Hi everyone. Hope all are doing good. Today I will take you to my experience of Mumbai Darshan, a full day city tour of Mumbai City. I will try my level best to ensure you are also carried away with my experiences and feel one with them.

Okay, so our Mumbai tour started with booking of tickets online for Mumbai Darshan. There are two types of bookings that you can do- One is AC Bus and another one is non-AC Bus and believe me there is not much difference in terms of money but according to my experience, it is fruitful to have AC Bus booking. So, this bus will start in the morning 7:00 AM depending on the stop that you are boarding the bus from. So, as per my boarding point, I boarded the same at 7:00 AM. In Mumbai, it is good that bus starts early in the morning to avoid city traffic else a lot of time will be wasted around. So different people at different stops boarded the bus at different timings. So, finally, we reached our destination for first point of sightseeing at approx. 9:30 AM. 

So, before I proceed further to tell you about my journey and experience, I would like to tell you some facts. For Mumbai Darshan, for various sightseeing spots, you need to have an entrance ticket with you to enjoy the entire spot. These entrance tickets cost you some reasonable amount of money. The best part is that you don’t have to spend time buying these tickets when you reach those spots as they are all arranged by Mumbai Darshan’s guide itself who travels in our bus with us. He will inform you while you are onboarded on a bus as to on what spots, tickets will be required along with actual cost. You just need to pay them the cost and you are good to go. Again, it is absolutely your choice to pay for them or skip them and stay in a bus only.

Alright, so we started with visiting “Gateway of India”. Let me tell you that we were a group of around 20-25 people in a bus who chose AC Bus for sightseeing. The guide told us to go and visit and come back in an hour to a decided place. We made our ways to Gateway of India. There was no entrance ticket for entering the same but there was a ticket for boating experience. Opposite to ” Gateway of India”, there was “Taj Hotel” where 26/11 terrorist attacks took place. While entering inside, we were lost in the thoughts of terror attack that happened and we were praising the courage and bravery of everyone who lost their lives in these attacks. While moving on, we had a motorboat ride booked on deep water waves of sea. So finally, we boarded the motorboat and the guide showed us everything that was delightful to our eyes like- Naval missiles/ naval dockets/ Taj Hotel/ Far sighted view of Helipad of Mr Ratan Tata and Ambani’s. We were asked not to take any photographs here as Naval force were posted and that photography is banned. All of us enjoyed fresh air along the middle of the sea which blew our hair away. Also, the water became bluer while we were entering almost the middle of the sea. This boat was a double decker boat where few of us sat down while most climbed up on the top floor. I am sure that beauty on the top floor might have been different and more enjoyable. We all had seats so that we can sit down and enjoy the beauty of our surroundings. There were also small snacks available in form of chips/ small cold drinks and some saltries. Well, we enjoyed and finally a time came to deboard the boat and gather with others where our guide was waiting for us.

Coming to the next spot, we visited Mumbai Museum which was very near to “Gateway of India”. So, we were given a time of 45 minutes to go and have a delightful look of a museum. This museum was also composed of all unique and antique pieces of our history and our cultural heritage. It was very beautiful to see and know our cultural history/ weapons of our historical emperors/ Silver antique pieces etc. I finished looking at the entire museum in 30 minutes and saved those 15 minutes to have some roadside food as I was starving. I took one samosa (Potato filled Fried roll) and enjoyed it and finally boarded the bus to head towards our new destination.

Alright, our next destination was a temple of Shri Lakshmi goddess popularly known as “Maha Lakshmi” in Mumbai. This temple is in an extremely posh and costly area of Mumbai called “Maha Lakshmi”. So, we were asked to take a sight of the temple and return within half an hour. We got inside Maha Lakshmi Temple, and we touched the feet of the idol of Shri Lakshmi. There were other idols as well in separate rooms whom we visited. I also asked for a silent wish and finally returned to the spot where bus was waiting to head us with new spot

It was around 1 PM on an average in the afternoon and was a time for lunch. So, we boarded the bus, and we were on the way to our next destination. We were informed that we now have 1 and a half hour to sight see next destination along with having lunch as well. Guess what, our next destination “Nehru Science Centre”. This was an amazing destination for learning and exploring. There were 3 floors to visit. First floor was all about proving the scientific facts like ” Energy can neither be created and nor be destroyed”/ Centrifugal force etc. Second floor was all about “Sound” and all theories relates to “Sound”. Third was all about “vision and its scientific facts” along with facts around “Future technologies”. I really loved exploring all these scientific facts but honestly for me time was a crunch to explore everything and seems like the entire day will go by. Then we even had food inside this Science Centre but honestly, I did not relish this food as much as I relished the street food. However, we had lunch and finally rushed towards the bus for our next destination

Our next destination was Mumbai’s most famous temple. Can you guess, what it might be?? Yes, it is “Siddhi Vinayak” temple (Lord Ganesh). So, we went inside the temple and enjoyed the sight and I again asked for a secret wish. Okay, so were given only half an hour for temple sight but honestly, it’s not possible to see the entire temple in such a short duration where there are long lines to just have one single sight of our “Siddhi Vinayak”. So, we went inside but due to time crunch and long line, we had a sight of Lord Ganesh on an online computer placed outside at a height which is a LIVE Telecast of the inside temple along with idol of “Siddhi Vinayak”. We joined our hands and as I said, I asked for a secret wish and returned to the bus excited for my new destination

Alright, our new destination was an 11 D show for which we took a ticket to enjoy the same. This show was just a 15-minute show with all the animations inside to excite you/ frighten you and make you little mischievous and full of suspense. So, we entered this hall of animation where at a time only 18 people can go inside. We were handed over the 11 D eyeglasses to be worn and we were asked to sit on a slightly bended and cushioned chair, and we were asked to put on a seatbelt to avoid falling down the seat in case if anyone of us gets frightened. Alright the show began, and it was an adventurous 11 D video game playing which was completely steered by you and theme was to get some treasures at the end, but you need to fight with long jumping cliffs/ deadly snakes and other mischievous animals. Because this was an 11 D show, we were feeling as if we are falling from a cliff or snakes are just in front of us and biting us and for an effect our chairs were moving with every move of an animation, water was getting sprinkled while we landed in water on an animated show. Altogether it was a nice 20-minute experience. I could hear loud shouts from few people behind me because I think they might be getting afraid. But believe me, I enjoyed it to the fullest. However, Heart patients and Pregnant ladies were strictly not recommended.

Okay, now coming to our next and last/ Destination of our trip. We boarded the bus and we were off for one of the famous beach of Mumbai. I know you have already heard of this beach and yes you are right. It is “Juhu Beach”.  But before reaching Juhu Beach, we covered everything that came in between like “Ambani’s Antilia”, Sharukh Khan’s house “Mannat”, Marine Drive, Link Road, Salman Khan’s house in Galaxy Apartments, Hanging Gardens, Bandra Bandstand, Few chaupatis as well. Our bus did not stop for all of these but instead we took a look while we were inside the bus. 

We finally reached Juhu Beach and while we reached Juhu Beach, it was already 6:30 in the evening. Believe me, there was a lot of rush at Juhu Beach that we could not even enter inside and have some fun. Usually, most of the time, Juhu Beach is the most crowded beach of Mumbai but at that day, there was literally no space to even put our foot on the ground. Still, we managed to have Wada Pav, Paani puri and Sev Puri which is very famous there and we finally arrived at the location where our bus was waiting to finally drop us to the point from where we were picked up in the morning. It was almost 8 in the evening that we boarded the bus and finally reached our destination at 9:00 in the night. Thankfully it was Saturday and hence no major traffic jam.

I almost enjoyed this trip a lot. However, climate currently was really hot and humid. So, whenever you plan to visit Mumbai then visit from Oct to Mid Feb as it is pleasant time in Mumbai. During the time from June to Mid-September, there will be heavy rainfall and you would not be able to enjoy Beach time at all.

Now while you will‌ be in Mumbai, do not forget to grab some Vada pav (Alu filled roll along with Bread), Samosa Pav, Misal Pav, Maska Pav (It is bread butter but in Mumbai it is known as Maska pav), Sev Puri, Bhel Puri, Sukha Bhel (dried mixture of Saltries along with some onion and chillies), Patti Samosa, Kandha Bhajiya (Onion pakodas), Kandha Poha (Onion poha), Ragda Pattice. These are few of the most popular dishes which you will find in almost every place of Mumbai. 

Please let me know if you liked my entire journey of Mumbai Darshan and when are you planning to visit next?