Mumbai

Colaba, headed by Gateway of India, is the fascinating tourist district and the main drag for visitors. From Gateway of India to Colaba Market, along the main road, is a walkable stretch of hotels, a few pubs, restaurants, and interesting shops; the quiet, leafy bylanes are residential, consisting of apartments and homes in ancient mansions and battered old buildings. Churchgate and Nariman Point are the business and hotel centers. Major bank and airline headquarters are clustered in skyscrapers on Nariman Point. The district referred to as Fort—which includes Mumbai's hub, Flora Fountain, in a square now called Hutatma Chowk—is the city's commercial heart, its narrow, bustling streets lined with small shops and office buildings, as well as colleges and other educational facilities. Farther north, Kemps Corner is a trendy area with expensive boutiques, exclusive restaurants, and high-price homes. Another upscale residential neighborhood, Malabar Hill, is leafy and breezy, with fine, old stone mansions housing wealthy industrialists and government ministers.

Shopping and people watching are most colorfully combined in Mumbai's chaotic bazaar areas, such as Chor Bazaar, Zaveri (jewelry) Bazaar, and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market (aka Crawford Market). More recently, Mumbai's suburbs have seen explosive business and residential development, as more and more people move out of the center to escape the soaring real-estate prices and lack of space. Many of the city's newest and trendiest shops and restaurants are now out in the suburbs. A number of travelers opt to stay in Juhu Beach, a popular coastal suburb between Mumbai and the airports (about 20 km north of the city center). Juhu's beaches are unsafe for swimming, and the place is scruffy, but staying out here is a good way to observe everyday Indian life outside the shadow of Mumbai's skyline. Sunday nights bring families down to the beach for an old-fashioned carnival, complete with small, hand-powered Ferris wheels, and lantern-lit snack stalls hawking sugarcane.

The Foreigner Ticket Tax

As is common throughout India, admission to many of Mumbai's museums and sites is often ten times higher for foreign tourists than it is for locals. That can be annoying, but remember that in order for these sights to be accessible to the not-so-well-to-do general public, institutions and authorities need to make up revenues elsewhere.