Mumbai – India’s most populous city is a vibrant swirl at any time. Next month, it underlines its style credentials with the biannual Lakme Fashion Week ( lakmefashionweek.co.in) – at the Palladium Hotel in the westerly Worli district for five days, from March 18-22.
Mumbai, the state capital of Maharashtra, shines on India’s western coast, spreading out along a tapering peninsula.
The key districts lie in the south of the city, each with a distinct character: Colaba (shops and hotels), Kala Ghoda (museums), Fort (colonial landmarks), Dhobitalao (markets and cafés), Girgaon (beaches) and Gamdevi (leafy calm). Bandra, in the north-west, is renowned for the elegant homes of Bollywood stars.
Taxis, charged at 20 rupees a kilometre, are also the best way around this metropolis of 18 million people – although visitors can brave the five queues of the crowded Mumbai Suburban Railway (mumbailifeline.com). A one-day first-class “Tourist Ticket” costs 270 rupees.
You can find more information at maharashtratourism.gov.in and incredibleindia.org.
Take a hike
Start in Dhobitalao, at the junction of Lokmanya Tilak Marg and Dadabhai Naoroji Road, where the Crawford Market stands proud. The name refers to a British Raj official, but the vibe is pure India; a cacophonous hall, dating from 1869, where everything from fruit to cosmetics is sold.
Gaze at the stalls of live poultry, pots and pans, then head south on Dadabhai Naoroji Road into Fort – and to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, when the avenue meets Mahapalika Marg. Completed in 1887, and formerly called the Victoria Terminus, it is a temple to the colonial era and train travel – a Unesco World Heritage Site where the huge ticket hall is a wonder of stained glass and giant pillars.
Directly opposite the entrance, the Municipal Corporation Building (City Hall) is another Raj relic, completed in 1893.
Cultural morning
South of Fort, Kala Ghoda is Mumbai’s cultural heart. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, at 159-161 Mahatma Gandhi Road (00 91 22 2284 4484; csmvs.in; daily 10.15am-6pm; 300 rupees) holds 50 000 Indian treasures – from Buddhist statues to a 17th-century manuscript of the Hindu epic Ramayana.
Adjacent to it on the same road, the National Gallery of Modern Art has works by Indian masters Vasudeo S Gaitonde and Akbar Padamsee alongside pieces by Picasso. Open daily 9am-5pm (except Mondays, when it is closed), tickets 150 rupees.
Over in Gamdevi, 19 Laburnum Road, Mani Bhavan was Mahatma Gandhi’s home from 1917 to 1934 (daily 9.30am-6pm; donations appreciated). Gandhi’s top-floor room, where he wrote about his doctrine of non-violent protest, is preserved behind glass, as is a hopeful 1939 letter to Hitler appealing for restraint.
Lunch on the run
Britannia & Co, at 11 Sprott Road in Fort, is a jewel and one of Mumbai’s dying breed of Iranian cafés. You pay 380 rupees for a mutton sali boti stew.
Window shopping
Colaba is awash with options to make your wardrobe sing. Bombay Electric, at Reay House on Best Marg, specialises in Bollywood fashions. You can find good value in the smart shirts of Mangal Cloth Stores at 26 Rajwadkar Street – and in the bright saris of Neeta Garments at 55 Shahid Bhagat Singh (SBS) Marg.
If the shopping experience leaves you feeling drained, get a sugar boost at nearby Colaba Sweet Mar, at 37 Ruby Terrace on SBS Marg, where you will find Indian treats such as jalebi, a syrupy, deep-fried wheat pretzel.
The Harbour Bar at the Taj Mahal Palace is Mumbai’s most refined watering hole. Try the Way To Heaven cocktail – a mix of lemon, tequila, ginger and chilli, for 850 rupees.
Dining with the locals
In Colaba, Indigo, at 4 Mandlik Road, is one of Mumbai’s most respected gastronomic hotspots, serving Asian-European fusion fare under star chef Rahul Akerkar – including lemongrass risotto with ginger and asparagus for 1 500 rupees.
Or, for a more informal dinner, wander over to the iconic pit stop Leopold Café, at 166 SBS Marg – where scores of backpackers eat fish curry and rice for 390 rupees.
Sunday morning: go to church
Perched in Fort on Veer Nariman Road, next to the tranquil Horniman Circle Gardens, St Thomas’s Cathedralis another of Mumbai’s colonial landmarks. Open daily, 6.30am-6pm.
The Mumba Devi Temple, in Bhuleshwar, dates from 1675 and this Hindu landmark is dedicated to the city’s patron goddess, Mumba. It is open daily 5am to noon and 4pm-8pm (closed Mondays).
Dash to Babulnath Road in Gamdevi, where Soam, opposite the Babulnath Temple, focuses on street food. Try the Rajasthani take on gatte ki subzi– chickpea dumplings in spicy gravy – for 200 rupees.
Return to PJ Ramchandani Marg on the Colaba waterfront, and join the crowds taking pictures of the Gateway of India – the dramatic, if somewhat pompous, basalt arch inaugurated in 1924 to commemorate King George V’s 1911 visit.
From here, you can visit one of the city’s most glorious attractions, the Elephanta Caves – on the island of the same name, 8km north-east of Colaba in Front Bay. Boats depart from the jetty behind the Gateway of India, daily (except Mondays), every half-hour, tickets 120 rupees. Admission to the cave complex – five Hindu temples filled with intricate sculptures and two Buddhist caverns – costs 250 rupees.
For all its image as a city of clutter, Mumbai has a lot of open space. Much of it is found in a north-south line, just west of Fort, where three parks once comprised the Raj city’s “Esplanade”.
Azad Maidan, the biggest of these parks, flows into the Cross Maidan, before the scene is garnished by the Oval Maidan. All three are devoted to cricket.
But there are echoes of the past alongside Oval Maidan, where the University of Mumbai rises on the other side of Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil Marg.
The campus has been closed to the public since the 2008 terror attacks – but you can’t miss Gilbert Scott’s dreamy Rajabai Clock Tower.
Take in the sunset on the broad curve of Chowpatty Beach, the city’s prime slice of sand.
It may feel as if the whole metropolis is here, so if the crowds are too much for you, cross Marine Drive to the Bachelorr’s stall at 45 Chowpatty Seaface – an institution that has been selling ice cream since 1940. Try the ginger ice cream, priced at 47 rupees.
The Independent