Dharavi Tour, Pottery and Family Meal
About this tour
A morning that puts the three things people remember about Dharavi into one tour: the industry, the craft, and the family kitchen.
You walk the neighbourhood, sit at a potter’s wheel and make something with your hands, then eat a home-cooked meal with the family whose kitchen it came from. Same guide throughout.
What you will experience
- Two hours walking Dharavi with a guide who lives there
- The recycling units, leather workshops and the potteries of Kumbharwada
- A 20 minute pottery session at the wheel, taught by a Kumbhar potter
- Shape your own piece from clay dug and prepared here
- A full home-cooked meal with a family, cooked the way they eat it
- Cook alongside your host, or sit and talk while it comes together
- One guide across the whole afternoon, so nothing repeats
- The potter and the host family are both paid properly, included in the price
What is included
- Expert English-speaking local guide for the full tour
- All access within Dharavi
- 20 minute pottery session with a Kumbharwada potter, clay included
- A full home-cooked meal, vegetarian or non-vegetarian
- Chai and a sweet to finish
- Fair payment to the potter and the host family
- Bottled drinking water
What you will see
What our guests say
5.0 out of 5 · 1,347 reviews across TripAdvisor and Google
The storytelling made everything easy to follow and genuinely engaging. Questions were answered honestly, including the awkward ones, which I appreciated.
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.
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.
Meeting point
Common questions
Two hours walking Dharavi, then the pottery session, then the meal. Around five hours in total, and the pace is unhurried.
Pieces need firing, which takes days, so most guests leave theirs. If you are in Mumbai long enough we can arrange collection. Ask your guide on the day.
No. Twenty minutes is enough to make something wonky and enjoy yourself. The potter has taught hundreds of visitors.
A Kumbhar potter working in Kumbharwada, from a family that has done this for generations. They are paid for their time, and that is part of what you pay us.
Both are available. Tell us when booking, along with any allergies, and the host will cook around it.
Your hands, certainly. Wear clothes you do not mind marking, and there is somewhere to wash before the meal.
Six guests maximum, because a pottery wheel and a family kitchen both have limits.
Yes. The standard start is 11:00am so the meal falls at lunchtime, but we can shift it. Tell us what suits.
Often booked together
Booking more than one tour? Contact us and we will build a combined itinerary with a single guide across your day.