A Traveler's Guide to Mumbai

Mumbai is the largest city in India and the second largest city in the world. It is located on the west coast of India on the Indian Ocean. The city was previously known as Bombay but was renamed Mumbai in 1996. It is the commercial and financial center of India, accounting for over a quarter of the nation's industrial output.

Mumbai has been occupied by everyone from Mongols to Brits. The British East India Trade Company made the city its base for trade in the Indies. When India finally gained its independence in 1947 Mumbai became one of the wealthiest and most important cities in the nation. Now, because of its deep natural harbor, it is one of the most important commercial ports in the eastern hemisphere.

Because of its location on the water, the weather in Mumbai is usually very humid and warm. Summer temperatures usually stay in the 80's Fahrenheit and sometimes get up into the 90's. Summer time is also the rainy season, with up to thirty inches of rain falling each month between June and September.

Mumbai is the home of the Indian film industry, with many of the Indian film companies tracing their roots back to it. The National Gallery of Modern Art, the Jehangir Art Gallery, and the Prince of Wales Museum are some of the most popular museums in the city. They attract thousands of tourists each year.

The most popular sport in Mumbai is cricket, by far. Because space is limited, often times there is not enough room for a regulation cricket field, so the fields have been customized to fit the spaces available. After cricket, football is the second most popular sport in the city. Mumbai FC and Mahindra United are the city's two football clubs that compete at the professional level.

The city is serviced by Sahar International Airport, which is the busiest airport in India with over 25 million passengers a year passing through it. The Mumbai Port Trust and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust are the two large ports in the city that provide access to the ocean as well as bases for the Indian Navy.