Dhobi Ghat

Dhobi Ghat is Mumbai's largest open-air laundry, continuously operating since the late 19th century. On an area the size of several football fields, there are more than a thousand washing vats where clothes for half the city are washed by hand daily.

The work system is astonishing in its organization: each dhobi family (laundry worker) has its own plot, customers' clothes are marked with special symbols, and finished clothes are sorted and hung according to a strict system.

Everything is done by hand using old methods: clothes are beaten against stones, boiled in huge vats, and then dried on endless lines stretched across the grounds.

The dhobi profession is hereditary: families live right here, in small rooms between the washing sections. It's a closed community with its own rules, hierarchy, and internal mutual aid system.

For tourists there's a viewing platform on the railroad bridge; from there you can best see how this huge living machine works. The ideal time to observe is morning, roughly 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., when washing is in full swing.

The world's largest laundry