What should I avoid in Mumbai?

The prepaid taxi counter inside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) Terminal 2 will quote you ₹750-900 to Colaba. An Ola or Uber for the same 30-km ride runs ₹350-500. The counter has operated since the 1990s, before Ola launched in 2010, and nobody has updated the pricing. Outside the terminal, drivers who approach you directly tend to quote ₹1,200-1,500 and "forget" to start the meter. Mind you, autorickshaws are banned south of Bandra. Anyone offering you one in South Mumbai is either running an illegal fare or plans to drop you at Mahim and leave. The Mumbai Metro Line 1 (Versova to Ghatkopar, ₹10-40) and the Harbour Line local trains are how 7.5 million commuters move daily. They smell like steel and sweat at rush hour, but they run within 3-4 minutes of schedule.

The Gateway of India (built 1924, on Apollo Bunder) draws a rotating cast of "guides" who attach themselves to you with a laminated ID card that means nothing. They'll walk you 200 metres, point at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, and ask for ₹500-1,000. The harbour view from Apollo Bunder is free and takes 10 minutes on your own. Across the water, Elephanta Caves gets sold as a half-day trip, but the ferry takes 60-75 minutes each way in choppy monsoon water, and the caves are badly lit, damp, and missing many of the original sculpture heads. If you have one free afternoon, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (opened 1922) is a 5-minute walk from the Gateway and holds over 50,000 objects, including Gandharan Buddhist sculpture you won't see outside Peshawar.

Mumbai's monsoon runs June through September, dropping roughly 2,400mm over four months. Right now, late June, the temperature sits at 27-28°C but 86% humidity pushes the feels-like to 33°C, and light drizzle is the daily default. That said, "light drizzle" in Mumbai can shift to 200mm in 6 hours. The low-lying areas around Hindmata Junction, Sion, King's Circle, and Milan Subway flood reliably every July and August. In 2005, Mumbai received 944mm on 26 July alone. The Western Line local trains stop running when tracks go under, which strands millions. Keep your phone in a ziplock bag, wear shoes that can handle ankle-deep water, and check the Central and Western Railway feeds before heading to Churchgate or Mumbai Central. The air around CST smells like wet concrete and diesel after a heavy downpour.

Colaba Causeway and Leopold Cafe are fine for one beer, but Leopold charges ₹450 for a Kingfisher that's ₹180 at Café Mondegar on the same block. The food at Leopold sits at 2× the price of comparable meals 200 metres away. At Juhu Beach, the pani puri and pav bhaji stalls look tempting, and locals eat there, but your stomach likely hasn't built the tolerance for the ice and water that Mumbaikars have. If you want street food with lower risk on your first visit, try Swati Snacks in Tardeo (₹200-400 per person), where the pani puri uses filtered water and the ragda pattice arrives on actual plates. Skip EsselWorld. It's a 90-minute drive north to Gorai, the rides peaked in the late 1990s, and roughly ₹1,200 buys you a day of queuing in 33°C heat for attractions a county fair would retire. Dharavi tours are a personal call, but book only through operators like Reality Tours (₹900 per person, no-photography policy). The freelance "guides" at Mahim station will walk you through for ₹200 and treat residents like exhibits.