Where to stay at Mumbai?

Hi,

I was in mumbai before (Dec 06 %26amp; Jan 07), now whilst i was there my wife (at that time fiance) did no sight seeing but shopped till we dropped for our wedding..

At that time I stayed at Ajanta Hotel in Juhu area and we hated this hotel. We moved to Intercontinental on Airport Sahar Rd opposite the Hyatt, and though it was pricey we enjoyed our stay here.

I will be back in mumbai in december of this year and am looking at actually touring mumbai. What is the best are to look for a hotel? I havent seen the gateway of india and i know thats at the southern end of mumbai, and have heard of areas such as colaba etc being touristy areas.

Also can anyone suggest a hotel that is clean and not expensive close to the Juhu area.

All suggestions will be greatly appreciated

Where to stay at Mumbai?

We found the Fort area ideal... you could walk to Colaba, or Crawfor Market, and it%26#39;s right in the centre of everything, near banks, movie theatres, and close to the two main stations, Victoria and Churchgate. Yet it%26#39;s not full of tourists, like Colaba.

The hotel we chose (Benazeer) may be too downmarket for someone who has stayed at the Intercontinetal, but it was next door to a mid-range hotel which (we heard) was good value... I think its name is the Residency (if I%26#39;ve got that wrong, maybe Deepa will chime in with a correction).

Where to stay at Mumbai?

Thanks Alan,

In that area did you have use of rickshaws? I also forgot to mention that we stayed in Bayculla at the heritage hotel. This was a ok hotel, but apparently i was told no rickshaws were allowed in this area. And to be honest i didnt see any there...

I love riding the rickshaws - and it would be ideal that we are not limited at the mode of transport we use...

Also if any experts read this post - could you please confirm if there is a place called %26#39;film city%26#39;. We asked our driver to go there when we were there and he said it didnt exist - I actually believe thats a load of bullocks?? I mean mumbai is the bollywood capital and im sure there is a road in mumbai called film city road....

No rickshaws ply in South Mumbai. They ply only till Bandra.

Hotel Sea Princess at Juhu Beach is , I think, a good enough hotel in Juhu although I%26#39;m not aware of their tariffs.

Yeah, there is an area called Film City. It is in Goregaon (E). But I think you need special permission to get in. The area is essentially a long stretch of road which has various studios and certain %26#39;locations%26#39; for shoots. For instance, there is a temple inside which has been featured in many movies and tele-serials. If you manage to get inside Film City, you still need permission to get into one of the studios to watch a shooting. Earlier, many shootings used to take place in the outdoors but I think that%26#39;s reduced now. So, you may not be able to witness any shooting just by driving around.

For travelling by autos (as they are called in Mumbai), you need to be in areas beyond Bandra towards Borivli.

AlanJ%26#39;s memory serves him well. The hotel he refers to is indeed The Residency. It is an excellently located value-for-money property. It isn%26#39;t quite like the Intercontinental though!

If you want to be close to the tourist sopts, it will be tough to find a better located property in that range.

However, if you don%26#39;t mind spending more (considering you did stay at the Intercon the last time), you could look at Gordon House at Colaba, a 3 star, or if you want nothing but the best -- the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower at Colaba.

Is Bandra close enough to Juhu to suit your preference?

It%26#39;s in the right half of Bombay. It is not close to the regular ';tourist'; things like Gateway of India and Chowpatty Beach, it%26#39;s an hour cab ride. It is close to great shopping and dining, and the beach is still there - Bandstand I think is the most comparable area of beach area to Chowpatty Beach.

Anyhow - we stayed at a moderate-priced place called Executive Enclave in Bandra and liked it fine. I haven%26#39;t written a review yet but agree with the positive ones on the forum. It%26#39;s in a mostly-nice area, though right across from the entrance is a (non-dangerous) shabby side of a street. We walked around a lot, and there are always rickshaws and taxis available.

Very near to great Bombay street shopping on Linking Road.

If you want to be on Juhu Beach, try the Sun-n-Sand. Lovely hotel with sea-facing rooms.

If you want to be in South Bombay, checkout Gordon House and Fariyas in Colaba; or Godwin/Bentleys if you are on a budget. Colaba is in the ';tourist-belt'; and also has some great shopping....though the newer malls are probably more hip.

Remember, traffic in this city is MURDER if you want to get about!

If you are looking to do some sightseeing, but do not wish to stay at the five-star hotels, then Gordon House is a good bet.

Gordon House is in Colaba, it is indeed ';touristy'; but it has museums, monuments nearby and therefore makes the most sense. Or you could stay at

If you want to avoid Colaba, try Shalimar, which is sort of mid-range in price, but nicely located in Kemps Corner, a residential area with lots of shops etc.

Juhu is far away from the sightseeing areas. Not sure why you want to stay there? I would not recommend Sun-n-Sand, in fact, other than the J W Mariott, I%26#39;m not sure what other hotel in Juhu is any good.

- Deepa

Reason why i liked the juhu part was coz it was close to areas such as Andheri,santa cruz, bandara, and we went to the marriot for dinner etc couple of times...

Now i would like to see colaba if it is touristy, we didnt get a chance to last time.

If i was to stay in Bandara how long would it take me to get to colaba by car and how long would it take to get to film city?

Also how do u get permission to go to film city???

Thanks all for all the replies guys and all recommendations i am considering all hotel options given..

Ideally next time im in mumbai id like to stay in nice accommodation but not pay like 12000 rupees a nite. Id prefer paying around 3000.

Aman

Well, this time, you ought to stay in the Colaba/Fort area to experience the heritage district of Mumbai (the old city).This is what is %26#39;downtown%26#39;/CBD of Mumbai as well.

With your budget,a good option would be The Residency at Fort. Another would be The Ascot at Colaba.

From Bandra to Colaba in rush hour can take 1 and 1/2 hours and is simply not practical.

Film City is even beyond Bandra (maybe 45 minutes). It will be very difficult to get in without proper authorisation and you are unlikely to succeed, so to take a decision to stay that side of town just for that isn%26#39;t the best thing to do.