48 Hours in: Mumbai - India

Why Go Now?

A survey yesterday named the city formerly known as Bombay as the seventh-worst place to live in the world. Nonsense – and Mumbai is an especially fine place to visit in October and November. If you missed out on an invite to a monsoon wedding, go now instead – the rains have stopped, leaving India's vibrant commercial hub rejuvenated.

Why Go Now?

A survey yesterday named the city formerly known as Bombay as the seventh-worst place to live in the world. Nonsense – and Mumbai is an especially fine place to visit in October and November. If you missed out on an invite to a monsoon wedding, go now instead – the rains have stopped, leaving India's vibrant commercial hub rejuvenated.

Beam Down

You can fly non-stop from Heathrow to Mumbai on Air India (020-8560 9996, www.airindia.com) and British Airways (0845 77 333 77, www.ba.com). From Manchester, Singapore Airlines (0870 608 8886, www.singaporeair.co.uk) flies non-stop twice a week. Direct flights are usually expensive – typically around £550. It is much cheaper, and easier to find a seat, if you are prepared to change planes in Europe or the Middle East. I paid £470 return from Edinburgh on KLM via Amsterdam through Trailfinders (020-7938 3939). Through Expedia (www.expedia.com), Alitalia has a special for November of £362.

Get Your Bearings

Chhatrapati Shivaji airport is 20 miles north of the city. During the day it is a long, traffic-congested ride to your hotel, but since most international flights arrive late at night, you'll get to the centre in around an hour. A pre-paid taxi from the airport costs about Rs300/£4 to the centre of town. If you don't want to battle with traffic on the way back, get a train from Churchgate station to Vile Parle (Rs76/£1 first class, Rs7/10p second) and an auto-rickshaw from there to the airport (Rs72/£1). Mumbai spreads south past the trendy suburbs of Juhu, Bandra and Breach Candy to Chowpatty beach. To the west is glamorous Marine Drive, to the south the travellers' hangout of Colaba, to the east the colonial Fort area and, in the middle, frenetic Crawford Marketand Victoria Terminus (now, like the airport, renamed in honour of Chhatrapati Shivaji, founder of the Hindu kingdom).

Check In

The best hotel in town is the grandiose Taj Mahal (00 91 22 202 3366, www.tajhotels.com). It stands next to the Gateway of India, through which, ironically, the last colonial soldiers left the country. The hotel is currently undergoing a revamp ready for its centenary next year. It was built by the industrialist Jamsetji Tata when Watson's, previously the best hotel in town but now a squatter-filled ruin, refused him entry. Doubles in the Taj Mahal's heritage wing start at $255 (£164) but discounts are often available. A mid-range option is nearby Bentley's Hotel at 17 Oliver Road (00 91 22 284 1474) – shabby but characterful old rooms with antique furniture start at Rs1,120 (£15), with an en-suite bathroom. A clean but cupboard-like room with a bathroom down the hall can be found at the noisy Hotel Volga II, Nawroji F Road (00 91 22 288 5341), for R600 (£8).

Take A Ride

In 1853, Asia's first railway started running the 33 miles between Victoria Terminus and Thane. Today the 40-minute journey isn't particularly scenic, and Thane isn't worth more than a quick wander before catching a train back, but, stuffed with sweaty commuters as it passes from genteel suburbs to barren slums, it's a reminder of how most Mumbaiites live compared to the glitz of the city centre (Rs18/25p return in second class, or Rs204/£2.70 first).

Window Shopping

If you want fixed prices and air-conditioned cool, try Crossroads shopping centre, near Haji Ali mosque, for Western clothes and Indian designer outfits, and either the Bombay Store (W India Hse, Sir P Mehta Road) or Central Cottage Industries Emporium (34 Shivaji Marg) for upmarket but still fairly tacky souvenirs. Hotter work, but much more fun, is haggling your way through the shops and stalls between Crawford Market and Chor Bazaar (there's not a lot actually inside these places). Or you can pick up gorgeous leather sandals, cheap jewellery and everything from incense to ayurvedic toiletries in Colaba.

Lunch On The Run

In the heat of the Mumbai day, you're not going to be overly hungry at lunchtime. Fortunately the city is designed with nibblers in mind. As you wander from street to street, you'll find a moveable feast of everything from fresh sugar-cane juice and peanuts to more substantial bhelpuris (a mix of rice, potatoes, onion, bread, spices and chutney – the city's favourite snack), all for less than 15p each.

Cultural Afternoon

Get a taste for Mumbai's crumbling colonial architecture with a wander past Bombay University to Flora Fountain. Continue through leafy Horniman Circle and the Royal Asiatic Society Library to the grand buildings of Ballard Estate before pulling up at the domed GPO and taking a taxi to Mani Bhavan, once Gandhi's Mumbai base and now a museum (19 Laburnam Road, 00 91 22 380 5864, open 9.30am-6pm, entrance free). To escape the heat, catch the latest Bollywood blockbuster at Metro (00 91 22 203 0303) or Eros (00 91 22 282 2335), two of the city's remaining Art Deco cinemas. The best seats cost Rs100/ £1.30.

Take A Hike

In the late afternoon, stroll north from Madam Cama Road up Maharshi Karve Road. As the sun fades, you'll pass well-preserved Art Deco buildings on your left and the cricket pitches of Oval Maidan on your right (before the land from here to Marine Drive was reclaimed in the 1920s, the Victorian buildings behind the Oval formed the city's shoreline). At Eros cinema, turn left and walk west along Veer Nariman Road. Finally, head north along Marine Drive, Mumbai's sweeping version of a chic Côte d'Azur boulevard, to join the picnicking families on Chowpatty beach. The Art Deco buildings that line Marine Drive sadly don't look as though they'll last much longer, but the views out across the Arabian Sea will lift your spirits.

An Aperitif

Near the top of Marine Drive is the H2O Water Sports Complex, where you can take a boat out to Suzie Wong's, one of the city's newest bars. Floating in the middle of Back Bay, it's a funky pink, purple, red and gold drinking den. Down in Colaba, ultra trendy Indigo, 4 Mandlik Road (00 91 22 236 8999) – all low tables and flickering candles – is the perfect place to sip a Bombay Sapphire and tonic. For a cold beer in hot surroundings, but with views on to the bustling street outside, try nearby Leopold Cafe, Colaba Causeway (00 91 22 202 0131).

Dinner With The Locals

As a city of dream-seeking migrants, you can find every kind of Indian food here, although Malwani, or coastal cooking, is the local speciality. Trishna , Sai Baba Marg (00 91 22 267 2176), is renowned for its excellent seafood and surly staff, while the most popular restaurant in town is Olive, up in Bandra, 14 Union Park, Pali Hill (00 91 22 605 8228). With a white-washed main room and a candlelit Bedouin tent area outside, the menu is Mediterranean and North African. Better than both of these, though, is Anant Ashram at 46 Khotachi Wadi, off Jaganath Shankar Sheth Road in Girgaum. Tucked away down a winding lane, each person gets their own little marble-topped table and a delicious, thali-style meal for 50p (the menu's in Hindi but ask for chicken, fish or vegetarian and the owners will understand).

Sunday Morning: Go To Church

St Thomas's Cathedral was started in 1715 by Richard Cobbe, chaplain to the East India Company and, according to a plaque by the door, "sometime vicar of Whitchurch, Dorset". Named after the Apostle who arrived to spread the word of Christianity several hundred miles down the coast in AD52, the cathedral is apparently the oldest colonial building in Mumbai, stuffed with straight-backed wooden chairs and marble memorials to Brits. If you're getting short of cash in India's most expensive city, make a pilgrimage to the Mahalaxmi Temple. Dedicated to the goddess of wealth, you're welcome to join the crowd of puja-making (worshipping) devotees, as long as you take your shoes off first.

Out To Brunch

If you're desperate for Western food, you'll find plenty of places dishing up scrambled eggs in Colaba or the Fort area, but much cheaper, and tastier, is an Indian thali – usually two types of curry, dal, raita, chutney, rice, chappatis and a poppadom, all for a set price. At the Majestic Hotel (opposite the Regal cinema) decent thalis start at around 50p. Or, for Rs60 adults and Rs50 children (just under £1), brunch at the nearby Kamat Hotelis served in an air-conditioned upstairs restaurant.

A Walk In The Park

None of Mumbai's parks is particularly quiet, but at least from Kamala Nehru Park on Malabar Hill you get a fantastic view down on to Marine Drive and across the city, even if you have to pass a giant plastic boot and a menagerie of metal animals to get there. On the first Saturday and Sunday of each month, free play readings, music and poetry take place among the flowerbeds of Horniman Circle at 8pm. For details contact the Prithvi Theatre (00 91 22 614 9546, www.prithvitheatre.org).

The Icing On The Cake

Take a boat trip from the Gateway of India to Elephanta Island. The huge stone elephant that gave the island its name has been moved to the museum at Veermata Jijabai Bhonsle Udyan Botanical Garden, near Byculla train station, but the real attractions – rock-cut cave temples, built around the 6th to 8th century AD and dedicated to Shiva – remain. Boats leave every hour, take an hour and cost about £1 return. Finish your trail at the Prince of Wales Museum, by the intricate 11th century Maharashtrian sculpture of Ganesh on the ground floor (00 91 22 284 4519). Entrance costs Rs300/ £4, including an audio guide.

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