13 Best Nightlife in Mumbai, India

The rooftop club at the Four Seasons is one of the most popular—and most expensive—bars in town, but it offers stunning views of the city in all directions, and is probably worth a drink.

With some of the best views of the city, the open-air Dome attracts a young, good-looking crowd who sit, amid candlelight, on plush white sofas and chairs. It's one of the best sunset-drink spots in the city, and the fact that the menu includes a selection from the excellent Kebab Korner only sweetens the deal. Drinks are fairly expensive, but if you're on a budget, grab a Kingfisher for Rs. 450. That's hardly a steal, but you're paying for the view.

Facing the Arabian Sea, this bar is elegant and more reserved than many of its peers, and attracts a rather high-class clientele for the live jazz band that plays each night.

A relatively staid yuppie crowd likes to hang out in the clubby (in the British sense) setting here, but it's also one of the few bars with enough TVs to accommodate a big sporting event like Wimbledon or the World Cup.

The safest destination to test out one of Mumbai's infamous permit rooms offers a no-frills, dingy atmosphere—this is the kind of place you want to hit up for supercheap drinks (we're talking nearly retail prices per bottle, which you can order to your table) before you head to the club, or for a late-night drink postclubbing, if the owners have paid the cops enough to stay open past bar time that night.

Koyla is a rooftop hangout with hookahs, Arabian music, a good breeze, and tasty barbecue bites. No alcohol is served.

This candlelit nightspot draws Mumbai's who's who for bites of top-notch antipasti, risotto, seafood salad, and sips of caipiroskas (caipirin is made with vodka instead of the rumlike cachaça).

Rebranded from Not Just Jazz by the Bay, this had been one of Mumbai's few jazz venues, but with the name change went the music that had been the joint's hallmark. Still, while the music can sometimes be meh, the pizza is among the city's better pies, its location by the sea is beautiful, and it stays open until 1:30 am.

Stay long enough in Mumbai, and the words "cold beer on tap" start to sound like some distant faraway dream. This bar's founder, Greg Kroitzsh, a transplant from Vermont, decided to quit whining about India's headache-inducing bottles of Kingfisher Strong, and make the dream real. The Barking Deer brews its own pale ale, as well as Bombay Blonde, a tasty lager, and the Belgian Wit, a crisp wheat beer. Kroitzsh keeps on hand a nice sampling of imported bottled beers, and the pub fare, like the eggplant Parm sandwich, is well regarded. Weekend nights tend to become overcrowded with partyers, but afternoons present a quiet opportunity to relax and reflect on your trip. The best part? Happy hour (4–8) is two beers for the price of one. There's free Wi-Fi, too.

This is among the most legendary dives in the entire city, complete with a pair of beat-up pool tables, black light, and a psychedelic mural of Jim Morrison.

This brewpub currently stands as a reminder of how tricky it is to get government permission to brew beer in Mumbai. Huge brass tankers have sat unattended behind the clean, inviting black-and-white checkered bar since its opening. Bottles of imported ales, stouts, and lagers are served instead; the atmosphere, pub food, and bar snacks, like hot, tangy sweet-potato-and-chives popcorn, make it well worth the visit. The brewing license is coming, we are told, but in the meantime, there are many reasons to keep coming back.

One of the more popular bars in South Mumbai, Wink is on the spendy side, as is common with bars in high-end hotels. The main draw is its chill house music.