Mumbai (मुंबई) formerly known as Bombay is the capital of the Maharashtra state in India. It’s the most populous city in India, as well the second most populous city worldwide. As of latest measurement the city of Mumbai has a population of 14 million people. The city of Mumbai is situated on India’s west coast and was named an Alpha world city in the year 2009. Furthermore is Mumbai also the richest city in India.

Mumbai is a gigantic, clean and rich city. Many travelers that also visited Delhi agree that Mumbai has more classifications to be India’s capital city. It actually has office buildings, condominium complexes, big shopping malls, wide cobble stoned streets, parks and statues as well it’s very own bay and Kirikaty beach. World famous film industry Bollywood is also situated in this city.

Mumbai might be the richest city in India, but make no mistake. When traveling around the city at night you will see tens to hundreds of homeless people sleeping on the side of the street, it’s a common sight. Yet the city is relatively safe to wonder around, day and night. Don’t draw unnecessary attention to yourself by carrying around lots of money or expensive belongings.

Mumbai is a city of sightseeing’s of which most are concentrated in South Mumbai. Within city limits you can find for example several rock cut caves like the Elephanta (which can be reached from the Gate of India), the Kanheri, and Mahakali. Besides caves, the city has it’s very own beach in downtown, as well an entire area filled with famous museums and art galleries like the Kala Ghoda area. Here are the Prince of Wales Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art located.

Although Mumbai is a pretty large city, you won’t have any trouble getting around. The streets are filled with ambassador taxi’s, subway, red and double-decker buses. Even the meter isn’t a problem as the police performs many road checks for taxi’s to use their meter when having a customer, for both foreigner or local. The price on the meter isn’t the actual price, taxi drivers should have a map with governmental prices. For example 12 rupees on the meter is 18 rupees, and 30 rupees on the meter is 50 rupees. Using the bus will save you money, the average price of a bus ticket is only 10 rupees but during rush hour it can be inconvenient.

The city of Mumbai has an active nightlife scene with many restaurants and nightclubs in several areas. After 1:30 am it get’s hard to get by liqueur in the regular clubs, and you need to proceed to the fancy and high profile clubs such as the Bling located in the Leela, China House in the Hyatt, the Leopard and Red Light Discotheque in the Colaba district. The taxi from the Colaba district to for example The Hyatt and Leela should be around 450 to 500 rupees on the meter. When visiting Mumbai there’s a funny thing to witness called Ladybars, for example White House or Junction. You can also look a movie in the Metro Cinema.

Travelers to India / Mumbai are required to have a valid passport and valid India visa. All nationalities traveling to India must have an VISA prior to arriving at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), even for airline transits. Travel destination India is pretty strict issuing visa’s and has multiple requirements which count for all travelers. For price inquiry please contact the embassy, a basic tourist VISA to India for 3 months costs €65 in Europe and $80 in North America, while Students, Business, Journalists or Family visa’s start at €99 ($120).

India city list