One extra day in Mumbai

Hi all,

Will visit Mumbai in end February for a weekend conference, and then stay one more day (i.e. Monday) before fly back home. Couple of questions need your help ... thanks in advance.

[ Background info. ]

1. Will stay in Hyatt Regency close to the airport.
2. The flight back home is 4 am in Tuesday.

[ Questions ]

1. With one day only, is it ok to visit Elephant Island and also the southern side of Mumbai ? (e.g. Gate of India, etc.) Then back to hotel for dinner, before heading to airport ?
2. Any other good suggestions / must-gos in this one day ?
3. What's the best way to travel from hotel to the tourist spots above and back ? And for how much ?
4. Any good suggestion for lunch ?
5. Is the boat service to Elephant Island run on Monday ?
6. With a 4 am flight, when would the best time to go to the airport and by what transportation ? Hotel shuttle ? Is that available thru Hyatt Regency ?
7. Lastly, any good suggestions of travel guide of Mumbai ?

Many thanks in advance !!

Cheers,
Michael

Unfortunately for you, on Monday the Elephanta caves whice are managed by the ASI are closed, see here:
http://www.asi.nic.in/asi_monu_whs_elephanta.asp

If you can manage to keep your leisure day for the Friday instead of the Monday, you could do the Elephanta trip [about 5hrs including 1hr each way on the boat].

You can take a taxi and see all the sights in South Bombay in about half a day, the Gateway of India is quite pleasant, Colaba Causeway - popular with tourists is a short walk away.
Crawford market may interest you if you can take the crowds.
You can go for a drive along Marine Drive starting from NCPA upto Girgaum beach, then go to the Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill for a view of the Arabian Sea on the west.

Lunch - There are plenty of good seafood, pure vegetarian and non vegetarian restaurants depending on your budget and preference.

Juhu beach and plenty of shopping areas are close to your hotel. The Hyatt Regency will certainly have a courtesy car/coach to the airport.

Hi snonymous,

Many thanks for the information ... really wanted to go to Elephant Island ...

If caves are what interest you then you may find Borivali National Park also of interest - some very old Buddhist caves there at Kanheri . It is not too far away from your hotel ( 30 mins max) but do remember to take a vehicle along since transportation inside the park is sketchy and the Caves are some 5 kms away from th entrance

Kanheri caves and the surrounding SGNP are good places to visit but I think they are also closed on Mondays.

Myung, you can probably go to Elephanta ISLAND on Mondays, there will be some ferry running but its just the CAVES which are the main attraction there, that are closed. The ferry ride to and fro is quite pleasant, however as you are from HK, a scenic ferry ride will be nothing new or extraordinary for you.

Many thanks !! Need to plan the trip again, as I cannot fly to Mumbai one day earlier ...