Elephanta Caves & Island Tour with Multiple Options

Varsha was friendly and knowledgeable tour guide of the Dharavi slum. As a resident she was able to give us an insight into the community.

Because this was the second tour with Magical Mumbai Tours, they provided a slight discount going direct. We opted for being picked up at the hotel (extra cost because of being near the airport), which worked out well, not having to worry about locating our tour guide or knowing where to go. We had one tour guide for the ferry, then another for the actual tour of the caves - a local. We were not aware that there would be a switch. Having a local to the island was nice; however, it did put pressure to buy items from their families' store - don't get me wrong, they weren't overly forceful and were nice; however, the underlying theme of "this is how my family survives" was constantly there. It was a nice day (hot) and we were not aware that the monkeys would be overly aggressive when it came to food and water. We watched one steal someone's bag of popcorn, and both mine and my coworker's waters were taken by them. This left us with nothing to drink during the hike up the stairs. The location itself was very neat to see. The carvings are all in various states due to history, with some still having amazing details. Our "local" tour guide was very knowledgeable and shared wonderfully spiritual information that was near to his heart. He was also a wonderful photographer for us! This was the first time I've visited a cave above ground - not sure if I missed this in the information, or I just ignored it. Strongly suggest wearing comfy shoes for the journey up and down, but even in the heat, it was a very tolerable walk/hike/climb!

Our guide Pankaj made the visit special for us. Not only did he explain the history of the cave but also the Hindu philosophy behind the statues. Highly recommended!

Great experience at this UNESCO site island. We got accompanied by Eklavya by ferry (skipping the queues:) and got to hear about every day life in Mumbai and then met local guide Pankaj , who took us to the unesco site.

Trikal was a most excellent guide. He is local to the island and shared his passion and knowledge with humor and deep love.

Trikal was my tour guide for the elaphanta caves. I had 0 knowledge about Hindu gods before coming and I now leave good introduction! Trikal was very friendly, accommodating and informative. Great way to learn the culture and history, including origin of the common words we use nowadays deriving from Indian religion. Thanks for the good time!

We had a great experience with this tour company even though we booked with them on short notice. The manager was responsive and answered all of the questions we had along with helping to identify where a discount can be applied for Indian document holders, which was appreciative. We did the 4-6 hour Elephanta Caves tour and the local tour guide we were paired up with there through Magical Mumbai Tours did a fantastic job explaining the detailed history behind the caves and scupltures and gave us plenty of time for photos. It was a really hot day but he still explained everything with a smile and elaborated where we asked questions. Would refinitely recommend this tour company! They also have women tour guides!

Sahil gave us a fantastic trip from gateway of India to Elephant caves which were fascinating

Thank you Eklavya and Bankaj for being great hosts and being super informative and friendly! We had a great time.

I was met by one guide initially who mumbled and was difficult to understand, and who wasn’t great with personal space. Once we got to the island I was handed over to another guide who took me round the caves. The caves were interesting enough but it would have been better to be just reading a guide booklet and the information boards around the caves. If you haven’t seen a Hindu temple it is worth going but honestly I could have given this a miss. The actual tour part is very short and the best part is as actually the boat journey across the bay. If I had known all of this beforehand I would have organised it myself and explored on my own, which I would say would be worth doing.