Mumbai

Mumbai

Ever since the Suez Canal opened in 1869, the principal gateway to the Indian Subcontinent has been MUMBAI(Bombay). Many travellers regard time spent here as a rite of passage to be survived rather than savoured. But as the powerhouse of Indian business, industry and trade, and the source of its most seductive media images, the Maharashtrian capital can be a compelling place to kill time. Whether or not you find the experience enjoyable, however, will depend largely on how well you handle the heat, humidity, hassle, traffic fumes, relentless crowds and appalling poverty of India's most dynamic, Westernized city.

First impressions tend to be dominated by Mumbai's chronic shortage of space. Crammed onto a narrow spit of land that curls from the swamp-ridden coast into the Arabian Sea, the city has, in less than five hundred years metamorphosed from an aboriginal fishing settlement into a megalopolis of over sixteen million people – the biggest urban sprawl on the planet.

While it would be misleading to downplay its difficulties, Mumbai isn't always an ordeal. Once you've overcome the major hurdle of finding somewhere to stay, you may begin to enjoy its frenzied pace and crowded, cosmopolitan feel. The defining landmark is the Gateway of India. A five-minute walk north, the Prince of Wales Museum should be your next priority, for its flamboyant architecture as much as the art treasures inside. Up the road, the commercial hub of the city, Fort, is great for aimless wandering, with old-fashioned cafés, department stores and street stalls crammed between its Victorian piles. For a sense of why the city's founding fathers declared it Urbs Prima in Indis, press further north still to visit the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerely the Victoria Terminus, the high-water mark of Raj architecture.

Possibilities for an escape from the crowds include: an evening stroll along Marine Drive, bounding the western edge of the downtown area; the Muslim tomb of Haji Ali; and Elephanta, a rock-cut cave on an island in Mumbai harbour.