green very evident across the area is abundance of Old Tall green trees that line the streets forming natural archways. Built on 03 hills, the posh housing can be reached through the meandering lanes and zigzag roads which add to the quintessential charm of the area. Bandra is a shopper’s delight! Linking Road offers the shopaholic an interesting variety of wares from clothes, to shoes to ladies bags… street shopping to branded stores and outlets dot this street luring the shopper with offers and sales all year through.
Post breakfast drive into the suburbs of Mumbai city with a short stop at the beautiful mausoleum Haji Ali. The serene white mosque holds the tomb of the Muslim Saint Haji Ali, who died while on a Haj to Mecca. It is said the casket containing his body, drifted on the sea currents, found its way back to Mumbai. The mosque can be reached only at low tides via a concrete causeway, and appears to be floating in the sea during the monsoon season. Continue to the temple Guruvayoor Ram Mandir, dedicated to lord Rama.
Believed by Hindus to be the most famous incarnation of God, Lord Rams’s life is recorded in the books, The Ramayana (The Journey of Rama), considered one of the world’s oldest texts, and cherished throughout India and Asia for millennia. Proceed to the Vishnu Temple, built in the South Indian temple-style, where the gopuram, or tall tower-gateway, is built over the doorway of the temple and images of the gods are crafted from black granite. Following these visits, we drive back to the city for a spiritual stop at ISKCON, amazing temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
The Lord “Krishna” often blue and playing a flute has a mischievous nature and his peasant background and legendry exploits with the milkmaids have made him of the most popular gods. We witness the prayer chanting offered for the welfare of humanity in this stunning temple. Across the street, we arrive at the Babulnath Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, situated on the south east slope of posh Malabar Hill. Drive along-side Marine Drive, Mumbai's seaside promenade, to see its shops, restaurants, bars and throngs of people. At the northern end of Marine Drive, you will find popular Chowpatty Beach. Continue to the Afghan Church (The Church of St John the Evangelist) built by the British to commemorate the dead of the disastrous defeat in the First Afghan war of 1838.
The imposing edifice was constructed using locally available buff-colored basalt and limestone. Inside it is known for its wide gothic arches and beautiful stained glass windows. The chapel has a nave and aisle with a chancel 50 ft (15 m) in length and 27 ft (7 m) in width. Butterfield's tiles used for the geometric floor pattern were imported from England. End your tour by visiting Colaba Causeway Market, a narrow, busy street filled with shops and Indian designer boutiques. Souvenirs, trinkets and handicrafts are a highlight of this particular area and it is often referred to as a delightful visual introduction to the sights and sounds of ‘Maximum-City Mumbai’ .
The history of the Jews in India reaches back to ancient times. Indian Jews are a religious minority of India. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in India in recorded history. The better-established ancient communities have assimilated a large number of local traditions through cultural diffusion. Post breakfast we drive to a very busy commercial trading area of Mumbai city which calls for walk through narrow streets to visit the oldest synagogue, Shaar Ha-Rahamim (Gate of Mercy) synagogue built in 1796 by Samuel Ezekiel Divekar.
Proceed to Magen David Synagogue situated at Byculla in Central Bombay with a huge Jewish population, built in 1861 by Sir David Sassoon. Drive to visit Tifereth Israel Synagogue. Our next stop is `Dhobi Ghat’, the city’s open air laundry! where “Dhobis’ (washermen) attend to an astounding quantity of washing daily. Clothes, linen, towels …. are washed in small open air cubicles rented out each day. An itemized account is logged in a notebook and clothes collected from households are returned a week later. End your tour by visiting Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue which dates back 1884. It has a white wooden staircase, decorative floor tiles and fine stain glass windows.
We transfer you directly to and from Adlabs Imagica, India’s first and only International standard Theme Park. Offering fun, action, entertainment, dining and shopping at a single location, Adlabs Imagica is no ordinary theme park. There’s nothing of this scale, or anything close to it in India and the Subcontinent. Where others have rides, Imagica is driven by a whole world of fantastical themes to bring Indian families’ experiences that they have never had before. No expense has been spared to bring in world class international designers, the best architectural elements and the most exciting novel attractions to rival any park in the world. In every zone you will be immersed in a new theme that will extend through every touch-point.
Themed attractions, area design, landscaping, themed dining and retail, ambient music, character design, building facades, props, interactive installations, and merchandise. All these are not just elements, but instill a feeling of escapism in the park. This escapism is what will separate Adlabs Imagica from all other parks in India, making it at par with the best theme parks around the world. Imagica is a place where you can live out your wildest adventures and be thrilled by the world’s most amazing rides; from roller coasters in deep space, to spine tingling journeys through the ravines of the Wild West. There’s something here for every family – a new experience at every step, and a thousand ways to have fun. With 21 attractions & rides and 5 themed restaurants, Imagica is a place where stories come alive.
Vive el glamour de Bollywood como un auténtico habitante de Bombay gracias a este animado recorrido por las localizaciones más populares del producto más popular y exportable de la ciudad. La visita empieza dirigiéndote en bicitaxi hacia dos de las estrellas “bollywoodienses” más famosas: Shahrukh Khan y Salman Khan. Este último, cuando está de buen humor se acerca a los fans y les saluda.
Después de pasar por unas cuantas casas de famosos adicionales, llegaremos a Gaiety Galaxy, uno de los multicines originales de Bombay. Lo considerarás como una buena inversión ya que entrarás de lleno en una película d Bollywood y te verás arrastrado por la pasión con la que el público asiste a la proyección. Dependiendo de la película que se proyecte, la entrada de un héroe en escena se acompaña de gritos y vítores y las danzas de la heroína reciben una lluvia de silbidos. Para asegurar que puedes seguir el hilo argumental, al principio del film te harán un breve resumen de su argumento que actualizarán durante el receso.
Después de esta sesión de bailes divertidos, toneladas de melodrama y quizá algo de dishoom dishoom –acción-, habremos experimentado y conocido los entresijos de una de las obsesiones de Bombay: Bollywood.
Cruza la Puerta de la India, Visita un templo jain, conoce de primera mano la ''verdadera'' tradición de Bombay, pasea por los ajetreados mercados y mucho más con esta excursión de medio día por Bombay. Verás partes de la ciudad que muy pocos Visitantes llegan a conocer y podrás hacerte una idea de cómo es el día a día de los millones de residentes de esta bulliciosa metrópoli.
La Puerta de la India es el símbolo por excelencia de la ciudad, que puede ser vista por todos aquellos que llegan por mar. Este gran arco de basalto amarillo de veintiséis metros de alto se construyó frente al mar para conmemorar la Visita del rey Jorge V en 1911. Posee además otro significado simbólico, ya que las últimas tropas de la colonia británica marcharon a través de ella para abandonar la India. Conduciremos por delante de la Afghan Church (la iglesia afgana), la Secretaría de gobierno de Maharashtra y bordearemos la costa por el Marine Drive, conocido popularmente como 'Queen's Necklace', el collar de la reina.
Tendrás ocasión de Visitar un hermoso templo jain y los Hanging Gardens, los impresionantes jardines colgantes, desde donde disfrutarás de unas vistas espectaculares de toda la ciudad, Chowpatty, Kamala Nehru Park, el Museo del Príncipe de Gales y Mani Bhavan, donde se alojaba Gandhi durante sus Visitas a Bombay. Contempla la pintoresca mezquita Haji Ali, situada en una isla a quinientos metros de la costa y conectada a tierra firme por una carretera.
Haremos una parada en el Dhobi Ghat, donde frotan, sacuden, tiñen y tienden la colada de Bombay. Observa el tren local cargado de pasajeros ''tendidos como la ropa''. Continúa por las coloridas callejuelas del mercado y la fuente Flora en el corazón de la ciudad.
Codéate con las superestrellas de Bollywood en el exclusivo barrio de Juhu, cuya famosa playa -conocida popularmente como la 'Venice Beach de Bollywood'- es uno de esos lugares para ver y ser visto en Bombay. Desde hace casi un siglo, Juhu ha sido el barrio de la gente adinerada de Bombay y hoy sigue siendo una de las zonas más ricas de la ciudad. Junto a la playa, verás jugar a la gente, sobre todo al pasatiempo favorito en la India: el críquet.
La zona que rodea la playa es famosa por sus restaurantes de precios razonables y la deliciosa comida callejera: bhelpuri, pani puri, chaats y pav bhaji. En el extremo norte de la playa de Juhu está Gandhi Gram, la que fuera casa del gran líder indio Mahatma Gandhi. La playa de Juhu, muy limpia y sin vendedores ambulantes, es fácilmente accesible desde las estaciones de tren de Vile Parle, Santacruz y Andheri. Juhu es bañada por el Mar Arábigo al oeste y linda con Santacruz y Vile Parle al este. En el extremo sur de la playa hay gran número de hoteles de lujo. En esa zona viven muchas de las principales estrellas de Bollywood, así como los mejores jugadores de críquet, políticos y empresarios de la ciudad, por lo que es conocida como la 'Beverly Hills de Bollywood'.