Khar
Bandra's calmer twin: numbered residential roads, a working fishing village, serious restaurants on 15th Road, and 20 percent lower rates.
Tree-lined residential lane on Khar's numbered roads with low-rise apartment blocks
Why people stay in Khar
Khar is what people mean when they say they want to stay in Bandra but sleep. It begins where Bandra's Linking Road stops being a bazaar, and it is laid out on plain numbered roads — 1st through 16th — running between Linking Road and S V Road, lined with low-rise buildings, gulmohar trees and enough parking to be noticeably unusual. Rooms sit at roughly ₹6,500 to ₹12,000, about a fifth under the equivalent in Bandra West, and the walk to Bandra's Carter Road takes twenty minutes if you feel like being somewhere louder.
The restaurant density is the real argument. 15th Road and the stretch of Linking Road around Khar Gymkhana carry a run of proper kitchens — Khar Social on 5th Road for the co-working-and-cocktails crowd, Papa Pancho for late Punjabi food, a rotating cast of small chef-driven places that open and close every eighteen months. Dinner for two runs ₹2,000 to ₹4,500 with drinks. What Khar does not have is a bar strip; people eat here and drink in Bandra, and last orders in most kitchens are around 11.30pm on weeknights.
Khar Danda, on the sea side beyond Carter Road, is the part visitors miss entirely. It is a Koli fishing village older than the suburb wrapped around it, with a Ram Mandir at its heart, boats drawn up on the mud and racks of bombil drying in the sun. The morning landing is a functioning market, not a spectacle, and it is the shortest food chain you will find in Mumbai — a good half-hour if you are on a trip with any interest in where things come from.
Who should skip Khar: anyone who wants a hotel with a view, and anyone travelling without a plan. This is a residential grid, and the pleasure of it is entirely in knowing where you are going. Khar Road station handles only slow trains, so the rail journey into town is fifteen minutes longer than from Bandra. And in monsoon, the low stretch around the Khar subway floods reliably enough that locals plan around it.
The numbered roads between Linking Road and the sea — particularly 15th, 16th and the lanes towards Khar Danda — are the quietest and best value, with serviced apartments and small boutique hotels at ₹6,500 to ₹11,000 including breakfast. The Linking Road frontage itself is cheaper at ₹5,000 to ₹7,500 but you will hear traffic and shop shutters until midnight. The S V Road side, closer to Khar Road station, drops to ₹3,500 to ₹5,000; it is functional, well connected for trains, and thoroughly charmless. Serviced apartments are unusually good value here for stays of a week or more — expect ₹45,000 to ₹80,000 a month for a well-kept one-bedroom with a kitchen, which suits the longer project trip better than a hotel does. Avoid ground-floor rooms anywhere near the Khar subway between June and September for obvious reasons.
Things to do in Khar
Follow Khar Danda Road west past the Ram Mandir to where the lane meets the water. Boats come in between 6am and 8am; prawns, pomfret and mounds of bombil laid out to dry. Nothing here is staged for visitors. Ask before photographing, buy something if you can cook it, and wear closed shoes.
The stretch between Linking Road and the sea end carries the best concentration of independent kitchens in the western suburbs. Reckon on ₹1,200 to ₹2,500 a head with a drink. Most places take reservations and genuinely need them from Thursday to Sunday. Kitchens close around 11.30pm midweek, 12.30am at the weekend.
North of the Khar Gymkhana junction the pavement market thins out and the actual shops begin — Indian labels, leather, kolhapuris from ₹700. Far less hassling than the Bandra stretch and prices are mostly fixed. Shops open around eleven and stay open to nine. Sunday afternoon is when the whole road jams solid.
Rohan Plaza on 5th Road, off Linking Road. Opens late morning, wifi that works, long tables full of people on laptops, coffee around ₹250 and a full meal for ₹600. It becomes a bar by nine. This is the default answer for a half-day of work between meetings on this side of the city.
The northern end of Carter Road promenade runs into the Khar Danda mangrove belt, one of the last stands of it on this coast. Early morning at low tide brings egrets, herons and the occasional kingfisher. Twenty minutes on foot from 16th Road. Free, quiet, and best before eight in the morning.
Khar Road is on the Western Line and the Harbour Line branch that runs to Goregaon, five minutes from Linking Road on foot via the east subway. Only slow trains stop, so Churchgate takes about 40 minutes for ₹10 second class. Buy a smart card at the counter and skip the ticket queue entirely.
What to see
Hotels near Khar
No hotels are listed in Khar yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Every hotel we cover in Khar
- Shaheer Hospitality 3★ · 4.8/5
- Bloom Boutique Bandra 3★ · 4.7/5
- Gobinddham 3★ · 4.5/5
- Le Sutra Hotel 3★ · 4.4/5
- Sutra d'Onyx 2★ · 4.4/5
- Hotel Regal Enclave 3★ · 4.3/5
- Ramee Guestline Khar 3★ · 4.3/5
- Ramee Techome 4★ · 4.2/5
- Boutique Hotel Bawa Suites 3★ · 4.2/5
- Grand Residency Hotel & Serviced Apartments 3★ · 4.2/5
- Hotel Aarya International 3★ · 4.2/5
- Executive Enclave 3★ · 4.1/5
- Hotel Grace Galaxy 3★ · 4.1/5
- Cohostel 2★ · 4.1/5
- Hotel Linkway 3★ · 4/5
- Lucky Hotel Bandra 3★ · 4/5
- Oriental Residency Hotel 3★ · 4/5
- Royal Inn 3★ · 4/5
- Treebo Livewel 3★ · 3.9/5
- Hotel Metro Palace 3★ · 3.8/5
- Hotel Golden Plaza 3★ · 3.7/5
- OYO 20017 Silverkey Bandra East 3★ · 3.7/5
- Hotel BKC Corporate Inn 2★ · 3.7/5
- Hotel Kings Palace 3★ · 3.6/5
Getting around Khar
Terminal 2 to Khar is 7 km, 20 to 45 minutes, ₹400 to ₹650 by taxi; Terminal 1 is closer at 5 km. There is no metro station in Khar — Line 3's Bandra Colony stop is a ₹100 auto ride east, and Line 2A's D N Nagar is 4 km north. Khar Road station on the Western and Harbour lines is the practical link into town, 40 minutes to Churchgate, ₹10 in second class, though only slow trains stop. Inside Khar, walk the grid: Linking Road to the sea end is fifteen minutes. Autos are everywhere at ₹26 flag-down, and unlike Bandra they will usually take a two-minute fare without argument.
Questions about Khar
Cheaper and quieter, with almost the same restaurant access, because the good end of Bandra is a twenty-minute walk away. What you lose is the sea promenades on your doorstep, the street life and the sense of being somewhere. Choose Khar for a work trip of several nights, Bandra for a short leisure stay where atmosphere matters more than sleep.
Terminal 2 is 7 km via the Western Express Highway, typically 25 minutes but up to 50 at peak. A taxi runs ₹400 to ₹650. Terminal 1 for domestic flights is a shorter hop at around ₹350. There is no rail or metro link from Khar itself, so leave a full ninety minutes for an international check-in during the evening rush.
Yes — from 16th Road it is about fifteen minutes on foot to the northern, mangrove end of Carter Road promenade, and another fifteen along the sea wall to Otters Club. The pavements are decent by Mumbai standards. Do it in the evening from about six; midday the same walk is punishing between March and June.
It is one of the better options in the city. The numbered roads are full of well-maintained one and two-bedroom serviced flats at roughly ₹45,000 to ₹80,000 a month, with kitchens, laundry and parking. Landlords here are used to corporate lets. Negotiate hard for anything over three weeks and inspect the water supply before signing.
