With an estimated population close to 20 million people, Mumbai is the largest city in India and one of the biggest on the planet. Home of India’s burgeoning movie industry and the main centre of commerce in the country, Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is an Asian mega-city of ever-increasing importance.

Although Mumbai is a thoroughly modern and vibrant metropolis, it has in its cityscape a large national park and a series of sandy beaches. The city has slowly expanded to cover seven islands along India’s western Konkan coastline and includes a large commercial and passenger harbour that has long been established as the sea gateway to India.

As far as tourism goes, Mumbai is up there with the best on offer as it has a colonial swagger all of its own. One of the major architectural achievements in the city has to be the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus. This is the most important railway station in the city is also designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

While Mumbai features a wealth of British-era architecture, it also boasts a huge number of significant temples that represent all the major Indian religions and other significant landmarks, such as the iconic Gate of India. Most visitors will, however, only get to see a fraction of what the city has to offer; getting around the huge number of sites would require a holiday that lasts months rather than weeks.

Although Mumbai has an extremely rich cultural heritage, it has managed to seamlessly blend its old-world traditions and charm with  modernity and vibrancy as can be seen in their trend-setting fashion industry and their explosive film industry.

Although Mumbai was not founded until the 1600s by the British and Portuguese, the site on which the city sits today has been inhabited by humans since the Stone Age, according to archaeological evidence. Along with the Isle of Bombay, the other six islands that today make up the city were once no more than a series of tropical mangrove swamps and sea. Originally the area was inhabited by the Koli, a Marathi tribes-people that lived off the sea, and the Aagris people.

By the 4^th century BC, the Mumbai area fell under its first group of systematic rulers with the expansion of the Maurya Empire, which eventually took over much of the subcontinent. At this early stage,  the whole empire was relatively tolerant of different religions; which allowed Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism to flourish in the area, the Koli showing a preference for the former.

After the Maurya Empire fell in the 2^nd century BC, the area later developed into the most significant trading port on the western coast of India, a city that was then known as Sopara. Trade links were established with the major civilisations of the day conveniently located across the Arabian Sea such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, Eastern Africa and Arabia.

This era lasted until the area again fell into the hands of a major regional power at the beginning of the 800s, the Silhara dynasty ruled the land for around 500 years. In the mid-14^th century, the Silhara dynasty was ended in Mumbai when the Muzaffarid dynasty from Gujarat  took over.  As with the Silhara dynasty, the area around Mumbai remained relatively insignificant, even if the port was still functioning.

It was the Portuguese, arriving at the very end of the 15^th century, who oversaw the beginning of Mumbai’s rise to prominence. Taking over much of the western coast of India, the Portuguese named the area ‘Bom Bahia’ (meaning ‘Good Bay’) a few years later, which eventually turned into the more familiar Bombay.

When the British East India Company leased the Bombay islands in 1668, the city really began to grow. The marshlands and mangrove forests were transformed into a working deep-sea port that handled the bulk of traffic into the subcontinent from that moment on. By the 19^th century, Bombay was the jewel in the British colonial crown, a city more important commercially than any other under London in the East including Rangoon, Delhi and Calcutta.

When the Indians under Mahatma Gandhi began to push for independence at the beginning of the 20^th century, naturally Bombay was at the forefront. Independence in 1947 saw Bombay remain the trade hub of India as its population continued to expand. Its official title was changed to Mumbai in 1995 but still many know the city by its timeless colonial name, Bombay. From the start of the 21^st century, Mumbai was one of the few cities in India to truly embrace the new millennium both socially, culturally and economically,setting the pace  in all walks of life on the subcontinent.

The most pleasant time of the year to visit is during the cool season, which begins in December, although January and February are typically the most comfortable months of the year. Expect average temperatures between 20 and 25˚C in the day at this time and nights that regularly drop into the teens. March is a little warmer but still pleasant and by April things tend to heat up steadily.

By May, the humidity has typically risen considerably and temperatures usually hit close to 40˚C. The heat continues until the end of June.

The monsoon season begins in early July. It's during this period that the greater part of the city’s annual 114cm of precipitation falls. Humidity is exceedingly high during the wet season and temperatures are also steamy, hovering in the 30s (°C) for the most part.