Dharavi Tour

The experience

Dharavi upends every expectation visitors bring to it. Within one square mile lives a community whose informal economy turns over an estimated billion dollars a year — and this respectful, educational walking tour shows you how.

You'll move workshop to workshop through four great industries: plastic recycling, where the city's waste is sorted, shredded and reborn; leather, whose finished goods sit in boutiques worldwide; garments, stitched at speeds that humble any factory; and pottery, in the generations-old kilns of Kumbharwada, where entire courtyards glow with drying clay.

This is not poverty tourism — it's the opposite. Led by guides with deep ties to the community, the tour is a masterclass in enterprise, dignity and the astonishing resourcefulness of Mumbai.

Good to know

• Photography is restricted in most areas out of respect for residents; your guide will show you where it's welcome.
• The walk covers narrow lanes and stairways — comfortable closed shoes recommended.
• A portion of tour proceeds supports community programmes in Dharavi.