Day 01 : Arrival Mumbai

Mumbai (formerly Bombay) ~the capital of Maharashtra, is India’s most dynamic, cosmopolitan and most affluent city. It is also home to the world’s biggest cinema industry, popularly known as ‘Bollywood.  A city of sparkling contrasts where skyscrapers stand next to stately Victorian buildings, colourful traditional bazaars adjoin glittering modern shopping malls.
Arrive Mumbai
• Special welcome upon arrival at Mumbai Airport by our representative with garlands.
• Transfer to the hotel in luxury air-conditioned coach.
• Exclusive Check-in desk at the hotel.
• Traditional Indian welcome with aarti and tikka.
• Welcome drink on arrival at the hotel.
• Welcome kit (including city maps, information etc) and room keys distribution.
• Direct delivery of luggage to the rooms.

Dinner & Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 02 : In Mumbai

After breakfast, drive to Dhobi Ghat and Gateway of India.
Dhobi Ghat ~ It's a fascinating spectacle, looking down on row upon row of open-air concrete wash pens, each fitted with its own flogging stone, while Mumbai's dhobis (around 200 dhobi families work together here) relentlessly pound the dirt from the city's garments in a timeless tradition. Known as the world's largest outdoor laundry, Dhobi Ghat is where Mumbai's traditional washer folk -- or dhobis -- provide a wonderful service, collecting dirty laundry, washing it, and returning it neatly pressed, all for a very small fee.
Stubborn stains are removed by soaking garments in a boiling vat of caustic soda; drying takes place on long, brightly colored lines; and heavy wood-burning irons are used for pressing. At the very least, it's a great photo opportunity, though most locals think it rather amusing that their everyday work arouses such curiosity.
Gateway of India ~ the most popular landmark, this yellow basalt arch was built to commemorate the visit of King George V in 1911. Designed by George Wittet, this imposing structure overlooking the Arabian Sea was opened to the public in 1924 and since then it's been on every tourist itinerary besides being a favorite meeting point for the locals. Many launches depart from here for short joyrides around the harbor or for longer ones to the Elephanta Caves. Touts, balloon sellers, photographers, peanut vendors roam around the place to give it a unique buzz.
Later, proceed for a excursion to Elephanta Island.
A 40-minute boat ride across the harbour from the Gateway of India, Elephanta Island is famous for its ornately carved temples, hewn into a rocky escarpment in the 6th century. Although damaged, the carvings are still impressive. The central statue of Trimurti – Shiva as the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe – is particularly dramatic. The temples are reached via a stone stairway from the ferry jetty, lined with vendors selling religious souvenirs.

Optional excursion before lunch: Interaction with Dabbawala in Mumbai

A dabbawala (one who carries the box), sometimes spelled dabbawalla , tiffinwalla , tiffinwalla or dabbawallah, is a person in the Indian city of Mumbai whose job is to carry and deliver freshly made food from home in lunch boxes to office workers. Though the work sounds simple, it is actually a highly specialized trade that is over a century old and which has become integral to Mumbai's culture.
More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunches get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost punctuality. According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries. The organization has been awarded the ‘Six Sigma certificate’ by Forbes Group.
A day with Dabbawala can be arranged for a single person or a group with language specific escort who will take you on the entire process of meeting the dabbawalas, understanding the coding system for the tiffins, and accompanying them on the local train to reach the final destination.
Dinner and Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 03 : Mumbai

After breakfast at the hotel.
Full day Bollywood Tour with lunch
Mockingly called Bollywood by locals and cynics, Film City clings to the outskirts of the National Park, and is practically overrun by assorted stars and starlets -- the demi gods and goddesses of Modern India. Don't snigger. Bollywood churns out over 900 films every year, all packed with those mandatory elements of song, dance, melodrama, violence and erotica that Indian audiences love. Which is probably why Film City sets are heavily booked around the year. They are closed to visitors, but special permissions can always be "obtained" to check out the action.
Mumbai is the center of India's huge Hindi film industry, producing 120 feature films a year. Much of the glamour associated with the city stems from its celebrated position as the dream-factory of the nation. The local film industry is known as Bollywood. It's a ragtag speculative trade, flush with black money and low on innovation. The films it produces tend to be spectacular melodramatic fantasies. They are known disparagingly as 'masala movies' because they are made to an established formula that mixes a variety of ingredients - action, violence, music, dance, romance and moralizing - into one outrageous blend. While plenty of thought- provoking 'artistic' Indian films are appreciated in the west, masala movies are largely viewed with contempt. It's not hard to figure out why. Stock characters, exaggerated acting, self-conscious editing, implausible, narratives and heroines who burst into song every five minutes are just the beginning of a long list of unlikely features that you are going to have to accept at face value if you want to enjoy a Bollywood flick. Despite being dismissed as escapist claptrap, plenty of masala movies get their narrative drive from social issues like communalism, ethnicity and caste. Many also address the effects of modernization and urbanization on traditional Indian institutes such as the family and marriage. As you'd expect from any vibrant cultural form, masala movies are a reflection of India's social and political milieu. This doesn't diminish their appeal or (thank goodness) unduly imbue them with profundity, but it does mean they have an astonishingly direct feed into the lives of their audiences that outsiders may find hard to fathom. On the surface it may be Rambo, Romeo and Robin Hood, but the subtext is likely to be the Mahabharata, dharma, and social justice. In this context, it's not surprising that masala movies have been one of the most potent forces shaping Indian ideas of nationhood.
8:30 pm – Pickup from Hotel Enroute, drive past and view of Star Homes from Outside.
10:30 – 12:30 pm : Visit to BIG ND studios: Witness Asia’s largest bollywood studio with sets that showcase some of India’s greatest architectures. ourbollywood studio tours and also watch a live shoot. Sets which are built to resemble reality enthrall the audience with its minute detailing to showcase different cultures in India. Guests are shown sets chosen according to the schedule of shootings taking place. A guaranteed live shoot is shown.
1:30 pm – Lunch at Tunga Restaurant in Vashi. After lunch departure to Hotel.
Dinner at the hotel restaurant.
Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 04 : Mumbai

Breakfast at the hotel.
Local running in Mumbai
Visit Mumbai City Landmarks
Mumbai City highlights: Prince of Wales Museum, Hanging Garden, Victoria Terminus, Mani Bhawan, Jain Temple & Shopping Streets.
Include a visit Victoria Terminus now known as Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus which is the disembarking station for Central Railway local Trains and Long-distance trains. Also visit Mani Bhawan – Gandhi Museum, Jain Temple and shopping streets such as Fashion Street are the best place to bargain for clothes. Shops are generally open from around 10am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday. One can see the latest fashion trends here, and casual wear is probably the cheapest anywhere in the world. It is a very popular area with college students and teenagers. The clothes are usually surplus exports and therefore are of very good quality and make. There are also several shoe and jewellery shops and anything else you can think of.
Lunch at the local restaurant.
Return back to the hotel for refresh.
Evening, time for shopping.
Dinner at the hotel restaurant.
Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 05 : Mumbai

Breakfast at the hotel. Later in time you will be transferred to the Mumbai International Airport for your flight back home.