Mumbai: Boat ride to Elephanta Caves, a highly recommended tour

Date: January 15, 2025

After arriving in Mumbai before sunrise and not being able to check-in online, I decided to visit Gateway of India just as the sun was coming up. I was contemplating whether or not to go back to Pals Hotel to try and check-in but if my room was not ready, I would have to step out again.

So I decided to just finish my sightseeing for the day by going for the Elephanta Caves tour early in the morning itself. The tickets for the tour are sold inside a small complex housing different tour agencies near the Gateway of India itself.

Elephanta caves tour ticket Mumbai — I bought a return ticket for ₹260 ($3/€2.6)

The first ferry sets off from Gateway of India to Elephanta Island (also called Gharapuri) 9AM onwards, and the last ferry leaves Elephanta Island at 5.30pm to return to Gateway of India. Elephanta Caves is closed on Mondays, so plan accordingly.

Gateway of India backside Mumbai India — After purchasing the ticket, you wait near the back side of Gateway of India

Tourists inside Elephanta island boat Mumbai — One by one, boats come to the dock and leave only once enough tourists fill up each the boat

Elephanta Caves tourists boat Mumbai — It took about 30mins for the boat I was assigned to fill up, so the boat did not set off sharp 9AM

Taj Palace hotel Mumbai from Arabian sea — We finally set off, and my boat was the first tour of the day

Mumbai tourist boats India — These are the types of boats used to ferry tourists

One of the popular activities on the Elephant Caves tour begins while on the ferry journey itself.

Seagulls Mumbai Arabian sea India — Flocks of seagulls chase the ferries and it’s an opportunity to feed them

Elephanta tour boat seagulls Mumbai — The boats sell snacks on board like chips and biscuits

Feeding seagulls Mumbai Elephanta tour — Stretch your hand out with the snack and wait as seagulls try and come close to snatch it with their beaks

I didn’t have any snacks with me but a Tibetan tourist who sat beside me offered me some chips to give the birds. See my vlog (at the end of this post) which has the moment when I successfully fed a seagull.

Gharapuri Port Elephanta island Mumbai India — A 45 minute journey later, we reached Elephant island

Gharapuri port Elephanta caves Mumbai — Gharapuri port is what this stop is officially called

Elephanta Island earned its name after a massive stone image of an elephant that used to be placed on the island. The stone sculpture was later moved to Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Garden in Mumbai city. Gharapuri is what the island was called in Marathi for ages.

From the port, you can either walk to the steps leading up to Elephanta Caves… or you can take a small train ride.

Elephanta Caves mini train tickets Mumbai — Tickets only cost ₹15 ($0.18/€0.16) and the 2 minute train ride saves you time walking to the steps

Tourists walking Elephanta caves India — You can choose to walk all the way if you want

Vada Pav stalls Elephanta island — A lot of stalls along the way, from street food to souvenirs, and pretty much anything else visitors might need

If you are wondering why bother taking such a short train ride just to cover a kilometre long distance…

Steps to Elephanta Caves India — Well, it’s because you still have to do more walking

Now you have to climb a 120 steps uphill to get to the actual entrance of the caves.

Stray dogs steps Elephanta island — And yes, I saw a few stray dogs along the path… although harmless

Vendors covered up in tarpaulin Elephanta Caves — Mind you, I still had my backpack with me… it was tiring for sleepless me

Elephanta caves entrance Mumbai — I finally reached the entrance after making stops along the way to catch my breath

Indians only have to pay ₹5 for entry ticket. Visitors from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand pay ₹40 ($0.50/€0.42). Unfortunately for all other foreign tourists, they have to pay ₹600 ($7/€6.2).

Entering Elephanta Caves Mumbai — I hate this idea of charging foreign tourists *way* too much for entry… but trust me dear visitors, the caves are worth it!

Anyway, what is collectively called Elephanta Caves is a collection of five caves, the largest one exclusively carved with various manifestations of Lord Shiva, and is known as Trimurti cave — which is where most visitors enter first.

Elephanta Caves history information Mumbai — Here’s a brief summary of the Elephant caves

Elephanta caves be quiet sign — Apart from maintaining silence, a security guard said I could not record video inside

Elephanta caves pillars India — The carved sculptures inside the caves are held up by these large pillars

Elephanta Caves main hall Mumbai — This is the main hall as you enter the caves

Trimurti Shiva sculpture Elephanta caves — Adorning the main hall is a large collection of sculptures

In the center is the Trimurti sculpture — on the right, shows face of Aghora, the terrifying aspect of Shiva. The left face is Vamadeva, the pleasing and feminine aspect of Shiva bejewelled with feminine ornaments.

Andhakasura vadha sculpture Elephanta caves — This sculpture is called *Andhakasura Vadha*

Andhakasura sculpture Elephanta caves Mumbai — In Hindu mythology, *Andhakasura Vadha* is an episode, where Lord Shiva defeats the demon Andhaka

Shiva ling Elephanta caves Mumbai — A Shiva linga adorns the center of the main hall

Elephanta caves hilly rocks India — Apart from the main hall, there are East and West wings

East West wing Elephanta caves — (L) The West wing; (R) a sculpture in the East wing

And yes, many stone carvings are in a broken state — and no, it wasn’t because of invading Islamic empires.

Elephanta caves broken sculptures Indian temple — You have to remember, Elephanta Caves were sculpted between the 5th and 6th century.

Elephanta caves Hindu temple hill carved India — That means these caves were dug out and sculpted by hand over 1400 years ago!

Elephanta caves old pillars India — But some of sculptures — such as these columns — were renovated in the more recent decades

Mithun Elephanta caves pillars — I asked a tour guide to take my photo between the pillars

Leaving Elephanta Caves exit steps — After which I left the main hall

Stone steps Elephanta caves Mumbai — I walked to the left side where the toilets were (pretty clean and well maintained)

Elephanta caves side hill temple — On the side were two other halls but there was nothing significant to see inside

Elephanta caves lawn India — I had seen all that I wanted to see in an hour and decided to leave

Just outside the entrance to the left (as you exit) are additional steps to climb to the top of the hill where there is a viewpoint… but the steps were rough and pretty broken. So be warned.

Viewpoint steps Elephanta caves Mumbai — But I was too tired to climb up

No sleep, walking with my backpack… I was exhausted. Also, it was very foggy and so I knew I would not see anything in the distance anyway.

Cheese omelette pav Mumbai — On my way down, I sat down at an eatery to have breakfast. I asked for cheese omelette and this is how it was served 👎 (₹120/$1.40/€1.20)

Tourist boats Elephanta Caves — I took the same train back to the boat

Oil ship ONGC facility Mumbai — India’s national oil producer ONGC has a facility near Elephanta Island. So you will spot a few oil tankers around.

Mumbai coastline from boat India — I don’t think it’s pollution. It really was foggy in the morning.

Wellington Bunder Mumbai India — Wellington Bunder is what this pier is called

When I got back to the Gateway of India at 1:30PM… I was now glad I did the Elephant Caves tour early!

Crowds tourists Gateway of India Mumbai — There were so… MANY… tourists!

Gateway of India was so crowded, so if you want to avoid the crowds… go between 7AM to 8AM. After which you can do the Elephanta Caves tour on the first boat at 9AM.

Crowds ticket counter boat tours Mumbai — There were quite a lot of people now trying to buy tickets for the boat tours

I booked an Uber back to Parel (cost me ₹200/$2.34/€1.99) as I was tired and didn’t want to wait for buses. I just wanted to take my bag off my back!

Mumbai skyscraper slum below — Mumbai is such a city of contrasts — expensive skyscrapers rising above dilapidated housing or slums down below

I got back to Parel, checked-in to Pals Hotel and took the weight off my back. It felt so good!

Pals hotel twin bedroom Mumbai — I was assigned a twin room (₹6048/$74/€60 for two nights). It was pretty basic but clean and everything in the room worked.

I didn’t bother to ask for a queen bed. I was tired and I just wanted to sleep. I did some laundry, checked work, and then just crashed after a nice warm bath.

I woke up around 8pm and stepped out to walk around my area and find something to eat.

Parel residential colony Mumbai night — This stretch was across from the junction Pals Hotel was at. It was a residential colony with lots of shops and eateries open late.

I ended up buying a paneer pizza for dinner from a place called Firangi Burgers, and some milk sweets for dessert.

Paneer makhni pizza Mumbai — This 8 inch pizza cost me ₹110 ($1.2/€1) and it opened my eyes to things I would later realize about Mumbai

Good quality food costs much less in Mumbai than it does in Bangalore, despite real estate costing more in Mumbai. Second thing — every milk-based product — such as paneer and Indian sweets, tastes so much fresher than it does in Bangalore. The paneer was soooo soft!

I stayed up to finish my work and then went to sleep.

Watch my vlog: