Elephanta Island Transportation

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Elephanta Island is a popular day trip from Bombay for tourists and locals alike. Boats leave about every 15 minutes from Apollo Bunder, the dock by the Gateway of India and take an hour to get to the island. Some boats are a touch sturdier and faster than the others, and cost a touch more, but the difference is small. Once you arrive on the island, you'll have to walk the long pier, or take a slow train that drops you at the ticket office and local village. From there, you'll have to walk a long path uphill to get to the actual caves. If that's too much for you, you could hire four locals to carry you on a seated stretcher up the path.

Note: Allow yourself a minimum of two hours on the island, for a total of a four hour trip from Bombay.

These guys are waiting for you at the bottom of the steps that lead you up from the jetty to the cave entrance. They're there beside wooden chairs known as palanquins in order to carry you up the steps as there are well over 100 steps to the top, if not, over 200. This, of course, doesn't come for free and I suppose you would have to negotiate a price with them first. They look pretty bored so I don't expect they get a lot of business so you could hire one just for fun!

When you arrive on Elephanta Island, it's quite some walk from where the ferry drops you off at the end of the jetty to the caves. To solve this problem, there's a miniature train that runs along the jetty to near where steps are located that take you up to the ticket counter. The train only costs Rs8 but it was full up when I arrived so I didn't get a chance to ride on it and so had to walk. The train doesn't go that fast and to be honest it's probably quicker to walk than to hang around and wait for it to leave.

Ferries to Elephanta Island are available from behind the Gateway of India. I took a "deluxe" one which cost Rs120 return, Rs20 more than a standard ferry but I couldn't tell the difference between them. You can only return on a deluxe ferry if you set off on one. The ferries leave every 30 minutes or so from 9am-2pm and return from 1pm-5pm. Tickets are available from small booths near the Gateway of India on the Apollo Bunder. The ferry offers great photo opportunites of the Gateway of India from the ocean side. On the way to Elephanta Island, which takes about an hour, you'll pass by 'Middle Ground', a fortress, island and long jetties that connect ships to Butcher Island.

I’m not sure I can really call this a train, its more like a children’s amusement however I took it because it was organised for me and pretty much everyone else did too just for the novelty of it. It is not like the walk of the pier is any great length, in fact I walked it on the return as waiting for the train to come back would have taken too long. You pile into this little contraption which seats 2 comfortably each side of the wagons and chug at 2kms p/h at best. We had a little breakdown enroute and I was prepared to get out and walk but it kicked into life again and we finished the last few metres in style.

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Boats leave from Apollo Bunder around every half-hour from 9 am to 2 pm and between 1 pm and 5 pm from Elephanta Island. You can buy tickets at the booths near the Gateway or you can book a tour with the MTDC. The boat services are suspended during the monsoon season.

Ferries leave from Apollo Bunder at the Gateway of India for Elephanta Island. You may find yourself crossing over one or two other boats just to get to your ferry moored on the outside of the others. The ride takes around 1 hour each way. You can sit on the lower covered deck or upstairs – which in Summer may prove to be way too hot. Try and pick a calm day as even then you will get a little of a bumpy ride. There is a sign on the boat which says no photography. No one took any notice of this and in fact I believe it more pertains to the taking of photos of the naval base there as my guide told me to make sure I did not take photos of that area as we passed by.

The toy train is a highly polluting diesel engine train that is used for a short ride to go from the ferry jetty to the entrance to the steps that lead up to the caves. It is actually a tourist trap as well since it is just a few minutes walk upto the steps and you have to climb up anyway after that!!! The price of the ticket is Rs4 one way or Rs8 for the return journey. Not really worth it when you can reach faster on your own steam!!! Essentially a joy ride for small kids at the most. Would not recommend anyone to take it unless they are not fit enough to walk!!!