Delightful Elephanta Caves Excursion Mumbai (Guided Half Day Sightseeing Tour)

Avoid - YoTours

Avoid - Yo Tours Booked an early morning 09.00am tour as we had another tour in the late afternoon. You Tours altered the start time after we were at the meeting point and expected us to wait 2 hrs for an alternative tour -They refused refund and just kept telling us it was due to cruise ships being in town -do not trust this company and book with a more reputable organization - it may cost a few dollars more but you get what you pay for in our case we got NOTHING for our money and Yo Tours ruined a day.

A wonderful experience- beautiful place

Due to internet issues (Australians -Telstra doesn’t work in India!) the intended guide couldn’t contact me so I began the ferry ride without guide. The company, without my knowledge, arranged another guide who met me on the island, Avinash who was wonderful. Very knowledgeable (local to the island) and taught us a lot about the history and religion that we would not have learnt from reading the plaques. A beautiful experience.

While the island is...

While the island is amazing and the tour guide was very knowledgeable, the tour company was a complete mess. I was contact the day before to change the hour, which I didn't mind but the car picked me up 20 min late and I had to request the driver's license plate more than once. In addition, I was informed by the tour guide I have to take the ferry on my own, pay for it and he was going to reimburse me once in the island. I bought the ticket and requested the money in more than one opportunity and he kept saying later. At the end, when I got to the ferry to go back to the city, I got in fast because it was about to leave and only then I realised I never got the money. I think it's the company/tour guide responsibility to pay back as soon as the person arrives (at this point is not about the amount of money but the attitude. I feel they probably do this to several tourist). Finally, I found out the tour included only pick up but no drop off (usually when you hire the first, it includes the second one), so I found myself at Gateway India trying to find my way back to the hotel. I do recommend people visiting the island, just not with this company.

Great excursion from the bustling city of Mumbai

A very enjoyable tour of the island and caves with a knowledgable guide with extensive photography skills to help capture the moment. Highly recommend visiting the island and caves if you have a half day to spare in Mumbai. The ferry trip provides great views of the city and is a lovely way to get around.

Worth Visiting

The elephant caves were amazing very interesting!! Well worth the ferry crossing which is a bit long one hour !! well trained guide , Thank you

Terrible tour company, brilliant guide

Let me start by saying I only reduced one star because the actual tour company is awful, but our guide was just wonderful. The company overcharges massively, they wouldn't put me in touch directly with the guide until I called and texted several times, and they tried to get our guide to ask us to come on a combined group tour two hours earlier than what we signed up for. Avinash Madhvi was our guide, he's native to the island and knows so much about the caves you wouldn't be able to learn or read on your own. Try reaching out to him via his FB page directly. Highly recommend him

Elephant caves. Mumbai

Long ferry journey there and back. about a Kilometre of stalls on way up to caves which were extremely underwhelming. Would not reccommend

Elephant caves

great place to visit, guided by very experienced person all the time. To visit the caves half day is sufficient

Not what we paid for

Have just returned from this excursion but not all items were provided for the tour - hotel pick up was included. Getting to the island was fine and cold drinks were provided followed by an informative chat from our friendly and attentive guide. Despite saying Indian snacks would be provided, none were offered. We were then left at the island ferry port to come back on our own. When asked what was happening about the pre- paid taxi our guide said nothing he could do about it. We ended up having to pay again for a taxi on our return journey- an included and paid for item of our excursion. We could have done the trip on our own for a tenth of the price but chose the luxury option in the anticipation of a good experience. Very unhappy customer.

Definitely recommend going to Elephanta Caves but on different tour if you want to get what you payed for.

Elephanta caves were definitely worth visiting but the tour was not delivered in a way promised and paid for. Guide was very polite while explaining that he made me a favour picking me at hotel and joining me for taxi ride to the Gate of India for ferry and that the tour ends at the caves and that I am suppose to arrange my way back (while the tour purchased was with the beginning and ending at pick up point - hotel). Guide did call an agency to consult and was given instructions that it does not matter what is written on my ticket. So, instead of organised vehicle one is suppose to take a taxi (140 INR), go for a ferry ride accompanied by a guide (260 INR) and go back by themselves (140 INR). On the island you can get a guide so if you are to do all of the above written by yourself there is no need to waste thousands of INR for what you do not get during the tour because there is no tour. Snack included were not defined but I assume it should have been more than a tea. All in all, at the end of the day I felt like my trust was misused and would strongly advise you to select your local vendors more carefully.

wonderful statues that...

wonderful statues that teach the story of shiva, in an amazing place. People really kind. The local guide has a lot of knowledge

Terrible operator. Do not...

Terrible operator. Do not recommend. Time slot was not honored and tried to get me to meet at island instead of agreed meeting spot. Poor English proficiency.

Excellent Half Day - you’ll regret not seeing this with a guide

Elephanta Caves are an amazing site to see. This tour ensured that I made the correct ferry, and had a knowledgeable guide (Avi) to explain the many Shiva in the caves. This tour is a must-do. Avi even showed me the local village on the island!

My guide was an excellent photographer.

Avinash, my guide, was anxious to make sure I had the right information so our meeting would be easy. He was a knowledgeable guide and I learnt a lot from his talk. He is a magnificent photographer: if he is your guide, I suggest you hand him your phone and leave the photos to him! Good shopping in the shade on the way to and from the ferry. No drink or snacks offered.

It was very interesting

We didn’t get anything to eat or drink You must tell people to bring cash money as the entrance fee cannot be done by credit card

Relaxing excursion without added value from guide

Ferry ride was enjoyable. Beautiful weather and views. Nice to see historical roots. Guide was friendly but very new and green. I chose to defend him vs. insult him when other guides offered to step in to provide history. Our guide learned from the plaque at the entrance of the caves, was off by several hundred years on some of his dates, and had very little to say. We read the plaque at the end vs. the beginning and learned much more than he'd told us. We asked about the things he'd skipped and not pointed out. Treats and lemonade were good. This was my first experience with Aviator and I'm u likely to use them again without strong assurances of more senior guides.

Excellent Tour of Caves

Wonderful tour of Elephanta Caves, had great time on ride from gateway to caves and 3 hours excursion of various caves on island, guide was nice and shared a lots of nice stories, we also got local snacks for tasting at caves.

Amazing History and superb services

This was our first tour with Yo Tours and we simply delighted by the services and depth of the knowledge of our storyteller. Caves was the master piece to history representing Hinduism and Buddhism. We would able to understand every caves architecture and stories around each places with help of our amazing guide. this was our highlight of Mumbai. must have experience with excellent services.

Great thing to do but not with this tour operator

Communication is quite poor and things are poorly organised. Entry fee to the caves are not included and it is not clear at all how much extra one is going to pay on a spot, so comes as a bit of unexpected surprise that you still have to pay another INR600 to get into the caves. Bottled water and snacks are not provided as they advise.guide was late and instead of 1000am ferry we took 1100am ferry. Practically, the company only organises return ferry tickets that are easy to get anyway, and would cost cheaper if doing it without them. I would recommend this tour but not recommend this company.

trip did not happen due to communication issues. Refund requested

I did not get the e-mail send the day before changing the time, so I was there at 9, and finally paid my way on the boat and the Island. Requesting refund.

Caves, monkeys and good company

I took a 9am ferry over with guide Sameer and was accompanied by 3*tourists with Reality Tours, this made it much more enjoyable sharing the experience with other English speaking tourists. Once on the island Sameer showed us the caves and gave very good account of the history, explaining other important Indian context such as the Diwali festival of lights coming up. Seen a few monkeys around the stairwell and had an enjoyable dinner with one of the families on the island. The boat trip is 1hr each way to Mumbai which is cumbersome but other than that a great tour

Horrible and Cheating

Booked for AC Private guided trip and what I got was normal non ac ferry with 200 people and a shared Guide. To make things worse, I was asked to pay and buy tickets at ticket window. What is that they organised? A shared guide? The guides are available for INR 500. I was charged INR 9600. Is it fare? Is this lowest guaranteed? After protest, I was returned INR 500 out of 615INR I had spent for buying tickets in addition to tour price. Will never recommend the organisers, Viator to anybody. Keep away from them. They would loot you

Amazing experience

This is a "do not miss" experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it and cannot say enough positive things about my guide Vrushali. She was so knowledgeable and hospitable...she made the trip a great experience.

Pésima logística

No cumplieron con lo adquirido en el programa, pésima logística, al final no tome el tour ya que me mandaron en Uber … terrible la situación