Dharavi, Dhobighat, and Mumbai Dabbawallas

Outstandingly good

We had a spare day in Mumbai and decided to do this tour: we certainly didn’t regret it! The guide was great - very experienced, excellent english and great sense of humor. The tour takes you to places where you absolutely wouldn’t go unless you were guided. RIght into the heart of one of the slums, where you get a terrific insight into the life and economy. And (spoiler alert) it is NOT what you think it would be (relentless misery, begging etc.) It’s a vibrant, though poor, community, which produces a large amount of the food, goods and even exports of the city. We also went to the outdoor laundry and saw the way in which clothes have been washed by hand on a subscription basis for more than a hundred years in a sort of collection of family franchises. We rode the local trains, buses and even tuk-tuk taxis - you really got a feel for the city beyond the bits which the tourists see. I can thoroughly recommend this absolutely excellent tour - it was the top highlight of our visit to India.

Excellent tour with Amaze

My wife and I had a great tour of the Mumbai attractions of the Gateway to India, the dabbawallas, the major slum and the open air laundry with guide Maze. He was extremely knowledgeable and proud of his life as a slum dweller and, as a consequence we were treated to an insight of how the inhabitants of the slum are happy in their support of each other and as to how the system works. We visited so many incredible industries and the sights which Maze showed us gave an excellent representation of the way people work and the places where they live. Another fascinating aspect of the trip was the use of public transport - bus, train and taxi - to transport us between the different sites. Extremely fascinating to use a crowded and open windowed bus and to see the scale, size and frequency of the rail system. Overall a fantastic trip and excellent value for money. Thanks Maze.

Great tour

I enjoyed riding the local transportation, the bus and the train. Our guide was great. His tour of the slums was especially educational as was the laundry.

Recommend!

Our guest was wonderful! He shared so much of his knowledge with us. We had such a good time in Dharavi seeing the different manufacturing. The only problem that I had was the secondary tour guide of Dhobi Ghat was really difficult for me to understand but I think I walked away understanding the majority. I would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone considering it.

4 hours of amazement

From start to finish Lucky the guide was very informative and professional. Amazing insight to many cultures and lifestyles. How the people of Dharavri adapt and work amazing. The dhobighats real eye opening experience The sites schools and many many other things seen along the route just amazing . Our guide totally top rated could not fault a single thing from meeting him to trains buses taxis and tours . Brilliant trip.

Great experience.

Great experience. Very knowledgeable tour guide. Would 100% recommend. Good value for money. Wouldn’t see any of it on my own.

Excellent tour of Dharavi, Dhobighat and Dabbawallas

This tour is a must in Mumbai It is very informative and we get a good overview and better understanding of these places. Also get some experience with travel on buses and trains in Mumbai. Our guide Dinesh was very good

Thumbs up experience from the children!

This was our first trip to India with the children (youngest 6 and oldest 10) and we wanted to show them the real Mumbai and not what you see on TV and movies. And this tour did not fail to deliver. Our guide was excellent. He was so knowledgeable and as a local himself, gave us a true experience. The Dhobighat and Dharavi was the best part of the trip as voted by the children themselves. It was a real eye opener and not what I expected at all. Well worth the experience.

Fantastic tour!

We had an excellent time on this guided tour and we were really glad we went! Our guide was lovely and easy to communicate with. It was our first time in India. We were naturally a bit scared to go on public transport but this tour showed us what it’s like on public buses and public trains. We felt safe and looked after at every point. The slum visit was done quite respectfully - our guide seemed to know a lot of the residents and it was a good way to see the local industries in the slums (plastic recycling, a bakery and a leather manufacturer with a shop selling real leather goods). Our guide was careful to point out when and where photos were permitted in the slums. The Dhoby Ghat was also very interesting to see, and a local worker took over that part of the tour so we could get insider knowledge. It was a really great tour and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Mumbai.

Great tour at a fair price

This was a very well priced lengthy tour with a great guide Loki. It covered a lot of area and Loki was polite and informative throughout. Enjoyed it so much I might do it again ! Lokesh (Loki) certainly knows his job - excellent

Excellent tour and guide!!!

The tour was excellent and very well organised and informative. It was well spaced out and d of rushed at any point and Nano our guide was excellent. His knowledge was second to none and he was really friendly and approachable and gave us real into life within the slum .

Impressive Dharavi

My guide (Mr Naynish) speaks good English and made my tour a memorable one. Dharavi is impressive and very different from other sites with challenging living conditions in other countries like Brasil and South Africa.. Inside Dhobighat was not very much going on when I was there, but at least you get a close up impression of the site. The dabbawallas near Churchgate are very interesting to watch.

Excellent!

Amazing experience, a great way to see some of the unique and also very interesting parts of Mumbai. Our guide Loki was brilliant and very informative.

A mixed experience

This tour was a bit mixed. The tour of Dharavi was very good - it really gave us insight into this city within a city. However the Dabbawallas were working because it was Sunday (that should be shared on the website) and the tour of Dhobighat was led by an on-site guide who couldn’t speak English very well. In general, our tour guide could perhaps do more in making sure the group was kept together and that everyone could hear the explanations. And more in-depth information.

If you miss it - you'll be ashamed for decades to come

An eye-opening experience. Extremely interesting and captivating. Just do it! By the way, impeccable communication with the company - the tour operator - and our guide - Lokesh - was top-notch, to say the least. It was worth every (!) dollar.

The tour was excellent value for money and our guide was really good.

Walking round the slums with the guide explaining everything and seeing the conditions the people live in, also it was good to see the massive open air laundry and the people working there.

Life and Business Go On

Exceptional tour. Mr D knowledge about the surrounding areas made it extra special. My takeaway: When life service you lemons, make lemonade. The people of Dharavi and other underserved areas are very productive and with a smile.

Nor to miss

The guide was very helpful in explaining. I think his name was Lucky. Interesting trip every one should see

Highlight of your trip to Mumbai.

Maze was a fantastic tour guide. I had reservations about the tour prior to the day, unsure of the purpose or intention of seeing what was called a slum. This tour ended up being one of the highlights of our trip to India, as Dharavi itself was a harmonic community that demonstrated the industry of recycling (for the world), clean and well managed markets, and friendly faces from many backgrounds. Maze himself gave very clear and detailed explanations of everything we saw and had answers (and jokes) for every question we had. We would recommend this tour to all travellers, international and domestic.

A great way to experience Mumbai!

Loved every part of it! The fact that you travel between places by train, taxi and bus makes us feel part of the city. And in 4 hours is amazing how much we can learn and experience, thanks to our guide that was very knowledgeable and attentive. I recommend this tour to everyone!

Mumbai tour

This tour with Nainish was the highlight of our trip to India. The experience was surreal with the Dharavi tour, local train and bus ride, as well as the Dhobi Ghat tour. Nainish was truly experienced, knowledgeable and self aware at all times which made us comfortable in our surroundings in the new environments. I would highly recommend this tour. One cannot go to Mumbai and not experience the pulse of it. When asked why the locals refer to Bombay whereas foreigners, Mumbai, Nainish's response was 'Mumbai is a city of dreams, whereas Bombay is an emotion.' I will never forget that.

Good tour

Nice tour, it was long, but enjoyable. We were not provided water or snacks - suggest you bring these with you as your runs from 1030 until around 3

An intriguing experience

This is a wonderful cultural tour which allowed me to see how locals live, transport and have a light feel about their daily life. Highly recommended!

An eye opener experience on the streets of Mumbai

We are a group of four and all of us thoroughly enjoyed this tour. It gave us a good insight into life in the slums, the train system and the city atmosphere. Ganesh our guide is full of information to make this tour a memorable one for us. Well done Amaze tours and Ganesh!

Best tour of my trip

Easily the best tour of my two-week trip to India. Our guide knew his way in and out of the slums and showed us many residents doing various types of work, from making soap to recycling plastic to cooking papadum. We got to visit and step inside their workshops and work settings, and everywhere we went there were enthusiastic groups of children greeting us and giving us high-fives. The mini-tours of the dabbawala operation and the open-air laundry were also revealing. Note: parts of the slums had very dark, narrow alleys with puddles and mud, so the tour may not be for everyone.

Great experience!

Amazing tour. Our tour guide was very friendly and helpful. I loved seeing the amazing people in Dharavi and the industries they have created.

Excellent tour!!!

This is a full content and very meaningful tour for people who do want to understand Indian life in Mumbai. It was a walking, street bus, local train and taxi combination tour which was running efficiently and seamlessly since well scheduled. The guid was so good for organizing people and explained questions very well. Worthy the time and the money. Highly recommend.

Best way to view the city

Brilliant way to see Mumbai and explore with knowledgeable and friendly guide. Loved the fact you travelled on local buses and trains, giving you a real feel for the city and the people. Never felt at risk or unsafe, people were very friendly.

The 3 D tour of Mumbai

Excellent tour - our guide Maze had awesome local knowledge and gave us a new perspective of life in the slums Well worth going - - so interesting

Fantastic insight into another Mumbai

We loved this look at the real side of Mumbai. Ganesh was a fantastic guide with a cheeky sense of humour! Loads of interesting facts and very respectful of the communities that he showed us. I’d definitely recommend this fascinating tour to anyone. (My husband was worried he might have to walk ‘too far’ but the use of local buses and trains meant that wasn’t the case). Thanks Ganesh!

Our guide Maz was...

Our guide Maz was terrific! Great guidance, information sharing and personality. Really enjoyed riding public transport with him and appreciated his insider perspective.

Mumbai Dhobi Ghat and Dharavi tour

Guide was really informative and as he lived in the slums he was the perfect person to give a true insight to life in this part of Mumbai. Great tour finishing with chai after lots of walking.

Very good itinerary

This tour was very good and covered a lot of territory. Both the laundry and Dharavi were thoroughly explained and we were provided with an invaluable and culturally sensitive perspective. Upon arrival we were told the Dabbawalla portion couldn’t run because of the holiday (understandable) but no partial refund or alternative option was given. We also spent an hour waiting for/tracking down a guest which took away from the substance of the already trimmed down tour. None of these unfortunate happenings was the tour guides’s fault. He was professional, approachable, and clearly loves his city. I would recommend!

Fantastic value for money

Really enjoyed this tour fantastic value for money with friendly helpful local guides seeing the slums in particular was so interesting and enjoyed using all the local transport trains buses and taxis all included in the price!! 😊

Fantastic guide makes for an enriching day

Our guide was wonderful and friendly, and his passion for the city made it such an enriching day. I joined as a solo traveler and felt safe the whole time in our small group - it was a completely worthwhile experience, highly recommend!

109% Mumbai life

It has veen really interesting and a must if you want to understand life in Mumbai. Our guide was really nice and answered all our questions. This tour made the trip to Mumbai a must.

Good day Out

Issues with start time but not a real problem.Great company and guide was very helpful.This is not a tour that anyone with walking issues should attempt.

Highly recommend!!

This is a very efficient, all-inclusive and valuable tour! You should get this tour when visiting Mumbai for the first time.

Amazing experience you can't buy

The tour guide was the most amazing guide ever. He is so genuine and professional. His name was Baduut I hope I spelled it correctly. Thank you for such a wonderful experience my friend.

Very nice guided tour through Mumbai

You get to see the most important sights of Mumbai, like the Gateway of India, the Dabbawallas and the Dhobighat (which I have never heard of before!). Included in the tour is also a walk through the Dharavi Slum. At first I did not want to go because I felt it would be voyeuristic as a white german woman. But since my guide Dawood was from Dharavi I felt more comfortable taking the tour because he told a lot of personal stories and explained a lot about Dharavi and I had a real change of perspective here. He even recommended me a nice restaurant after the tour ended. :)

Absolutely amazing!

It was an absolutely amazing tour. I'm a local and was on the tour with a friend. It was so informative and Maze was absolutely amazing and kept things interesting. Very glad we decided to join this tour.

Exploring Mumbai

Our tour guide Dawood showed us lots of interesting places. The excursion was very informative and detailed. This is not my first time in India,neither in Mumbai,but I got to know a lot of amazing things and stories about the city. Dawood is a respectful,polite and friendly person with an excellent sense of humour. Thanks a lot for your time and knowledge 🙏🏻 Highly recommend this experience for travellers. You won’t regret!

It was just like a movie....

It was just like a movie. I cherish this memory all my life. Everything was smooth as planned and it was very safe.

Awesome experience learning about Mumbai

Awesome tour experience with Alam, we had such a great time exploring so many great areas of Mumbai! The history, knowledge and information were really great and it was really well organised with bus, train and taxi transport. Definitely recommend to anyone visiting Mumbai who wants to experience the city.

Best tour in Mumbai

Alan was an amazing tour guide very clear, and extremely patient, the views you see are incredible, it is a must see in Mumbai.

Insider Look into Mumbai’s Special Heritage

I had a tour with Alam, and he was an excellent guide, with deep insider knowledgeable about the various locations we visited. As an architect interested in the organizational systems and build structures we saw, I got exactly what I wanted out of the experience. I highly recommend this tour to anyone who wants a true experience of different lives and places in Mumbai!

Great experience for all

Today we went on the Mumbai Unplugged tour and also the Slum City tour. Alam was our tour guide. Alam was very friendly, very caring, very patient as well as extremely knowledgeable. Alam met us on time, showed us the Gateway to India, Flower market, laundry area as well as the lunchbox delivery. We then proceeded onto the Slum City. We travelled by bus and train. The tour was very well organised and we saw so much of Mumbai in 1 day, that we would normally not see by ourselves. We enjoyed our tour very much and we had a fantastic day, thanks to Alam. We would definitely recommend everyone visiting Mumbai to do these tours. Very good insite into life in Mumbai and very good value for money. We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant and tried a variety of local food which was delicious. Thank you so much Alam and best wishes for the future... Gary and Kellie from Australia

Dharavi Tour

The Tour guide Mr. Alam was the main highlight because he is very knowledgeable guide and told us all the history with the slum, Mumbai, Dhobi ghat and dabba wallas and made the tour very enjoyable. The tour was wall organised with the help of Alam, he arranged everything and made us feel welcome and safe everywhere and also provided lots of history. Very good guide.

Excellent, amazing experiencr

Alam was my guide. He is so friendly, his knowledge around the place is amazing. He is very informative, gives interesting information about Mumbai and its history. I am so pleased with his guidance, I strongly recommend him and his tours. Thank you

Eye opening

To see how hard people work will getting so little back and still staying as a community, the guide was also great, giving lots of inside information that you wouldn't get otherwise