Mumbai Budget Travel Guide helps you prepare for a trip to visit the largest city in India. Formerly known as Bombay, Mumbai is a city with a population of 13 million people. It is the capital of Maharastra state. Mumbai is located within a metropolitan area with a total population of 25 million people. It occupies the island of Salsette - to be precise, the city was originally built on a group of 7 islands that formed the island city of Bombay. That island was then joined to the island of Salsette to form Greater Bombay.
Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. The whole over knows it as Bollywood, the centre for Hindi film production. It is a fast moving, cosmopolitan city quite unlike the rest of India. The Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India as well as the headquaters of numerous Indian companies such as Tata Indicom and Crompton Graeves are all located here.
In comparison to Delhi and other major Indian cities, Mumbai is relatively young. Although there is documented evidence of human habitation in the Mumbai area going back to 250BC, the actual Mumbai was sea that was only formed through land reclamation. Mumbai came to being when the Portuguese appropriated the original islands from the Bahadur Shah of Gujarat in 1534. They were then ceded to Charles II of England in 1661 as dowry for Catherine of Braganza, daughter of the Duke of Braganza, the future King John IV of Portugal.
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhonsle, the founder of the Maratha empire in 1674, is the gateway to Mumbai. The airport has two terminals: Terminal 1, called Santacruz terminal, for domestic flights, and Terminal 2, Andheri terminal, for international flights. A free shuttle bus service connects the two terminals. Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport is located 28 km from downtown Mumbai. Getting to town is by prepaid coupon taxi: go to the taxi counter, buy the coupon, and give it to the taxi driver. The coupon has the taxi registration number on it, so you shouldn't take any taxi. The charges includes any tolls to be paid.
In addition to the domestic flights at Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport, you may also take the train from Mumbai to most destinations in India. To purchase Indian Railway tickets online, go to the Indian Railway Online Passenger Reservation Site, http://www.indianrail.gov.in/
The easiest way to get around in Mumbai is by taxi. There are two types, the air-conditioned, blue/silver taxis called Cool Cabs, and the standard non-airconditioned yellow-and-black taxi. Minimum fare is Rs13. You can either rely on the meter (which is matched against a tariff card) or prepay for the journey. Cool Cabs 40% higher than the ordinary taxis, but may be worth the comfort. To call them, contact:
City Cool Cabs: +91 22 2216 4466, +91 22 2218 9620, +91 22 5688 4466
Cool Cab: +91 22 2490 5151, +91 22 2490 5152
Most of the tourist sights in Mumbai are concentrated in South Mumbai.
- Elephant Caves a Unesco World Heritage Site one an island in Mumbai Harbour, east of Mumbai, is famous for its cave temples.
- Walkeshwar Temple, a temple dedicated to Shiva, on Malabar Hill, Mumbai. Equally famous here is the Banganga Tank.
Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?
The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
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