Walking Tour of Dharavi Slum in Mumbai

This was one of the coolest things we did in all of India.

This was one of the coolest things we did in all of India. The guide was really kind and informative. We felt safe. On my particular tour, I was a little disappointed at the end, because we has spent a lot of time learning about the plastic recycling and the leather industry, but we really rushed through the pottery area at the end of the tour, which I would have liked to hear more about and spent some time there. Maybe we were out of time by then.

Met and exceeded my expectations. Very authentic experience.

I have wanted to visit Dharavi since I heard the stories as a child. Leena was our guide. She is originally from and lives in Dharavi; she was patient and genuinely welcomed our questions. We learned a ton about the dynamic recycling economy as well as leather and pottery making. We came to know how there was a significant restructuring of housing after the 1992 Ayodhya related riots. We learned about the efforts to renovate the slums that have essentially been rejected by the community. It was an intimate tour that gave me a peak into this productive and proud community. I highly enjoyed and would definitely recommend. I think my kids would have enjoyed but it was nice to be without them so I could process and ask all my questions without having to attend to them.

Dharavi

The tour showed you a bit about life inside the slum. How the word slum is really the wrong word. There was a lot of industry within the slum and it really looked like life within the slum was like a city within a city.

Good tour, but made us uncomfortable

Great tour, lots of explanations but the guide did not seem super happy to be here. He also asked us a few times in which hotel we were staying which made us uncomfortable… He also told us to write a review with 5 stars mentioning his name in the middle of the tour while he was sitting next to us… (I wrote it and then deleted) I wonder how much of all these 5/5 reviews are real vs forced

good

The trip was good , came to know so much about Dharavi & Dhobhi ghat. I was waiting for the photographs as there was one photographer in our group apart fromour guide

Eye-opening

Dharavi is a vibrant, multifaceted community, once entirely informal but now with homes, factories, schools, supermarkets and more. This tour is eye-opening because, despite the haphazard buildings, narrow alleyways and such, it's not what most of us would imagine when we hear the word "slum". It's more like a working-class neighborhood. Our guide Alam lives in Dharavi and brought the place to life for us. Guides work in consultation with the community, to avoid intruding too much - photos of people's homes are discouraged, for example, and relatively conservative attire is best to avoid offending those who live there. There's a plan to redevelop the area, with investors set to make a lot of money from the prime Mumbai real estate. The question is what kind of community that would leave for the residents.

Automatically humbling and eye-opening

We both really enjoyed this experience and the guide we had added and made it more enjoyable. Filled with knowledge and being a local himself. We felt it was such a humbling experience for us both and definitely would do it again, given the opportunity.

Alam was great!

This tour was very informative. I really appreciated Alam’s thoughtfulness as he took us through some of the deeper parts of Dharavi. It was also great to hear about his live experiences there during his childhood. I would recommend the tour to anyone who wants to understand this part of India.

Perfect tour with perfect guide

Our guide could not have been more helpful. Nobody else was on our tour and he catered it to exactly what we were looking for and the timings too as we were in a bit of a hurry. Would recommend without any hesitation.

Excellent experience

Our guide was born and lives in Dharavi and gave us a positive view of Dharavi. Highly recommended tour.

Must see in Mumbai!

Go for it as long as it is still authentic experience. We had small worries that as Slumdog Millionaire's filming area it will not be authentic and tourist centric. I'm happy that we were mistaken. Not only guide tells you a lot about everything which is happening there including job, pays, way of living, customs, perspectives but as a local, who people from there really know, you have a strong feeling of safety and you are brought to places which normally you would not visit. You will see not only local workshops but also residential areas. Our guide was Maze and we truthfully wish you that he is available. On top you are clearly instructed where it is ok to make photos and where it is not. A lot of things will shock you, whether you watched any documentaries or not. And you will definitely change at least 40% of your beliefs if you are familiar with the topic. If you have never ever read or have been interested in this topic, this will be just jaw dropping experience. Worth every penny and after the trip we know we would pay triple the price for 'just walking with the guide' in this version. Highly recommend the trip and the company! If you are in Mumbai and have to pick just one place to go to, the choice should be this Slum with the guide.

Walking tour

Was amazing trip with the guide Maze. Thank you, I recomend it. Hope to do some more walking tours in difererents paths.

Good educational and enjoyable experience

Mohammed the guide was excellent in his knowledge and kind and professional. It was an enlightening tour to be able to learn how this slum is a billion dollar profit making industry and is self sufficient. Great experience.

A fantastic learning experience!

I had a fantastic time with my tour guide, Mohammad on our dharavi slum tour. During the whole tour, I felt very comfortable and learned so much about the slum. Mohammad provided many interesting facts about the community with a bright and friendly personality. I highly recommend this company to anyone that wants to learn more about the amazing culture of Dharavi. I garauntee you will have an amazing time and a deeper appreciation for the community that generates over a billion dollars in revenue! 10 out of 10 recommend!

Amazing tour. We visited...

Amazing tour. We visited many manufacturers (leather, plastic, soap, pottery...) The guide cares about community, asked not to take pictures. Everything is well explained.

Great tour of Dharavi

Nice tour. Very good explanation of the history of Dharavi. Many interesting stops at various mini factories. I especially enjoyed seeing the plastic recycling process and the ceramics area. Mr. Ganesh was the guide and he did a great job. The tour started right on time, and he was helpful in finding transport back to my hotel afterwards. Some places were closed on Friday for the Muslim holy day, but most were still open. Do be advised that Dharavi isn't really a slum anymore, at least compared to other areas of Mumbai such as Bandra East. It's more an example of successful slum re-development projects from the 1990s through today, with many permanent dwellings and schools. I recommend you visit!

Best tour in Mumbai!

We had an incredible experience in this tour. Mr. Alam, our amazing tour guide, was extremely knowledgeable and eagerly shared very interesting information regarding the slum community. He ensured our safety at all times and provided us with a very thorough view of the slum. He was also very helpful and showed a great sense of humor. I strongly recommend this tour and Mr. Alam.

Nice tour with local guides

Nice tour with friendly and knowledgeable local guides. Really enjoyed walking around in Dharavi and the southbound train ride to Dhobi Ghat.

Good experience

The guide was well versed with the locality and gave a good briefing about the place and made us feel comfortable. Tour started on time as scheduled and everything went on as planned.

Good

Good tour, covered a lot in little time, guide was very good and informative, Took us around the manufacturing side of the city

Amazing and highly recommended experience

Ganesh was a fantastic guide on our recent walking tour of Dharavi. His English was excellent and he gave us a real insight into the thriving businesses and the lives of the residents. We were fortunate to be invited into a garment-making factory where we met the workforce; we saw recycling businesses, leather making, food production, pottery making and various types of clothes manufacturing. We walked through residential areas and saw schools, tuition classes and children just enjoying being children. We finished by some apartment blocks which had beautiful and colourful murals on the ends. It was a pleasure to be guided by Ganesh; this was a top experience in India for me and should be on every visitor’s list of must-sees.

Don’t miss this one!

Alam was our tour guide. He provided a very informative tour. Would recommend this tour and guide for anyone visiting Mumbai to gain valuable insights into the history and current implications of the Slums in Mumbai. Always felt safe and welcome to area. Must see!

Mind-blowing, once-in-a-life experience

this tour changed the way i am looking to life. i am still in shock. In this tour, you get to see how difficult it is to live for 1 million people living in a place in the size of central park, new york. after doing this tour, you will stop complaining about every small thing and you will just appreciate your life situation! there is so much to tell about this place, just do yourself something very good and do the tour!! My guide Alam was a perfect guide since he lived in the slums for many years, thats why all he talked was 100 % accurate.

Warmth at its finest.

The most warm tour. Dharavi and Dhobi ghat are extremely special places and are a must visit. These places have a certain warmth and give off extremely positive vibes :) Our guide/friend, Rameez was an absolute treasure to spend time with. He's a sincere guy and is very friendly. He took us around to explore these places and gave us information and facts with all his heart. I'd certainly recommend that you book a tour with them.

Very nice tour

Good tour of Dharavi where the history of the slum was explained at first, and then followed by a tour of some of the different areas in Dharavi and a general walkthrough of the day to day life in the slum. Good guide who spoke english well.

Great tour through the Dharavi Slum

Thank you Ganesh for the amazing tour! I can recommend it to everyone who is interested in the culture, lifestyle and business in the Dharavi Slum. And of course to everyone who likes the movie Slumdog Millionaire! :-)

Amazing tour!!!

This was an amazing tour! Sooo happy that we chose to visit the Dharavi Slum. The pick-up at the port came an hour earlier than expected. An email had been sent but we did not see it until it was too late. Not a problem.....another driver was called and we landed up having a private tour. Our tour guide Hashim was amazing. He lives in the slums and is proud to say it. I had my reservations about going but after reading many reviews decided to go ahead with the tour. Whereas I thought it was going to be a depressing intrusion on people’s lives, we were pleasantly surprised with how happy all the people were. We were welcomed by all the children and never felt that we should not be there. What a wonderful community spirit and pride. Everyone seemed to have a purpose and a job. The industries that have grown and evolved should serve as an example to others. I was so impressed with the fact that 92% of the children attend school. In the two hours that we were there we saw a thriving community filled with happy people. There was not one outstretched hand. I could go on and on.....definitely a must see. Thank you once again to Hashim our wonderful guide!

Fascinating tour

We had a very good experience with amaze tours getting an insight about the culture, lifestyle, businesses in the slums of Mumbai - Dharavi. The guide, Zeeshad was very passionate, friendly and informative. A fascinating experience.

A good insight to Mumbai

I had a very good half day trip with amaze tours seeing the highlights of Mumbai. The guide was very passionate and informative and gave us a real insight into how locals live. Recommend for sure!

Fascinating tour

Very impressed by Amaze Tours. So easy to book online, including the hotel pick-up. Car arrived promptly, and Babu was an excellent chauffeur, pointing sites out as we went. The actual tour was led by Alam who was a mine of info and made it a rtuly fascinating insight into a world I knew nothing about.

Informative tour showing local culture

Friendly tour guide who took us through the commercial and residential area of Dharavi. Answered all the questions well in English. Knew about the customs and helped us understand Dharavi. He then took us to Dhobi Ghat where we went on another tour. Again very informative, and we got to go close to the action

Informative tour

Simple registration on the Tripadvisor website, and the tour guide Alam was super helpful. Because of some mistake on Tripadvisor website about some dress code, Alam went his way and buy us a scarf and sorted out the problem for us. During the tour in the slum, it was a smooth tour and not a rushed one, before entering different section of the tour, Alam will stop and give us a background stories of the areas, like why there is slum, what’s the local resident reaction on the movie Slumdog Millionaire which was shot there, he also explain the changes happen in the slum and what action government taken, so it’s not just a sign seeing tour, but an educated one as well. For the Dhobghat tour, we were given a tour inside the place and how the laundry being handled, dying colour, washing, drying and ironing. It was an interesting tour to see how the world largest open laundry operate. Both the tour experience was simply amazing.

Gives you different perspective

An educational tour of how the Mumbai slums really operates, quite different from common stereotypes. Overall fun and informative experience

Again great tour!

This was the second tour we have booked. We had Danish for the second time as our guide. It’s a great tour which shows you a little peak behind the walls of the Daravi slum. It’s interesting, exciting and gives you information about the slum you didn’t know.

Amazing tour

Our guild Alam, give us very detail introductions, go around each part of the slum area, talking about the culture and history here. It's an unforgettable experience

Very touching and amazing trip

I joined this trip with our tour guide Alam, he is very dedicated and professinal for guding. My friens and I are very touching for this trip. People in the slum are work very hard but smiling. Kindly and safe place that I can not image before! Very different from movie, but it is very worth to be here to see the reality! Thanks Alam, thanks for your guide and help! We eeally appreciate.

Colourful Dharavi

Though i was the only one that day and was expecting the tour to be canceled, was surprised that the guide very patiently took me around. He seemed to know all the right places and shared with me the history and small anecdotes of the place

Slums and Mumbai Perfect Tour

We did 2 small group walking tour with our Amazing guide Alam . We were collected at our hotel on time ,all communications with Amaze were very efficiently handled , the online booking , plans and payments Alam took us on the experience Mumbai tour and also showed personal spots which was a bonus.. Thanks Alam . We Had an inside Personalised tour in Droghinat Laundry which was very informative . Saw the Dabbawala is action , an incredible system and service . Crawford Market , Flower Market. The Dharvi Slum is extremely interesting and shows thriving industry’s going on The Gateway to India , The Beautiful Taj Hotel, and many many other on our way. Alam made our tour very interesting , taught some facts we were unaware of , in an easy manner . It was fantastic to be collected and dropped off at the various spots by the driver that assisted Alam and once finished at each sight Our driver was waiting for us with a lovely air conditioned vehicle and water which was very much appreciated . Alam was flexible and adjusted the tour as we went along to suit our expectations. We highly recommend this tour and especially Alam . We booked another tour and he assisted with that , did what ever we asked, we always felt safe and he even helped 3 ladies with shopping requirements too , finding ATM and giving us advice. If you are looking for any sightseeing tour company do not hesitate to book with Amaze they are super flexible , and I would definitely ask for Alam , till next year Mumbai

Informative and amazing

We (a group of 5 girlfriends) did the afternoon slum tour. Our guide Dinesh from Amaze Tours was great in every way. So informative, efficient and reasonable. We were fortunate to be there in the middle of a Hindu festival called Thaipusam where they had piercing hooks through their backs and cheeks. Was an amazing experience beyond anything. I would highly recommend Amaze Tours.

Fantastic tour

A must see when in Mumbai. Our tour guide was great. Very informative, actually took us for lunch in one of the slum apts. No pictures are allowed during the tour for the privacy of the occupants. Would recommend bringing water, although the tour guide stopped at a shop for some bottled water.

If there is one tour worth doing in Mumbai its this one

I did this tour with my daughter, we prebooked it before leaving the UK, the guide turned up on time to meet us at the hotel, we were shown around and given an indepth talk on the area and how it has evolved, we simply wouldnt have been able to do this without a guide, we did the slum and the laundry and both were facinating and eye opening

A fascinating tour

A very interesting tour around the real Mumbai by foot and local trains. The highlights include a visit inside the world's biggest outdoor laundry and to Dharavi which is home to over a million people. The visit to Dharavi was well done and led by a local. The Dharavi trip included visits to the commercial area, residential areas and leather workshops. The tour concluded with a tasty lunch in a local's home. We were fortunate to be led by tour guide Alam who did an excellent job.

A walk in a different world!

Though I am born and brought up in Mumbai, until now I had only heard about the vastness of this slum. I was amazed at the size (one can easily get lost in that maze), the numerous small scale industries and how people learn to live with the little they have. It is like a little town in itself what with electricity, water, schools, a college, a hospital, clinics, shops and eating places. Our guide Ganesh was very knowledgable and made it all very interesting. We even had breakfast there!

Five star slum

Excellent tour in Mumbai, a lot of information was given about Dharavi. The guide is very nice and knowledgeable, highly recommended.

Amazing Mumbai

A really good tour with Ganesh. He knows a lot about the places and we got really close to all the people with him. We could see, feel and taste the real Mumbai with him and had a lot of fun. Tank you so much!

Interesting Slum Tour - Must Do!

Alam took us around, he was friendly and knowledgeable about the area. He lived in the slum for many years and it was interesting to hear his stories of how people work and live there. Highlights were seeing the lunch delivery system, visiting the slum and the outdoor laundry area. Yummy meal at the end too. Definitely worth it!

Great tour

The tour you can experience the real slum in mumbai. Thank you so much to our great tour guide Ganesh Pathak.

Great Slum/Mumbai Tour Experience

Honestly, such an interesting experience, and a different perspective of the slums. Alam was our tour guide and he was very kind and helpful with questions. It felt like a genuine experience which finished with an amazing home cooked meal in a house in the slum.

Great tour

We went on the Dharavi tour with Ganesh and it was great. I'd been on one before but this time we got amazing lunch, got another look into seperate parts of the slum and saw some different parts like the pottery section. Would highly recommend doing a tour with them, it's perfect to see the way of life and the complex micro economy of Dharavi.

Amazing Tour

The Dharavi Slums were only a small part of the all day tour I signed up for at my hostel Backpacker Panda. We also saw several temples, the dabbawala lunchbox delivery system and the Dhobi Ghat Laundry District. Our tour guide was alam, and he was amazing. The highlight of the tour was sharing lunch prepared in the home of a family in the Dharavi Slums. I highly recommend this tour