Chowpatty Beach & Marine Drive

Chowpatty Beach & Marine Drive Review

It's not much of a beach in the resort sense, but Chowpatty and the rest of long, spectacular, perfectly curved Marine Drive capture at once the mammoth, cheeky, beautiful seaside beast that is Mumbai. Chowpatty is a taste of the bazaar and mela (festival) rolled into one. A hundred species of salesmen throng the beach in the evening, especially Sunday, selling everything from glow-in-the-dark yo-yos and animal-shaped balloons to rat poison. Men stand by with bathroom scales, offering complacent strollers a chance to check their heft. Hand-operated Ferris wheels and carousels are packed with children. A few stalls nearby distribute Mumbai's famously satisfying fast food—crunchy bhel puris (puffed-rice snacks), ragda pattices (spicy potato cakes), and paav bhaji (fried vegetable mash eaten with bread). From the beach, walk southeast down Marine Drive toward Nariman Point and you'll bump into flotillas of evening exercisers, cooing couples wandering past the waves in a daze, and dogs and kids being walked by their respective nannies.