Mumbai Experiences is a small team of guides who live in the city we show you. We started guiding in Dharavi in 2012, and we have been running our own tours since 2020.
How we started
We began working as guides for travel companies in 2012, showing visitors a side of Mumbai that most tours drive straight past. When travel stopped in 2020, that work disappeared overnight.
Rather than wait for it to come back, we started again on our own terms. That became Mumbai Experiences. Today we are a small team, most of us born and raised in Dharavi, and we run every tour ourselves.
How we work
- We ask before we photograph. Dharavi is a neighbourhood, not an exhibit. Nobody is photographed inside a home or workshop without being asked first.
- The money stays here. Our guides come from the communities we visit, and we buy from the businesses we walk you through.
- We answer the awkward questions. About poverty, about redevelopment, about whether you should be here at all. Honestly, and from lived experience.
- We keep groups small. Enough room to ask questions and talk to people along the way.
- We book direct. Our own prices, without a platform taking a cut.
Why travellers choose us
There are a lot of tour operators in Mumbai. Here is what actually separates us, and you can check every one of these before you book.
Not guides who studied Mumbai. Guides who grew up in it. Balaji was born in Dharavi and has been guiding since 2012. When you ask what a neighbourhood was like twenty years ago, you get an answer from memory rather than a book.
Across TripAdvisor and Google, over more than a decade of guiding. Read them before you book. We would rather you arrived with expectations set by other travellers than by us.
Mumbai Experiences is a registered business in Maharashtra, UDYAM UDYAM-MH-19-0307460, with a shop address in Dharavi you can visit. Payments are taken through Razorpay with a proper receipt. If something goes wrong, there is a real company to hold to account.
We do not oversell. If a tour is not right for you, we will say so, even when that costs us the booking. If the weather or a closure will spoil something, we tell you before you pay rather than after.
Your booking is confirmed the moment you pay. We answer WhatsApp between 5am and 11pm, usually within the hour, and a person replies rather than a template. We have never cancelled on a guest who turned up.
The workshops are working workshops. The families cooking your meal are cooking what they eat. Nothing is staged for visitors, and nobody is performing. That is harder to arrange and it is the whole point.
Our guides come from the neighbourhoods we walk you through. The potters, the host families and the businesses we visit are paid properly, and that payment is built into the price rather than left to a tip.
Booking here costs less than booking the same tour through a marketplace, because there is no commission in the middle. The difference goes to the guides rather than to a website.
Still deciding? Message us on WhatsApp and ask anything, including the awkward questions. You will get a straight answer, and no pressure to book.
Meet the team
The people you will actually spend the day with.
Balaji
Founder & Guide
I was born and raised in Dharavi, Mumbai, and have over 15 years of experience guiding visitors through the city I proudly call home.…
- Speaks: English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil
Shivam
Guide
Hi, I'm Shivam, 23, and a BSc IT graduate from Mumbai. Alongside my studies, I found my true passion in being a local guide.…
- Speaks: English, Hindi, Marathi
Priscilla
Guide
Hi, I'm Priscilla, a 21-year-old multimedia and mass communication student from Dharavi, Mumbai. I was born and raised in a close-knit local family that…
- Speaks: English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil
Siddhesh
Guide
I am Siddhesh, 19 years old and currently pursuing my third year of B.Com in Mumbai. I'm passionate about learning and exploring, and I…
- Speaks: English, Hindi, Marathi
What our guests say
Rated 5.0 across TripAdvisor and Google.
An uplifting and deeply educational visit. I felt genuinely welcomed and safe the entire way through, and left with a completely different picture of Dharavi than the one I arrived with.
Our guide had remarkable knowledge of local history and excellent English. The whole day was genuinely exciting rather than the usual run through a checklist of monuments.
This was my third tour with the same guide. He is the best ambassador the Dharavi community could possibly have, and I keep bringing friends back to meet him.
The storytelling made everything easy to follow and genuinely engaging. Questions were answered honestly, including the awkward ones, which I appreciated.
We ate things I would never have dared order alone, all of it excellent. Travelling by local train between stops was half the experience.
Booked at short notice and everything was organised within the hour. Comfortable car, punctual, and a guide who clearly loves the city he lives in.
This was a wildly interesting tour, one of my favorite experiences in India so far. Balaji was amazing and took great care to explain and show us the books and crannies of the slum. It was safe, informative, and unique.…
We recently did the “slum tour” with the tour guide Balaji. I cannot reccomend this tour enough. Balaji was very friendly and knowledgable and happy to answer all our questions in great depths. He made us feel very safe throughout…
Really interesting and eye opening tour of the Mumbai slum, would definitely Recommend. Our tour guide was Shivam who was really nice and gave us lots of information with really good English!
Our experience with Balaji was nothing short of extraordinary. His English is impeccable, making communication effortless and enjoyable throughout the journey. Beyond his linguistic skills, his depth of knowledge about the area—its history, culture, and hidden gems—was truly impressive. Balaji…
I had an incredible experience with WalkGuru on the Dharavi tour. Our guide, Balaji, was amazing—knowledgeable, engaging, and passionate about sharing insights into the area. He took us through both the commercial and residential sides, giving us a deeper understanding…
Find us
Mumbai Experiences
Shop No 82, Sant Gora Kumbhar Marg, Kumbhar Wada, Dharavi, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400017, India
Phone and WhatsApp: +91 73043 00233
Email: info@mumbaiexperiences.com
Hours: 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM daily
Business registration: UDYAM-MH-19-0307460