Mahim

On the Sion-Bandra Link Road opposite Dharavi, a 37-acre forest planted over a closed rubbish tip in the 1980s. Entry is a token amount, around ₹25, and it opens roughly 9am to 5pm. Butterflies, a bird hide over the Mithi, and a nursery. The one green hour in Mumbai that costs nothing much.

Lady Jamshedji Road, west side. Services run in waves through Wednesday from early morning to evening and the queue wraps the compound wall. Hindus and Muslims join it as a matter of course. Free. Arrive twenty minutes before an hour mark, stand at the back, and do not photograph faces.

The shrine of Makhdoom Ali Mahimi sits off Mori Road behind a lane of flower stalls, caps and attar. Open daily, busiest Thursday evening. The ten-day urs in winter is when the Mumbai Police traditionally offer the first sandal. Buy Mahim halwa by the quarter kilo, roughly ₹120, at the stalls near the gate.

Off the western end of the causeway near the fishing colony, a Portuguese-era bastion now half-swallowed by the koliwada and slowly under restoration. Not a tidy monument — expect nets, boats and washing. Go at low tide, mid-morning, and treat it as a working village you are a guest in rather than a viewpoint.

In the cooler months a farmers market sets up inside Maharashtra Nature Park on the link road: millets, cold-pressed oils, unpolished rice, forest honey, ₹200 to ₹600 a bag. It runs roughly 9am to 1pm on Sundays from around November to March. Bring your own cloth bag; several stalls refuse to hand out plastic.

Mahim Junction is on both the Western and Harbour lines, so you can board here for Vashi and Panvel without going into town first. Second class to Vashi costs around ₹15 and takes 50 minutes. Avoid 8am to 10.30am northbound and 6pm to 8.30pm southbound unless you enjoy being carried by a crowd.

Metro Line 3 runs from both airport terminals to Shitaladevi Temple station on Senapati Bapat Marg in around 30 minutes for roughly ₹60 — far and away the best arrival. A taxi is ₹550 to ₹800 and 40 to 80 minutes. From Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus take a Harbour Line train, or from Churchgate a slow Western Line local to Mahim Junction, both about 25 minutes for ₹10 in second class. Inside Mahim, walk: the causeway, dargah, church and station are within a kilometre of each other. Autos operate freely here because Mahim is the first stop north of the auto boundary, ₹26 flag-down; south of the causeway you need a taxi.

Only if you are price-driven or specifically interested in the dargah, the church and the nature park. There are no sea views, no restaurant scene and no bars. What you get is Metro Line 3, two suburban rail lines and a room at a third of Bandra's rate. Most leisure travellers should stay in Bandra West or Colaba and visit Mahim for half a day.

No. The Mithi River discharges here and the water quality is poor year-round, worse after rain. Volunteer groups do regular clean-ups and the sand has improved a lot, but it remains a place to walk at dusk rather than enter the water. For actual swimming you need to leave the city — Alibaug across the harbour is the realistic option.

Metro Line 3 from Shitaladevi Temple, two stops via Dharavi to the BKC station, about eight minutes and roughly ₹30. By road it is 5 km up the Bandra-Sion Link Road and can take 35 minutes in the evening peak, so the metro wins by a wide margin. An auto to the BKC gate runs ₹80 to ₹120 if the metro is closed.

The ten-day urs falls in December each year, timed to the Islamic calendar, and the procession that opens it is traditionally led by the Mumbai Police. Streets around Mori Road close, crowds run into the hundreds of thousands and hotel rooms in Mahim book out. If you are here for work that week, base yourself in Dadar or Bandra instead.