Dharavi Tour | Dharavi Slum Tour - Magical Mumbai Tours

Explore Mumbai’s Heart with our authentic Dharavi Tour

Dharavi is the largest slum in India located in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital. The Dharavi Slum is home to predominantly low-cost skilled workers in one of the world’s most crowded shanty places. The last census pegged the Dharavi slum’s population at 2 million, but activists believe the actual number is much higher. Dharavi was established in 1884 during the British colonial era for the tanning business; migratory fluxes have resulted in many small-scale industries that produce export quality leather goods, plastic, pottery, and embroidered garments.

As you walk through the bright streets for a Dharavi tour, you’ll be impressed by the buzzing energy of one of Mumbai’s most dynamic and complicated districts. It’s simple to fall into the trap of seeing the Dharavi tour through a small lens—as a destitute slum where its residents’ lives are defined by struggle and misery. But the truth is far more multifaceted and varied than the stereotypical narrative that often surrounds this neighborhood. Despite its difficult living conditions, Dharavi is a center of creativity and invention, with a vibrant $1 billion sector that creates everything from ceramics to textiles to leather items.

Explore the unseen side of Dharavi with MMT

Magical Mumbai Tours provides you with a safe and exciting Dharavi slum tour in the warren lanes of Dharavi. We provide you with a Dhravai Tour guide that is born and raised in Dharavi and shows you the reality of Dharavi and the daily life of the people in the Dharavi slum. Our Dharavi Industry tour shows you how the people of Dharavi are improving their lives along with their dedication and friendliness. Our 3-hour Dharavi walking tour in Mumbai will show you the hardworking local community that generates business worth billions for Mumbai city. Booking our group and private Dharavi tour will help you explore the streets of Dharavi:

Your Dharavi tour itinerary highlights:

Start your guided Dharavi walking tour at Third Wave Cafe, Mahim
Gain insights about the worker community from a resident Dharavi tour guide
Explore the thriving businesses/ industries of Dharavi
Walk through the local community with your Dharavi guide to witness the lifestyle of people in India’s largest slum
Meet the impressive potters of Dharavi and look at their work from their small homes.
See and meet the beautiful mural art during your Dharavi tour

What is included in your Dharavi Slum Tour?

Private/Group guided Dharavi tour for you
English Speaking local Dharavi tour guide
Hotel Pickup & Drop in Air-conditioned car (optional)
Dharavi Walking tour from Mahim Railway Station
Bottled mineral water

Complete assistance from your Travel Concierge

What to Expect in Your Dharavi Tour

While visiting the Dharavi slum may seem intimidating, the experience of spending a few hours in your Dharavi tour is a thriving and educational experience. The Dharavi slum, with its maze-like network of narrow alleys, is best visited in the morning. Our Dharavi tour guides in Mumbai have a razor-sharp knowledge of inspiring creativity, perseverance, and ingenuity. A Dharavi Tour helps you understand how Dharavi residents survive under difficult circumstances in what is called the “city of hope.”

Your Dharavi tour booking gets you to the unseen side of Mumbai city. Your Dharavi slum Group tour or private tour begins at the Third Wave Coffee shop in Mahim West, where you will meet your Dharavi tour guide and start your walking Dharavi tour. Continue with seeing the small industries accommodated in the cramped spaces in the Dharavi Industry tour. There aren’t many more exciting and informational ways to experience the lives of the slum dwellers than on a Dharavi walking tour with Magical Mumbai Tours.

Things to do in Your Dharavi slum tour

The demand for a Slum tour in Mumbai has been growing rapidly and we offer you a glimpse in the life of Mumbai’s largest slum. Our Dharavi Tour Mumbai lets you experience a thriving area home to thousands of people. After your Dharavi tour booking with us, we appoint a Dharavi tour guide that is born and raised in Dharavi. Our slum tour helps you see the leather industries, pottery making, and soap-making process, then see how local craftspeople repurpose plastic collected from Mumbai.

The Dharavi slum tour will take you to some of the fascinating industries in Dharavi. Every hour brings something new and exciting, from the interactive Dharavi tour to dining at a local restaurant.

1. Explore the Plastic recycling industry in our Dharavi tour

Dharavi’s plastic recycling business comprises three stages in the recycling process. Based on colour and hardness, mixed plastic trash is separated and sorted before being crushed into plastic chips in a crushing machine. Before being melted into tiny plastic tablets or pellets, the chips are cleaned to remove debris and allowed to dry in the sun. 4 tonnes of plastic garbage may be recycled daily by a single recycling unit.

2. Explore the wax printing industry in our Dharavi tour

One of the oldest businesses in Dharavi is wax printing, which has 40 to 50 operational wax printing facilities. Using a wooden block with a desired pattern on the bottom, hot, molten wax is applied to the fabric. When the wax has solidified, the fabric is dyed, then the wax is removed by washing it in hot water, revealing the pattern. Due to the high level of precision required by wax printing, the worker should be qualified to operate in this field. Employees often put in 10 hours per day and are paid between 500 and 800 per day ($ 8 to 13 per day).

3. Explore the Brilliance of the Aluminum Production Industry

Another enterprise in Dharavi that employs mixed metal trash as a raw source is aluminum brick manufacturing. A magnetic separator is used to extract aluminum from mixed metal trash in the first stage. Separated scrap solid aluminum is melted in a 660° centigrade boiler and shaped into solid 5 Kilogram bricks with a market price of 5000 ($ 78) per.

4. Discover the Artistic Treasures of the Ceramic Industry

The ‘kumbhar’ community, which is administered by individual houses, is responsible for most pottery production. Each cottage has its own ceramic kiln as well as a shop facing the road ahead. Around Diwali, when the entire area is enveloped in the smoke created by pottery kilns, this profession is at its peak.

Your Dharavi walking tour Itinerary

Dharavi slum tour

Total duration: 3 hours

Availability: Every day

Pick-up time: 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM

Your Dharavi tour guide will meet you at Third Wave Coffee shop in Mahim West at your chosen pickup time. On your visit to Dharavi, India’s largest slum you’ll witness dilapidated buildings churn out business worth $1 billion in revenue. Your Dharavi Tour starts in the commercial section of Dharavi; here, small factories recycle plastic and aluminum, make clothing and manufacture leather items.

As the Dharavi industry tour progresses to different industries, your Dharavi tour guide will explain the processes of the sectors you visit. You’ll also get to visit Dharavi’s residential section in your Dharavi Slum Private tour to see both worlds of Dharavi. Dharavi residents are creative and hardworking beyond imagination, you can view the beautiful clay pots and mural wall paintings.

Dharavi slum tour and Mumbai sightseeing tour

Total Duration: 8-9 hours

Tour Availability: Every day

Pick up time: 8:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 12:00 Noon, 1:00 PM

Your half-day Mumbai sightseeing and Dharavi Slum tour begins with our English-speaking Dharavi tour guide and professional driver picking you up from your location. On your Slum tour in Mumbai, you get to explore India’s financial capital, winding your way through the city’s busy streets, delving into its history at the Gateway of India, exploring the Mani Bhawan- Gandhi’s House, and heading down to the beautiful Queen Victoria Railway Station. This is followed by a Dharavi walking tour where you get to witness the hard-working residents of Dharavi working and living happily in meager living means.

You will visit various industries during your Dharavi tour and our tour guide will explain how life is organized in India’s largest slum. You will meet the potters, embroidery artists, and leather makers on your Dharavi slum tour who utilize the smallest space to create visions of their world. Another stop in your Dharavi industry tour is at the plastic and aluminum recycling industries in the alleys, which have been an important business in Dharavi.

Dharavi slum tour and food tour

Total Duration: 5-6 hours

Tour Availability: Every day

Pickup time: 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 3:00 PM

Your local and authentic Dharavi slum tour and food tour experience will begin with our tour guide at your hotel. You will be assisted by a tour guide to an air-conditioned, sanitized car driven by a professional driver.

Dharavi houses close to 500 businesses in single-room factories, from leather tanning to pottery, from wall painting artists to plastic and aluminum recycling workers, you will see the most diligent craftsmen at our Dharavi slum tour.

In Your Dharavi slum tour, you’ll also spend your day with the locals understanding their means of livelihood amidst the challenging conditions they face. Magical Mumbai Tours tries to remove the stigma around the Dharavi slum on our tour and show you the thriving leather industry, recycling industry, beautiful wall murals, and the lives of the very first settlers of Dharavi- the Kumbharwada.

After your Dharavi slum tour ends, you will be driven to where you get lip-smacking food in Mumbai. Food Tours are an exciting and fun way for foodies to explore the city and its culture while discovering the best of the city. A food tour is a one-of-a-kind event in our itinerary that will appeal to people of all ages.

You will be able to sample excellent and delectable food from Maharashtra and other parts of India. Because of the spectacular variety of foods available on this tour, it is appropriate for travelers of all ages and fitness levels. Our Mumbai Dharavi tour ends with our guide dropping you off at your hotel. Along with this, you can also opt for an Elephanta Caves & Dharavi Slum Tour if you plan on spending your whole day experiencing the unexplored parts of Mumbai.

Understand the Vibrant Hip-Hop Culture of Dharavi

Together with its thriving industry, Dharavi is well renowned for its thriving hip-hop scene. Hip-hop artists have made this area their home, using their music as a platform to share their hardships, victories, and aspirations.

In the early 2000s, hip-hop made its way to Dharavi and immediately became popular. The music’s raw intensity and honesty, which related to their experiences of poverty, violence, and discrimination, drew in young people from the neighborhood. Rappers and MCs from the vicinity soon formed crews and started to perform at competitions and events in their community. Nowadays, the hip-hop community in Dharavi is prospering, with a number of gifted musicians and teams making their marks on the local, national, and global music scenes. The themes covered by the music and lyrics range from social justice and equality to love and relationships, reflecting the community’s difficulties and hopes.

Hip-hop culture has not just influenced music but a variety of other creative forms in Dharavi, such as graffiti and dance. The neighborhood’s walls are decorated in vibrant murals and tags that convey themes of empowerment, solidarity, and optimism. Local dance groups showcase their talents and originality by rehearsing and performing in public areas. In general, hip-hop culture has woven itself into the fabric of Dharavi, reflecting the neighborhood’s fortitude and inventiveness in the face of hardship. Explore the area while listening to the music, keeping an eye out for the graffiti, and soaking in the distinct and energizing hip-hop culture of Dharavi.

The remarkable transformation of Mumbai’s largest slum into a vibrant urban hub

Almost a million people live in Dharavi, one of the biggest slums in Asia, which is located in the center of Bombay. Residents in the neighborhood have been living in crowded, unhygienic circumstances for decades without access to necessities like running water and sanitary services. To make Dharavi a more pleasant and sustainable neighborhood, there has been a movement for its renovation in recent years.

A lengthy, intricate, and ambitious undertaking, the Dharavi reconstruction plan has been in progress for many years. The concept is for converting the slum into an up-to-date, seamlessly connected urban neighborhood with better housing, infrastructure, and services. While still preserving the distinctive character and quality of life for locals. Five sectors make up the redevelopment plan, each with its own set of possibilities and problems. Dharavi’s northern, largely residential portion is the first sector’s subject. Building brand-new apartment complexes with cutting-edge facilities and expanding accessibility to essential utilities like power and water are both part of the strategy for this region.

The second sector is concentrated in the Dharavi central business district, which is where the majority of the neighborhood’s small-scale businesses are located. The strategy for this sector calls for improvements to the infrastructure and services as well as assistance in fostering the expansion and success of nearby companies. In order to build a greener and more sustainable community, the fourth sector focuses on environmental sustainability. This covers programs like waste management, renewable energy, and rainwater collection. The fifth sector, which focuses on social infrastructure including hospitals, schools, and community centers, comes last. Access to essential services will be improved, and new public gathering places will be built for the neighborhood.

Which Dharavi Tour Guide to Choose for your Dhravai Tour?

While booking a Dharavi tour in Mumbai, you need to work with trusted and local tour guides for the best experience. Being India’s largest slum, Dharavi consists of various exciting and sensational things to explore. A Dharavi slum tour is filled with fun if you’re assisted by the right Dharavi tour guide. Magical Mumbai tours are trusted by travelers around the globe for our Dharavi tour and here’s why

We are ranked #1 on Tripadvisor with 800+ positive reviews
Personalized Dharavi tour designed for the utmost safety of every traveler
Hassle-free tour at the best prices.

Why Book a Dharavi Tour with Magical Mumbai Tours?

Magical Mumbai Tours offers authentic travel experiences with local people and the community. Our Mumbai tour helps you experience the unseen part of Dharavi. Our team of local Dharavi tour guides allows you to explore the largest slum in India in full safety and comfort. We make sure that your Dharavi slum tour is filled with insights and fun to make your trip to Mumbai memorable. For a more tailored Dharavi tour to match your requirements, you can always get in touch with our tour operators. To Book a Dharavi tour with us, all you need to do is visit our website and you can find the perfect Dharavi walking tour as per your needs.

FAQs related to Dharavi Tour

– Should you consider a Dharavi walking tour?

Transport options to reach Dharavi include taxis, cabs, and railway to reach Mahim station or Third Wave cafe, Mahim. Then a convenient and recommended option for your Dharavi tour is to walk, considering the narrow alleyways and cramped lanes. Walk around the commercial and residential areas with your Dharavi tour guide to witness the contrasting lives of the local community.

– Can you visit the Dharavi slum in Mumbai?

Yes, you can visit the Dharavi slum in Mumbai. The locals from the slums arrange Dharavii slum tours for you with all the necessary arrangements and safety. So Book a dharavi tour in Mumbai with us to experience the lives of people living in India’s largest slum.

– What makes the Dharavi slum tour famous?

Dharavi is famous for its plastic recycling and leather production units, which generate a huge business. A Dharavi slum tour has been made famous by the many Bollywood movies shot in Dharavi. Industries in Dharavi export goods like leather, clay pots, accessories, and textiles worldwide.

– What is the purpose of a Dharavi tour?

A Dharavi Slum tour aims to dispel notions that people may have of slums being a place of misery; however, the glorification of slum tourism has changed the worldview of ghetto tourism. A Dharavi tour is an awareness-raising venture, resulting in the employment discovery of skilled workers and young innovative minds.

– What can you find in a Dharavi Industry tour?

The Dharavi slum in Mumbai has the most prominent industries and is the hub of small-scale industries. Our Dharavi Industry tour helps you explore the leather industries, plastic recycling industries, aluminum-making industries, pottery units, soap-making, textile-making, and embroidery industries of Dharavi.