Mumbai · Story
A love letter to Mumbai: markets, cinemas and shoreline
A wander through the city's bazaars, single-screens, forest and sea wall. Inspired by "A Love Letter to Mumbai" (tourHQ editorial team).
I never manage to "do" Mumbai. I just fall into it — a market here, a sea wall there — and let the day decide where it goes.
01Place in this storyMarine DriveThe 3.6-km Art Deco seafront curve along Back Bay; after dark its string of lights earns the nickname the Queen's Necklace.I like to begin at Marine Drive early, before the heat, when the promenade still belongs to walkers and the bay is flat and silver. The same curve becomes the Queen's Necklace once the lights come on at night.
Markets and mouthfuls
Inland, the older bazaars take over. Chor Bazaar is for aimless rummaging through salvage and old film posters; Mohammed Ali Road, after sundown, is for kebabs and the good-natured crush of Ramzan nights.
02Place in this storyChor BazaarA warren-like antiques and salvage market off Mutton Street, famous for vintage finds and old film posters.03Place in this storyMohammed Ali RoadA Bhendi Bazaar artery that becomes the city's most famous kebab-and-sweets corridor after dusk, especially during Ramzan.In this city the shortest distance between two moods is a plate of street food.
Screens, sand and stone
The surviving single-screens — Edward, Liberty — are worth a detour for their facades alone. Later I trade the crowd for Juhu's sand, or push north to the forest, where the Kanheri caves sit above the city's noise. No day like this is complete without the ferry out to Elephanta.
08Place in this storyElephanta CavesUNESCO-listed rock-cut cave temples on an island an hour's ferry from the Gateway, centred on the great Trimurti.Source: inspired by "A Love Letter to Mumbai: Unveiling Hidden Gems and Unmissable Experiences", tourHQ editorial team — https://www.tourhq.com/article/a-love-letter-to-mumbai-unveiling-hidden-gems-and-unmissable-experiences