mumbai airport
 

we are flying in to Mumbai airport from Dubai on our way to Goa. We arrive Mumbai International @ 3.30am and have to transfer to domestic airport for morning flight. Is the best way to go by taxi/bus or can you arrange private transfer between airports. Appreciate your advice.

In Mumbai the International Airport and the Domestic Airport are only 2 or 3 miles apart. There are several hotels in the airport area and I expect that they have a shuttle service or will eagerly have a car pick you up upon your arrival at the International Airport.

For details and photos of some of our trips to India see the "Eastern India", "Rajasthan", and "India from the Himalayas to the Sea" sections of Our Travel Journals: www.evcal.org

There's no need to take a taxi or arrange a transfer. The airport provides a free shuttle service between the domestic and international terminals for connecting passengers.

If you take the bus, plan at least hour for the transfer, it could take longer (see below). If you take a cab, the transfer takes about 20 minutes. There is a pre-paid taxi desk in the arrivals area where you can arrange and pay for the taxi and someone will then take you out to the taxi area. This should not cost more than US$10 or thereabouts and would be worth it IMO. You could also probably arrange private transport via a hotel as mentioned above, however, the pre-paid taxi route is fine IMO for this short hop.

The reason you need to allow time for the bus is that the bus only runs once an hour. If you have a short connection time, you may not want to wait for it. Once you have gone through Immigration, gotten your bags and handed the Customs man your little slip of paper, go out into the arrivals hallway and for signs for the transfer lounge. (Pre-paid taxi counters are also here, these guys will be calling out to you.) You can ask someone in the transfer area how soon the next bus will leave. You will invariably be told "bus coming soon". This can mean anything from 5 minutes to an hour (welcome to India). You could maybe wait for a while, and if it doesn't show up, consider going back out into the hall and arranging for a pre-paid taxi to take you over to the domestic airport.

There are no facilities to speak of at either airport in terms of restaurants or shopping and esp at that hour of the morning even the little coffee guys may not be open.

Just in case someone's not clear, both international and domestic flights share the same airfield - runways, taxiways, etc. But the international and domestic terminals are at opposite side of the airport.