Mumbai is India's financial capital and the capital of Maharashtra state, a peninsula city of colonial Gothic architecture, Bollywood studios, and one of the world's busiest commuter rail networks. The Gateway of India and the Arabian Sea promenade of Marine Drive frame a city where fishing villages, glass office towers, and the largest film industry on earth sit within a few kilometres of each other.
- Public
- The suburban railway carries millions of passengers a day across the Western, Central, and Harbour lines and is by far the fastest way to cover long north-south distances, while the expanding Metro network and BEST buses fill in the crosstown gaps
- Taxi
- Black-and-yellow metered taxis blanket the island city, app-based cabs from Uber and Ola cover the whole metropolitan region, and auto-rickshaws serve the suburbs north of Bandra and Sion at low fares
- Rental
- Self-drive rental makes little sense inside Mumbai: traffic is dense, parking is scarce and expensive, and a car with a driver or an app cab costs less than the stress of driving
- Walking
- Colaba, Fort, Kala Ghoda, Marine Drive, and Bandra's Pali Hill lanes are genuinely walkable, but broken footpaths, heat, humidity, and monsoon flooding limit walking elsewhere
Transport at a glance
- Public
- 5/5
- Taxi
- 4/5
- Rental
- 2/5
- Walking
- 3/5
Transportation details
Full breakdown of how to get around.
Mumbai is a narrow peninsula about 25 km long, so almost all movement runs north-south, and the suburban railway is the spine of it. Three lines - Western, Central, and Harbour - carry the bulk of daily commuters at fares of a few rupees, and the growing Metro network now adds fast east-west and underground north-south links, including a direct line from the airport to the southern business district. BEST buses cover the streets in between, auto-rickshaws serve the suburbs at low metered fares (they are banned in the island city south of Bandra and Sion), and black-and-yellow taxis plus Uber and Ola cover everything else. Driving a rental car in Mumbai is rarely worth it: congestion is severe, parking is scarce, and hired cars with drivers are inexpensive by international standards. Ferries from the Gateway of India reach Elephanta Island and Alibaug, and long-distance trains leave from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai Central, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, and Bandra Terminus.
Airports
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
Navi Mumbai International Airport
Transport tips
Travel smarter, not harder.
Avoid the suburban trains between roughly 08:00-11:00 and 17:00-21:00 on weekdays, when compartments are packed far beyond capacity
Every suburban train has ladies-only compartments, marked in green or with signage on the platform, and men travelling in them face fines
Buy a smart card at an ATVM machine or use the Mumbai 1 or UTS app to skip long ticket queues at stations
Auto-rickshaws are not permitted to operate in the island city south of Bandra and Sion, so plan on a taxi, bus, or Metro for South Mumbai
Insist that black-and-yellow taxi drivers run the digital meter rather than quoting a flat fare
Metro Line 3 (Aqua Line) links Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport directly to Bandra Kurla Complex, Dadar, Worli, and Cuffe Parade, bypassing the worst road traffic
During the June-September monsoon, low-lying tracks at Sion, Kurla, and Dadar flood and services can halt without warning, so allow buffer time or switch to the Metro
Ferries to Elephanta Island do not run during the monsoon, roughly from mid-June to mid-September