Sun, Sand, and Skylines: Exploring Goa and Mumbai!!
Embark on a vibrant journey through the sun-soaked beaches and Portuguese charm of Goa, followed
by the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, where modernity meets tradition. This itinerary promises a
perfect blend of coastal relaxation, cultural exploration, and urban excitement in two of India’s most
dynamic destinations.
Sun, Sand, and Skylines: Exploring Goa and Mumbai!!
Embark on a vibrant journey through the sun-soaked beaches and Portuguese charm of Goa, followed by the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, where modernity meets tradition. This itinerary promises a perfect blend of coastal relaxation, cultural exploration, and urban excitement in two of India’s most dynamic destinations.
Day 01: Arrival / Mumbai
Welcome to India, or as we say ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ (The guest is an incarnation of God). Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you!!
Mid-morning arrival, meeting and assistance upon arrival as our representatives welcome you and escort you to your car. (Though check in time is 2pm, every effort would be made to ensure an as early as possible check in – subject to availability) Whilst the room keys and check-in is organized, our representative would introduce the tour to you and hand over the documents to you. Evening is at leisure for your independent activities.
Overnight at Trident Nariman Point, Mumbai (Premier Room) (No Meals)
Day 02: Mumbai / Goa (Mao Tejas Express - 0550 / 1500 Hrs) (Vistadome AC) (EV)
Early morning (with packed breakfast), we will transfer to the train station to board the train to Goa. We will journey from Mumbai to Goa in a Vistadome class of travel. This is a spectacular adventure that combines the charm of a coastal vacation with the luxury of scenic rail travel. You can relish breathtaking views of the Konkan coastline, lush forests, and serene rivers through large panoramic windows, all while enjoying modern amenities and a comfortable ride. It is a perfect way to make the trip to Goa not just a destination but an unforgettable part of the vacation itself. Meeting and assistance upon arrival, as our representative will welcome you and transfer to hotel, Ahilya by the Sea.
Overnight at Ahilya by the Sea, Goa (Suite – Upgraded) (B)
Day 03: Goa
Day is at leisure. Suggest, take in the morning sea breeze and stroll for twenty-five minutes along the seaside towards the Reis Magos Fort which dates to the mid-fifteenth century.
Mid-morning, participate in a Culinary Adventure
in Goa: Cooking is the art, technology, science, and craft of preparing food. Goa is known for its food which is influenced by Portuguese and native cultures. Know all regardless of the cooking method used in various dishes. Commence on an exciting culinary journey of Goan cuisine with cookery classes and culinary tour with accomplished chef Rita Shinde. Rita brings you a cooking class in Goa with an amazing cooking experience along with a market tour and traditional Goan meal. Includes welcome snacks and savouries with beverages / local farmer’s market tour / brief introduction to different spices / demonstration and participation in cooking class in four dishes / Lunch from the dishes prepared and an appetizer / Certificate
Overnight at Ahilya by the Sea, Goa (Suite – Upgraded) (B)
Day 04: Goa
After breakfast, we proceed on a tour of Old Goa. Starting with a drive to Dona Paula, an idyllic spot which overlooks Goa’s magnificent harbor of Mormugão, we proceed to Panjim via Miramar Beach and the leafy residential neighborhood of Campal. In the year 1843 the Portuguese Court in Lisbon issued a Royal Decree making Panjim the new capital of Goa which was a fishing village until then. The Panjim of today still radiates that old charm, with typical Portuguese architecture mirrored in the houses and villas spread along the River Mandovi. Notable among the classic structures are the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church, Bishop’s Palace and Adil Shah’s Palace (the present Secretariat) which was built in 1492 and made the Vice Roy’s residence when Panjim became the Capital of Goa. We also have a stop at the fruit and vegetable market for guests to experience the sights and smells of Goa. Our tour then proceeds to Old Goa, which was the old capital of Goa. Visit the Basilica of Bom Jesus where the incorruptible remains of St. Francis Xavier are kept in a silver casket entombed in a Florentine style marble mausoleum. Also you will have the chance to walk in the narrow lanes of Fontainhas. Fontainhas, the capital of Panjim’s Latin Quarter, is known for narrow lanes full of colorful Portuguese villas with balconies and red-tiled roofs. The 1800s St. Sebastian’s Chapel is a whitewashed, 3-tiered church and the chic Gallery Gitanjali shows contemporary art and hosts cultural events. Small boutiques sell Portuguese azulejo tiles, while traditional Goan eateries and quaint bakeries serve local dishes. Afternoon is at leisure for your independent activities. You may undertake Ayurveda massages at the resort or enjoy nature walks.
Overnight at Ahilya by the Sea, Goa (Suite – Upgraded) (B)
Day 05: Goa
Enjoy an extremely engaging and intriguing morning walk through the hidden lanes of Goa with the director of the Museum of Goa- Subodh Kerkar, who also is Goa’s most famous artist. Subodh takes you back in time by sharing hidden secrets and stories of the history, culture and food of Goa. To end this tour, he most graciously welcomes all our guests to the Museum of Goa where you get to view the best of Goa’s contemporary art and installations.
Afternoon is at leisure for your independent activities.
Overnight at Ahilya by the Sea, Goa (Suite – Upgraded) (B)
Day 06: Goa / Mumbai (AI 664 - 1525 / 1635 Hrs)
At 05:00 am, we will visit to one of the largest fish markets of North Goa is located 10 minutes by car from the hotel. Here you get to watch the trawlers come in with fresh catch and watch how the fish is separated and then auctioned. Our expert fish angler personally guides you through this fascinating experience
Morning is at leisure for your independent activities.
Afternoon, we will transfer to the Goa airport to board the flight to Mumbai.
Meeting and assistance upon arrival, as our representative will welcome you and transfer to hotel, Taj Mahal Palace.
Overnight at Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai (Luxury Grande Sea View Room – Upgraded) (B)
Day 07: Mumbai
Sunrise Tour of Mumbai Come with us to enjoy your early sunrise tour or the Mumbai Morning Tour of some magical moments of this mesmerizing and fascinating city. A city of unlimited dreams, infinite ideas and the city that never sleeps and lets you sleep: Mumbai. The best time to travel around Mumbai is either in the early mornings, when it’s just you, we and Mumbai! Our tour guide in Mumbai would pick you up early morning at about 7am or so, for the Mumbai Morning Tour and then from your hotel we’ll take you to explore the most gorgeous and fascinating colourful flower market of Mumbai, which according to us is an absolute treat to your eyes, mind, heart and soul. We will also pass some beautiful Colonial Heritage structures of Mumbai in the Colaba district. Around 9:30 a.m., we’ll check out the Sassoon Docks: The fishing hub of Mumbai to see the fisherwomen getting their early catch from the sea & sorting them amidst unlimited pandemonium and people! The Mumbai Morning Tour is a nice way to get the glimpse of this amazing city as a local and after the tour; you can also join us for a nice Indian local breakfast with some amazing fresh and natural Indian Masala chai!
Mid-morning, we have a very special attraction for you to visit and photograph. We will witness the life and times of Mumbai’s lifelines – the Dabbawalas. Everyday many people living in Mumbai get ready for their office and leave their house to reach their workplace from one part of the city to another whilst braving the traffic jams, crowded trains, and buses etc. Meanwhile, the housewives get busy putting together a delicious and healthy meal that will be served at the lunch hour to their better halves. Enter the Dabbawalas, who promise to deliver the tiffin box at a fixed hour, EVERYDAY! From the Church gate train station where the dabbawalas do their acts, we would travel to a very popular local restaurant called Samrat. This is a pure vegetarian restaurant, and, today we would taste a typical Gujarati Thali lunch. Gujarati cuisine is one of the most extraordinary cuisines in India, even though it comprises the simplest of dishes. From the mouth-watering Dhoklas (a very popular Gujarati snacks) that are light as a feather to the fried and hefty Parothas (and loads of other delicious offerings), every dish leaves you wanting for more. Afternoon is at leisure for your independent activities.
Overnight at Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai (Luxury Grande Sea View Room – Upgraded) (B & L)
Day 08: Mumbai
Morning, we will also visit Dharavi, Asia’s largest ‘slum’ and home to nearly a million people. In spite of the grime and the squalor, Dharavi is an area bustling with activity, with an economy estimated to be worth US $500 million, and many rags-to-riches stories. Dharavi is as old as Bombay. The original inhabitants of Dharavi were kolis, the fisher folk, who lived at the edge of the creek that came in from the Arabian Sea. A dam at Sion, adjacent to Dharavi, caused the creek to dry up. Dharavi’s fisher folk were deprived of their traditional sustenance, and the newly emerged land from the marshes provided space for new communities to move in. The first migrants were people from Maharashtra, and in particular from the Konkan coast, as well from Gujarat. Potters from Saurashtra were allocated land in Dharavi to establish what is even today called Kumbharwada. The other settlers were direct migrants to the city, many of them trained in a trade or a craft. Muslim tanners from Tamil Nadu migrated to Dharavi and set up the leather tanning industry. Other artisans, like the embroidery workers from Uttar Pradesh, started the ready-made garments trade. From Tamil Nadu, workers joined the flourishing business of making savories and sweets. On this tour, you can see the people of Dharavi, their homes, their work places, and their spirit. This is not a ‘slum’ tour. If you are expecting extreme poverty and despair based on movie depictions, you will be disappointed. In fact, this tour actively breaks stereotypical depictions of slums.
Afternoon is at leisure for your independent activities.
Late afternoon, proceed on a unique food tasting tour that would bring to your taste buds the typical foods, flavors, and, the taste of Mumbai’s Common Man’s fare. Let us acquaint you with Mumbai’s street cuisines through the gastronomical adventures that await you. Here, we have come up with the Best Food Dishes in Mumbai, according to a local Mumbaikar.
Introducing some of the best fun, food dishes that will long remain in your memories:
Masala Chai/Tea: Famously called ‘cutting’ or ‘full’ chai all over Mumbai, Masala chai is a beverage from the Indian subcontinent made by brewing tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs. Sev Puri: ‘Sev Puri’ is essentially small pieces of crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour paste. It is a deep fried small round and crispy white bread. Prominently known as the ‘Mumbai’s second signature dish.
Pav Bhaji: Mumbai’s Pav Bhaji is an utterly delicious treat you would not simply want to miss!! This famous Mumbai food offers an impeccable taste that originated in Marathi Cuisine. The Bhaji (curry) is made from mix vegetables like potato, peas, onions and tomato, and, are served with a small loaf of bread called Pav. Squeeze some lemon on top of it and dig in with your fingers.
Kulfi: It is a popular Indian Ice-cream made from the condensed milk.
Dry Fruit Sweets: They are made with sugar, milk and condensed milk, and, are cooked by frying Almonds, Pistachios, saffron, cashew nuts etc.
Overnight at Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai (Luxury Grande Sea View Room – Upgraded) (B)
Day 09: Mumbai (Prince Of Wales Museum is closed on Mondays)
After breakfast, we will proceed on a city tour of Mumbai. Our highlights for the day would be as below:
GATEWAY OF INDIA
Gateway of India (Apollo Bunder, Colaba) designed by Scotland-born architect, George Wittet. Sporting exquisite Mughal-style design elements, this imposing basalt arch overlooks the Mumbai Harbor. The arch was completed in 1924, during the British Raj, to commemorate England’s
King George V and Queen Mary’s 1911 visit to India.
PRINCE OF WALES MUSEUM
Diagonally opposite the art gallery is the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Museum (11) (Prince of Wales Museum 159-161 Mahatma Gandhi [MG] Road, www.bombaymuseum.org). Designed by George Wittet, it sports Indo-Saracenic (also known as Indo-Gothic) architecture, a Mughal-Gothic style adopted by the British in the late 1800s. Formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum, the gracefully domed building opened its doors in 1922 in honor of Britain’s King George V (who first visited India in 1905 as then Prince of Wales). Mumbai’s largest museum, it has a superb collection of Indian artifacts and warrants an unhurried browse. Step into the front gardens to admire this grand building.
MUMBAI UNIVERSITY
The original campus is in Fort, Mumbai, near the southern end of the city of Mumbai. It houses the administrative division of the university. It is built in the Gothic style of architecture and also includes a library which holds many original manuscripts. The University of Bombay was established at the Fort Campus in 1857.
HIGH COURT Retrace your steps back to Flora Fountain and continue west past the Venetian Gothic-style State Public Works Department (21). Turn south onto BhauraoPatilMarg to see the august High Court (22) and the equally venerable and ornately decorated University of Mumbai (23). The façades of both buildings are best observed from within the Oval FLORA FOUNTAIN Cross back over to Forbes St to visit the KenesethEliyahoo Synagogue (15) before returning to MG Rd and continuing north along the left-hand side so you can admire the vertical Art Deco stylings of the New India Assurance Company Building (16). In a traffic island ahead lies the pretty Flora Fountain (17), named after the Roman goddess of abundance, and erected in 1869 in honour of Sir Bartle Frere, the Bombay governor responsible for dismantling the fort
VICTORIA TERMINUS – Photo stop from outside Victoria Terminus in Mumbai was modeled on St Pancras Station in London. Mr Frederick William Stevens, an architect designed the railway station in Mumbai in 1887-88 at a cost of Rs16.14 lakh. Later Stevens, went to Europe for 10 months so that he could study the railway stations across the European countris in detail. Victoria Terminus was completed in 10 years, named to honor Queen Victoria and then opened to all. Only recently in 1996, it was renamed after ChhatrapatiShivaji, a famous Maratha king of 17th century the state government of Maharashtra
DHOBI GHAT
A dhobi is a traditional Indian laundryman, who will collect your dirty linen, wash it and return it neatly pressed on your doorstep. The Dhobi Ghat is a huge open-air Laundromat consisting of row upon row of concrete wash basins, all with a flogging stone. Around 200 dhobi families work together here, relentlessly pounding the dirt from the cities garments as they did hundreds of years ago in exactly the same way.
MANI BHAVAN
The Mani bhavan is situated at 19, Laburnum Road, Gamdevi. It is one of the more important Gandhi Memorial Museums in the country. It’s a pretty, two-storied structure that now houses a reference library .Gandhiji stayed and worked here on many occasions between 1917 and 1934. Thus Mani bhavan is a place where Gandhiji lived and conversed with his colleagues. Once a Residence of the father of the nation, it is now a source of inspiration and freedom to everyone. It was from Mani Bhavan that Gandhi initiated the Non-Cooperation, Satyagraha, Swadeshi, Khadi and Khilafat movements. Gandhi’s association with the charkha or spinning wheel began in 1917, while he was staying at Mani Bhavan.You can also see Gandhi’s old charkha (spinning wheel), which in many ways symbolized the struggle for independence, and which now appears on the Indian flag.
Hanging Gardens
The Hanging Gardens makes another must see site in Mumbai. The park was built during the early 1880s over Mumbai’s main reservoir at the top of the Malabar Hills. The reason of its location being to cover the water from the potentially contaminating activity of the nearby Towers of Silence. Located just opposite the Kamala Nehru Park, this terraced garden, also known as Ferozeshah Mehta Garden, is famous among the locals as well as tourists. The garden provides lovely sunset views over the Arabian Sea.
Afternoon is at leisure for your independent activities. Evening,
we proceed on a walking tour of Mumbai’s bazaars. The city is a bustling, diverse metropolis with a flare of its own. The entrepreneurial spirit and pulsating pace of life offers a sharp contrast to much of the rest of India. We will start the walking tour of the ‘native’ bazaar areas of Bhuleshwar, which literally means “where even God looses Himself”. The tour is a mix of energetic street market, color, and multi – cultural mix of mosques, temples and cuisines. The walking tour covers different places such as Crawford Market, (officially Mahatma JyotiraoPhule Market). This is one of South Mumbai’s most famous market heaving with activity. The market is housed in a building that resembles Victorian London, but over-run with a crazy riot of local colour. It is the most popular shopping precinct of Bombay. The main building is listed in the Heritage List of buildings, and, is one of the largest wholesale markets of Mumbai.
From Crawford Market, we would walk into the nearby lanes, to see the traditional bazaar areas, for a real feel of how Mumbai lives and shops each day. This is a major attraction. Mumbai is a city that lives not in its monuments or buildings, but in its streets and markets and people. We also visit the Jama Masjid area. Here, India’s oldest Muslim community, arrived during the 6th Century AD) Making your way through old parts of Mumbai can be both exhilarating and chaotic; mainly because the narrow roads of the city have little space for walking without nudging the next person but at the same time it holds those ancient stories which could possibly be overlooked in a casual exploration of the city. We receive the typical sense of the place as we walk towards MirchiGalli (spices market) a place that is lost in time, and,where you will find all kinds of spices (whole and ground) and dry fruits available in Mumbai. From a variety of Kashmiri chillies to turmeric, cumin seeds, cinnamon, mustard seeds and much more are to be found in this Spice Market. , Then, our walking tour brings us to Mangaldas Market (the cloth market). Traditionally home to traders from Gujarat, the bazaar is a great place to browse for Indian textiles and traditional clothes. From here we continue to walk towards Zaveri Bazaar – the most sought- after jewelry market of Mumbai where everyone’s crazy about gold, PhoolGalli (Flower Street) -a world exists within Mumbai, where work begins at 4 am! Another bazaar where the air is rendered with the aroma of various fragrances would be the flower market where supplies are brought for purchase by retail traders. The tour culminates at the Mumbadevi Temple (The temple that gave the city its name), and the picturesque MadhavBaug. (A 123 year old area where idols of different deities are available).
Overnight at Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai (Luxury Grande Sea View Room – Upgraded) (B)
Day 10: Mumbai / Departure
(Though the checkout time is 12 noon, every effort would be made to retain rooms till as late as possible without additional charges – subject to availability)
In time, we will transfer to the Mumbai international airport to board the onward flight back home.
NO HOTEL QUOTED FOR THIS DAY (B)
END OF SERVICES
We do hope the flavor of India will remain on your taste buds for all times to come and
hopefully would kindle an indelible fondness for the country and her people; Thank you for being our guest, and as we say in India ‘Please come back soon”
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you!!
COST INCLUDES:
– Accommodation based on Double Occupancy Basis
– Meals as per the itinerary only (B – Breakfast & L – Lunch)
– Culinary Class in Goa with Lunch
– Walk through the Museums of Goa
– A visit to the Fish Market, Goa
– Sunrise tour of Mumbai
– Lunch at Samrat Restaurant, Mumbai
– Slum tour of Dharavi – Mumbai
– Food Tour in Mumbai
– Market Mania Tour in Mumbai
– All journeys as per itinerary in a fine air-conditioned Toyota Crysta
– Inner India airfares as per the itinerary based on current schedule (subject to change
and 100% cancellation charge)
– Train journey as per the itinerary
– Local English-speaking guides in Mumbai and Goa
– Entrance fees as per the itinerary
– GST Levy, Toll, and Parking
– All driver expenses
– Bottled drinking water for road journeys
COST DOES NOT INCLUDE:
– Camera & video fee to monuments
– Meals other than mention above
– Expenses of personal nature such as laundry, drinks, tips, telephone calls etc
– Credit Card Transaction Fees