48 Hours In: Mumbai

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WHY GO NOW?

Because May is the last month before the monsoon sweeps up from the southern states and breaks over India's mightiest city, soaking it until the end of October. The pre-monsoon heat means fewer visitors, and it's easy to keep your cool in the city formerly known as Bombay.

TOUCH DOWN

You can fly non-stop from London Heathrow on Air India (020-8560 9996; www.airindia.com), BMI (0870 60 70 555; www.flybmi.com), British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba.com), Jet Airways (020-8970 1525; www.jetairways.com) or Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007; www.virgin-atlantic.com). Connecting flights are available on a wide range of airlines, including Emirates (0870 243 2222; www.emirates.com) from Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow via Dubai.

Chatrapathi Shivaji airport is 20 miles north of the city. Arrange a pick-up with your hotel or take a pre-paid taxi, costing around Rs800 (£10) from the official booth.

GET YOUR BEARINGS

Most visitors will spend their time between Back Bay (including Chowpatty Beach and Marine Drive) to the west and, to the east, the towering colonial-era Gateway of India (1). The Fort area is in the middle of the two. Its concentration of neo-gothic Victorian buildings includes India's version of St Pancras Station: the magnificent Victoria Terminus (2). To the south lie the bars and shops of Colaba. North of Crawford Market (3), the jumbled maze of lanes and bazaars will leave you happily lost for hours.

CHECK IN

Behind the Gateway of India, luxurious accommodation and an oasis of calm with an ocean view can be found at the historic Taj Mahal (4) on Apollo Bunder (0870 128 6000; www.tajhotels.com). Rates for a double room start at US$253 (£149), excluding breakfast. A cheaper option is the clean and friendly Chateau Windsor Guest House (5) at 86 Veer Nariman Road (00 91 22 2204 3376), where a double costs around Rs2,409 (£30), room only. The area is relatively quiet, the staff are friendly and helpful, and the rooms clean and spacious.

TAKE A RIDE

You'll not walk more than a few feet before one of Mumbai's multitude of black taxis beeps for business. If the heat becomes too much, a cab is a cheap way of getting around. Fares are calculated using a baffling grid system at the end of the journey. Take a morning taxi ride to Mumbai's open-air laundromat, the Dhobi Ghat on Dr E Moses Road. Watch from the bridge at Mahalakshmi station (6) while hundreds of dhobiwallahs, knee deep in water, soap, scrub, rinse and wring Mumbai's dirty laundry. The garments are hung out to dry in rows of brilliant white and dazzling colour, like sails in the rising sun.

On the way back, stop at Mani Bhavan (7) at 19 Laburnum Road (00 91 22 2380 5864; www.gandhi-manibhavan.org), a leafy suburban street. This was Gandhi's Mumbai home between 1917 and 1934. His simple bedsit, complete with his spinning wheel, is lovingly preserved. It opens 9.30am-6pm daily, free.

LUNCH ON THE RUN

Grab a roadside snack of bhel puri. This Mumbai speciality of rice, chutney, chilli, onion and coriander is served on deep-fried flat bread (puri). For an instant pick-me-up, sugar-cane juice mixed with lime costs a few rupees from ubiquitous stalls. White-hatted dabbawallahs bring lunch for the city's office workers each day. Watch the handover between teams outside Churchgate station (8).

WINDOW SHOPPING

Fab India (9) at Kalaghoda in Fort sells traditional clothing and home accessories in lavish silks, hand-woven cottons and linens. At Philips Antiques (10), established 1860, opposite the Regal cinema, faded sepia prints and antique maps jostle for space alongside miniature carvings and gramophones. You can unearth forgotten treasure at the Chor (literally " thieves") Bazaar (11), which is best on Fridays. Along the Colaba Causeway, you'll find boutiques selling carpets, silks and jewellery while numerous stalls sell an array of handicrafts.

TAKE A HIKE

Before sunset, head for Nariman Point (12) at the end of Marine Drive (now officially known as Netaji Subhashchandra Bose Road). The mile or so stroll north towards Chowpatty Beach takes you along this wide boulevard with its panoramic views across the bay. As the sky turns deep red and a breeze cools the air, Mumbai's residents gather to hang out on the sea-wall, walk pampered pooches or enjoy an early evening power walk along the sweeping coastal arc known as "The Queen's Necklace".

Chowpatty Beach comes alive in the early evenings when the masses descend for a nightly fiesta among the fortune-tellers, balloon vendors and entertainers, all set to a blaring soundtrack of Hindi pop.

AN APERITIF

A chilled glass of sauvignon blanc at Indigo Bar (13) at 4 Mandlik Street starts an evening in style. Or stretch funds further and share a pitcher of Kingfisher beer at the Leopold Cafe and Bar (14) on the corner of Colaba Causeway and Nawroji Road.

DINNER WITH THE LOCALS

You could stay and eat at Leopold's (14), a backpacking institution with a vast menu and portion sizes to match.

Reservations are essential at Khyber (15) (00 91 22 2267 3227) on Kalaghoda, near the Jehangir Art Gallery. The sign is not in English, so look out for the carved wooden doors that lead you into a labyrinth of dining rooms in this traditional yet chic Muglai restaurant.

SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH

Completed in 1718, St Thomas's Cathedral (16) is Mumbai's oldest Anglican church, named after the doubting disciple who arrived in India to establish Christianity along the Malabar Coast. On the tip of Colaba, St John the Evangelist (17) or the Afghan Church, commemorates those who fell "by sickness and sword" in the first Anglo-Afghan war in the 19th century.

OUT TO BRUNCH

Read the morning papers at Tiffin at the Oberoi Towers Hotel (18), which serves leisurely Indian breakfasts accompanied by delicious coconut chutney. For something less formal, try Cafe Mondegar (19) near the Regal Cinema on Colaba Causeway, for a choice of tunes from the biggest juke-box in the city.

CULTURAL AFTERNOON

In frangipani-scented gardens along Mahatma Ghandi Road, the Prince of Wales Museum (20) is an Indo-Saracenic wonder in yellow and black. It houses one of India's finest collections of sacred sculptures and traditional paintings. Open 10.15am-6pm daily except Sunday and Monday, 300 rupees (£3.65). Further along "MG Road" there are frequently changing exhibitions at Jehengir Art Gallery (21).

A WALK IN THE PARK

Head to the Oval Maidan where cricket fever becomes contagious on Sundays. Find a spot to watch and be mesmerised by India's beautiful game as countless matches are played out for trophies.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

You can evade Mumbai's relentless buzz at the northwest corner of the Oval Maiden, location for The Eros (22), one of Mumbai's glorious art deco cinemas, where you can immerse yourself in Bollywood escapism. Alternatively, hop aboard a "luxury" boat from the quay at the foot of Gateway of India (1). Your destination is Elephanta Island: a peaceful retreat and Unesco World Heritage Site an hour across the water. The island's name derives from a huge elephant sculpture that presided over its port when the Portuguese army arrived in the 16th century. A steep climb through the trees is rewarded by a series of hill-top caves housing 8th-century carvings depicting the legends of Shiva.

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