Itineraries — Maharashtra

The Mumbai & Maharashtra region covers the state of Maharashtra (3rd largest Indian state by area, 308,000 km², 113 million inhabitants) on India's central west coast. It is India's richest state — 14% of national GDP, headquarters of India's largest conglomerates (Tata Group, Reliance Industries, Mahindra), Bombay Stock Exchange.

The region structures around two distinct tourist hubs. Mumbai (Bombay until 1995), Maharashtra capital and India's most populous city (24 million inhabitants in agglomeration, 33,000 inhabitants/km² — Asia's densest), concentrates most regional tourist sites. It is an exceptional megacity: 7 originally separate islands progressively linked by British landfill from the 17th century, historic commercial port, Portuguese (1534-1665) then British (1665-1947) colonial heritage, UNESCO architectural heritage since 2018.

The second major tourist hub is Aurangabad (340 km east of Mumbai, 1 million inhabitants) and its heritage treasure — the Ellora and Ajanta caves, UNESCO-listed in 1983. Ellora (34 caves carved over 2 km in the cliff, 6th-10th centuries) presents a uniquely peaceful coexistence of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments. The famous Kailasa Temple (cave 16, 8th century, world's largest monolith, 60 m long, 30 m high, carved top-down from a single rock mass) is one of humanity's most extraordinary architectural achievements. Ajanta (30 Buddhist caves carved in a crescent cliff, 2nd century BCE - 7th century CE) is famous for its murals depicting the Jatakas.

Our editorial angle: Mumbai & Maharashtra won't be your first trip to India — it's a region to consider as extension of a Goa-Kerala trip (the west coast) or as alternative to Delhi for a return to India.