Heritage tours and walks in Mumbai

The Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018: 1880s law courts and university halls on one side of the Oval Maidan, 1930s Deco cinemas and sea-front flats on the other. The Art Deco Mumbai trust runs modestly priced walks on weekend mornings for groups of four to ten and teaches you to spot the local hybrid, nicknamed Indo-Deco. The buildings are seen from the street, since most are private homes; walks pause in the monsoon. Book the weekend before. See UNESCO sites in Mumbai.

Khaki Tours, whose guides call themselves Ambassadors of Mumbai, walk the old pockets of the city: the stepped tank of Banganga with its temple settlement, the wooden houses and verandahs of Khotachiwadi, an East Indian Christian hamlet in Girgaon, and an evening ghost walk through Girgaon's stories. Ghost walk about ₹1,199; private group walks from about ₹5,999 per group. Book one to two weeks ahead for popular dates.

The Koli are the islands' pre-colonial fishing community, and Worli Koliwada has kept its boats, its 17th-century fort at the water's edge and the shrine of its own goddess, Golfa Devi. Walks go through lanes of bombil drying on racks and nets being mended. A free volunteer-led walk runs; operator walks cost about ₹900–1,500. Mornings, outside the monsoon fishing ban, are the liveliest.

Bombay's first wet dock, built by the Sassoon family in the 1870s, is still one of the city's main fish-landing sites, and the Koli women control the sale. Scheduled Sunday walks start at 8:00, while sorting and auctions are still going, at about ₹899. See Sassoon Docks.

Reality Tours walks the recycling sheds, potters' yards and leather workshops of Dharavi with guides who grew up there, as a social business whose profits fund classes in the neighbourhood. Shared walks are capped at six people and cost about ₹1,450–1,700; meeting points are Churchgate or Mahim station. No cameras at all: the guides share photographs afterwards.

Zoroastrian migrants from Persia opened cafes across Bombay from the mid-19th century, and a handful still serve bun maska, mawa cake, kheema pav and berry pulao. Ordering on your own costs a few hundred rupees; guided private walks through three cafes start at about ₹9,499 per group. Vegetarian versions need asking for at booking.

Mumbai's dabbawalas have carried home-cooked lunches to offices since the 1890s, routed by a painted code of colours, letters and numerals. Their experience centre on Carter Road in Bandra is by appointment, at about ₹700–1,500; the sorting and hand-over peak is on weekday mornings around 11:00–12:30.