Arrivals
A Mumbai layover is worth leaving the airport for from 5.5 hours, but only if you have an Indian visa before you fly.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) is in the suburbs north of central Mumbai, about 8 km from Juhu Beach and 28 km by road from the Gateway of India in the south of the city. Every international flight uses Terminal 2, and Metro Line 3 has a station right beside it.
- Bags. When you check in for your first flight, ask for your bags to be checked through to your final destination. If they can’t be, or you’re on separate tickets, collect them at the belt and leave them at the left-luggage counter on Level 1 of Terminal 2, east side, by the P4 ground transport area. It doesn’t publish its prices.
- Tickets. For the Metro, buy a QR ticket at the counter or a machine in the station: fares go by distance, about ₹40 to ₹50 into south Mumbai. Change a little money at the exchange counter in the arrivals hall first, in case the machine won’t take your card.
- Phone. The airport’s Wi-Fi is free: enter your mobile number, foreign or Indian, and the login code comes by text. With no roaming, show your passport at an information desk or Wi-Fi kiosk, such as the desk by belt 8 in arrivals, for a code. Airtel sells SIM cards on Level 2 of arrivals, and an eSIM set up before you fly keeps maps and ride apps working in town.
Left luggage, lounges and rooms: at the airport.
eSIM
An India eSIM before you land
Mumbai airport's free Wi-Fi texts its login code to your phone, so with no roaming you'd queue at a desk with your passport for one. An eSIM set up before you fly keeps maps and ride apps working from the arrivals hall.
Get an eSIM from Airalo (opens in a new tab)Get a Saily eSIM (opens in a new tab)
Border
Staying in Terminal 2 between two international flights on one booking needs no visa; going into Mumbai needs one, and for most passports it has to be approved before you fly.
Not needed when you stay airside.
- Staying airside. Your airline takes you from the arrival gate to the transit area, with your bags tagged through, and you never reach immigration: no visa, no arrival card. Two separate bookings mean collecting your bags and checking in again, so you go through immigration and need a visa.
- US, UK, EU, Canadian and Australian passports need the e-Visa to go into town: there’s no visa-free entry to India for them. Apply on indianvisaonline.gov.in no later than 4 days before you land, since approval can take 72 hours or more. The 30-day visa is US$25 for most nationalities (US$10 from April to June), plus a 3% bank charge.
- Visa on arrival at Mumbai is for Japanese and South Korean passports only, at ₹2,000.
- Indian passports go through as citizens, and OCI cardholders show their OCI card in place of a visa.
- The e-Arrival card. If you’ll go through immigration and aren’t Indian, fill in this free online form in the 72 hours before you land, on indianvisaonline.gov.in or the Indian Visa Su-Swagatam app. It doesn’t replace a visa.
- Time. Mumbai publishes no arrival queue times. Allow 90 minutes from landing to sitting on the Metro, our own figure for the desks, customs and the footbridge to the station. A slow queue eats into your time in town, never your flight: the time you head back stays fixed.
Who needs which visa: visa and transit rules.
Into Mumbai
Metro Line 3, the Aqua Line, runs from Terminal 2 under the city to south Mumbai in about 45 minutes for about ₹40 to ₹50; for Juhu Beach and Bandra, take a taxi.
Not needed when you stay airside.
| Ride | Into town | Fare |
|---|---|---|
| Metro Line 3, for south Mumbai | About 45 minutes to Churchgate, for Marine Drive | ₹10 to ₹70 by distance; about ₹40 to ₹50 to south Mumbai |
| Taxi | About 40 minutes to Juhu, 75 to south Mumbai in daytime traffic (our estimates) | On the meter |
| Uber, Ola or Rapido | As a taxi | Shown in the app |
After customs, follow the signs for the Metro: a covered footbridge of about 100 metres runs from the terminal to the station, CSMI Airport T2, beside the P5 entrance, and you can push an airport trolley along it. Take a train from platform 1, towards Cuffe Parade. The first train of the day leaves the far end of the line at 5:55am and reaches Terminal 2 at about 6:03am; the last train back leaves Churchgate at about 10:34pm. Metered taxis wait at P4, Ola and Rapido pick up at P5 and Uber at P6, at any hour.
Every way in, compared: getting into the city.
What to do
Juhu Beach and the sea front at Bandra are short taxi rides from the airport; the Metro reaches Marine Drive, the Gateway of India and the CSMVS museum in south Mumbai.
Not needed when you stay airside.
The fastest plan for a short layover
- Take a metered taxi from P4, or an Uber, Ola or Rapido from its pickup point, outside Terminal 2.
- Ride about 40 minutes to Juhu Beach (our estimate; less when the roads are clear).
- Walk on the sand for about half an hour. It’s a public beach, free, with nothing to book.
- Take a taxi back 2 hours 10 minutes before your flight.
It needs 5.5 hours, which gives you about an hour at the beach. With 7 hours or more, take the Metro to Churchgate instead and walk along Marine Drive.
Would you rather have a guide? Neither the airport nor Air India advertises a transit tour, but private guides do. GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab) lists a 5-hour private layover tour that picks you up at the airport. On Viator (opens in a new tab), a 3-hour layover tour with airport pickup starts from about US$29 (seen November 2026). You still need an Indian visa for a tour.
Watch the calendar
- No weekly closing day. CSMVS opens every day, and Marine Drive, the Gateway of India and the beaches are open spaces with no opening hours.
- Four national days. CSMVS is closed on 26 January, 1 May, 15 August and 2 October.
- Festivals. Public holidays such as Diwali (8 and 10 November 2026), Guru Nanak Jayanti (24 November) and Christmas bring crowds and shut shops, and the Metro publishes no holiday timetable.
- Weekends. The Metro keeps a separate weekend timetable, so trains may come less often than on weekdays. Our times allow for about 10 minutes on the platform.
- The monsoon. The rains usually arrive in Mumbai around 11 June and ease by about 8 October. The beach plans are best in the dry months; in the monsoon, choose a Metro plan.
Timed plans from 5.5 to 24 hours, including Bandra, Colaba Causeway, the museum and a plan for night arrivals: itineraries.
Transit tour
Layover tours from Mumbai airport
Private tours that collect you at Terminal 2, drive you round south Mumbai and bring you back for your flight. You still need an Indian visa, and allow about 3 hours on top of the tour for immigration and being back before departure.
See tours on GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab)See tours on Viator (opens in a new tab)
Head back
Be back at Mumbai airport 90 minutes before departure, with your onward boarding pass and your passport.
Not needed when you stay airside.
- Time. Leave Churchgate station 2 hours 45 minutes before your flight, or Juhu Beach by taxi 2 hours 10 minutes before: that covers the wait or the traffic, the ride, the footbridge and 90 minutes at the airport. That makes 5.5 hours the realistic minimum, with about an hour at Juhu; 8 hours gives about 3 hours in south Mumbai by Metro.
- The terminal door. Guards at the entrance check your ticket or boarding pass and your ID before you go in, so keep both on you, not in a bag. Mumbai doesn’t publish how early they’ll let you in.
- Why 90 minutes is enough. With your boarding pass already issued and no bag to drop, you only need departure immigration and security. The airport’s advice to arrive 4 hours early is for check-in. If you still have a bag to drop, come back sooner: Air India’s international counters close 60 minutes before departure.
- Late at night. The last Metro back leaves Churchgate at about 10:34pm, and it matters only for a flight after about 1:20am. After it, take a taxi or app cab: allow 75 minutes from south Mumbai (our allowance; less on empty roads).
- Check the airport code. Some flights are moving to the new Navi Mumbai airport (NMI): Air India Express from December 2026, domestic routes first and then its Gulf ones, and IndiGo’s Gulf, Dhaka and Jakarta flights from February 2027. This guide covers Mumbai (BOM): if either of your flights says NMI, it leaves from a different airport, and changing between the two means passing immigration.
Time in town at each layover length: how much time you’ll have.
Departures
Best for your layoverStaying at the airport instead: without a visa, you can rest airside in Terminal 2, in a Niranta room or a lounge.
- Niranta’s airside rooms. Next to the duty-free food court in Terminal 2, by the hour or overnight, for passengers going from one international flight to another. You need no Indian visa, only tickets for flights at Terminal 2, and you book on Niranta’s own website. It doesn’t publish its prices.
- Niranta’s landside rooms. Below the arrivals hall, after immigration, so only with a visa: the same hourly and overnight stays, for anyone with a Terminal 2 ticket.
- Lounges. The airport’s international lounges, on Levels 3 and 4 of departures, let you in up to 4 hours before your flight and have showers. Book on AdaniOne, the airport’s booking site; walk-in prices aren’t published.
- Sleeping pods. The Aviserv lounge in Terminal 2 arrivals is open 24 hours and has sleeping pods, for up to 3 hours. It’s in the arrivals hall, so plan on needing a visa to reach it.
- No free hotel. Neither Air India nor the airport advertises a free transit hotel or stopover at Mumbai.
Rooms, lounges and showers: at the airport.
Hotel
Hotels near Mumbai airport
Hotels outside the terminals are landside, so you need an Indian visa and a taxi to reach them. Without a visa, Niranta's airside rooms inside Terminal 2 are the place to sleep, booked on its own website.