Cheap flights to Mumbai from $384

Mumbai climate

Mumbai has a tropical climate with periods of high humidity, though the coastal location keeps temperatures lower than many areas of the country. Average daytime temperatures only fluctuate a few degrees throughout the year, from about 25°C December to March to about 30°C in April to June, before dropping slightly again in summer. Travel during June to September is not recommended, however, because of the high rainfall at this time.

Getting around Mumbai

Taxis are cheap and plentiful and, given Mumbai’s traffic, you won’t need to rent a car to get around. Auto-rickshaws are allowed to operate beyond Bandra in the western suburbs and beyond Sion in the central suburbs. Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (known as BEST) operates an efficient and comprehensive bus service. Most Mumbaikars use the extensive Suburban Rail Network.

There are also intra-city ferry services such as one to the Gateway of India to the Elephanta Caves.

If you’re happy to splurge, private, chauffeur-driven cars are available.

Getting to the city from the airport

Once the flight arrives at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (BOM), there are several ways downtown. Taxis – metered and prepaid – are available. There’s a railway reservation desk in Terminal 2 where you can organise a connection to Mumbai and beyond. City buses (for Mumbai) and a pre-paid coach service (other destinations in India) are also available.

What is good to know if travelling to Mumbai?

• Tours of Dharavi, the slum which featured in Slumdog Millionaire, have become popular with tourists since the movie came out in 2008. The tours are run by Reality Tours and Travel and the proceeds go to fund a community centre and kindergarten. Tipping is not allowed, nor is photographing the residents of Dharavi. 
• Dhobi ghat is an enormous, open-air laundry. From Dr E Moses Road, close to Mahalakshmi Station, you can watch as hundreds of men and women launder the clothes in stone troughs, hanging them up to dry. The freshly laundered clothes are delivered to their owners, the next load collected.
• The Haji Ali Mosque houses the tomb of the Muslim Sufi saint Haji Ali. The mosque lies on a causeway in the Arabian Sea and can only be reached at low tide. At high tide the causeway is submerged and it looks as if the mosque is floating. 
• The beaches in Mumbai are not for sunbathing, they’re for eating Bhelpuri (puffed rice and semolina with chutneys served with deep-fried wheat bread) and working it off with a game of beach cricket. 
• Chowpatty Beach in the evening when locals come out to stroll and the hawkers and entertainers buzz around is delightful. Juhu Beach is beautiful, and, as with Chowpatty, get there for the sunsets, the late-evening snackers and people watching. Versova Beach is known for its fishing community.
• Leopolds Cafe is the tourist fave, open since 1871, but to eat Mumbai-style head for one of the street stalls around the colleges. The food is tasty, fast and cheap and the Batata vada pao is the vintage snack. This spicy, fat, deep-fried potato dumpling in a generously buttered pao, slathered with chutney, will provide maximum energy for this “maximum city”.