Elephanta Caves & Island Tour with Multiple Options
Recommended by 97% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Mumbai, India
- 5 to 6 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Overview
Tour Elephanta Island with an English-speaking guide on this private tour. Your guide will pick you up at your hotel and take you to the Gateway of India, where you'll take a ferry out to the island to explore its ancient rock-hewn cave temples, many of which date back to the 5th or 6th centuries.
- Take a guided tour of Elephanta Island
- Flexible start times are available to suit your schedule
- Round-trip transfers from your hotel are included
- Private tour ensures flexibility and personal attention from your guide
What's Included
- Bottled water
- Hotel Pickup & Drop If Selected
- English Speaking Guide
- Ferry Tickets₹300.00 per person
- Caves Entry Tickets₹600.00 per person
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Itinerary
1
Gateway of India
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Elephanta Caves
4 hours • Admission Ticket Not Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 100 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.8
based on 180 reviews
Rosalind_R, Feb 2026
Thank you Eklavya and Bankaj for being great hosts and being super informative and friendly! We had a great time.
Mina_J, Nov 2025
As history buffs, this was an informative tour of the ancient caves. Marshall and Milind as our guides were extremely knowledgeable, took the time to answer all questions. Definitely recommend the tour.
Jim_Z, Apr 2025
Great tour. Really enjoyed it. Both the guide at Elephanta caves and the guide that met us in Mumbai were awesome. Highly recommend!
Peter_P, Apr 2025
Ashmita was our guide and was super friendly and nice. We had a great time! It is a hour boat ride, each way. Just a heads up, be prepared to walk up a bunch of stairs once you get to the island.
Luca_K, Jan 2025
Shivam was my guide who contacted me upfront and was waiting for me at the meeting point. He took me to the island where another tour guide, a local, showed the caves around. It was informative, learnt a lot. Be careful with the monkeys, they steal whatever food/drink they find.
Simon_C, Nov 2024
Nice boat trip from gateway to India and guide was very friendly. Amazing cave carvings well worth the steep walk
Meghan_P, Nov 2024
This trip was good, the group was too large for my liking and I found it tough to hear all the time. Guide was great shared lots of details and did his best to accommodate with the size of the group. Boat ride was nice and the island was fantastic.
Josef_M, Nov 2024
Shuaib was an awesome guide. His attention and knowledge was impressive, and he was a very pleasant person to spend the day with. Thank you for making this an excellent experience!
Nuraan_K, Feb 2023
I love that only the local people living on the island can have shops/stalls and be guides on the island. Our excellent Mumbai guide (Imran Khan) fetched us from the hotel and escorted us on the ferry - pointing out interesting things along the way and answered our questions well. On the island, our local guide (Krupesh) was very knowledgable about the history of the temple caves, the message of the sculptures and Hindu beliefs. I very much found it fascinating and will recommend this tour (and these guides!) to anyone interested in history and are as in awe of ancient art as I am.
Siddharth_S, Feb 2023
The Guides Imran and Trikal were good and the pick up was on time!! But it is just not worth the money spent!!! The price set for the tour is too over priced!! The tickets for ferry (round Trip) and the caves just cost 300 rupees for Indian Nationals and 900 rupees for Foreigners!! It was more of a 2-3k per person tour not 5k !! I spent 15k on this tour for 3 family members which is not justified!!
Response from Host, Feb 2023
We thank you for taking the tour with us and sharing your feedback. We are glad to hear that you found our guides good and that the pick-up was on time. However, we would like to clarify that the ticket price, guiding fees for foreigners is different than the Indians and we do not have control over it. Most of the travellers we get are foreigners, so we have priced as per foreigner. If you would have contacted us we would have resolved this easily, but giving a 1 star, really doesn't justify your experience. We apologise for any confusion or misunderstanding, and we would love to refund you the partial amount.
Rachelle_D, Dec 2022
This was my second tour with MAGICAL MUMBAI TOURS, and it didn't disappoint. May be one of my favorites of the trip. This tour required a bit of coordination, because once on the island the guides must be local - and rightfully so. Magical Mumbai Tours made sure I had a liaison, IMRAN and driver, HUSAN, to pick me up from the hotel and get me to the island for the "handoff" to local guide TRIKAL. (The ferry ride was around 70 minutes each way, and Imran went with me. Once again, I had a wonderful guide who was extremely knowledgeable about the site. I highly recommend this tour!
Paul_G, Nov 2022
The guide took some time to find us even though we clearly mentioned to meet us at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel. We had to hand the phone to a hotel concierge so he could direct the guide to the hotel entrance which is next to the Gateway of India where the boats depart.
A private tour was promised, but other people were with the guide when he arrived. We then had to argue with the owner before boarding the boat since it was not advertised as a group tour. When we sent the requested proof, the owner grudgingly arranged an extra guide to meet us at the island.
The guide and tour of the caves was good, and the caves are certainly worth a visit. However, when we went to return we were asked to wait 10 minutes for another group. After 20 minutes waiting we just left on our own due to an evening dinner appointment.
The cost is high for what you get, and if you can figure out where to pick up the tickets, board the boat and pick a guide on the island you could probably arrange it yourself.
Response from Host, Dec 2022
Hello sir, Elephanta caves entrance tickets & ferry tickets are expensive & so the cost for the tour is bit high, but lower than other competitors.
We did a private tour for your party of 6 because you showed us that it's a private tour. we can not buy a ferry for a private tour. The ferry which takes you to the island is a government ferry with 150 passengers. So the other guest were also the passengers. The guy who picked you up from the hotel was just a person who take you to the caves & handover to the guide. So at the end your family did a private tour. You didn't went up to the caves to see how was the tour, because you decided to sit down. Just by sitting down, how can experience & put a 1 star review, infact you not even saw anything.
You asked for a private tour, yes we did it privately.
Next time when you come sir, please visit the full tour & then rate someone. Thanks.
Smita_S, Apr 2022
Our guide Sahil and driver Sam were good company and very knowledgeable. We learned a lot about Mumbai from them and they kept us entertained. At Elephanta caves we had another local guide who gave us detailed information about the carvings . Overall our experience was very good and I highly recommend the two for Mumbai trips. Great job!👍
Response from Host, Apr 2022
Dear Guest.
Greetings from all of us here at Magical Mumbai Tours
Thank you so much for your 5* review - great to hear you enjoyed your tour.
It gives us immense pleasure to know that we have been able to match your expectations and at the same time impress you with our services. We are pleased to know that the services and facilities offered to you were to your satisfaction. Your feedback has been shared with the team and we are delighted to note that you have carried back bond memories of your experience with Magical Mumbai Tours
Thank you for highlighting our team, their courtesy and genuine care. We deeply value your sentiments. It was my pleasure to share your appreciation with my team. I am sure your words of encouragement would go a long way in inspiring and motivating each of us to deliver service par excellence to all our discerning guests like you.
It was indeed a pleasure having you with “ Magical Mumbai Tours “ and we look forward to welcoming you soon again
Warm regards
Team ( Magical Mumbai Tours )
Jenna_H, Mar 2020
My guide during city tour was excellent, and so was the driver. Unfortuntely the guide in the elephanta caves was not that great. His English wasn’t in very good level and he basically forced us to buy unnecessary touristic items from his family shop on our way back. In addition the boat that took us to Elephanta caves was not in good condition and safe. There were no life vests in the boat and the engine got partly broken our way back, it was really scary.
ALAN_R, Feb 2020
Overall a good excursion. A good contrast with a long day on the City tour on the previous day. Boat trip was fun, particularly being surrounded closely by a large flock of seagulls after food. Local guide for the caves not great - very difficult to understand and spent too much time on each section - consequently we didn't see everything. The two other visitors with us basically gave up listening to him as they couldn't understand him either. The Magical Mumbai guide was good.
Ross_A, Feb 2020
Good trip to the elephanta island/caves. Would have preferred to have been able to spend a little more time on the island after the tour though, we didnt have any time to get food or souvenirs etc after the tour ended but it was a good trip overall.
Gary_P, Jan 2020
A wonderful experience with my tour guide and the boat ride over and back was a wonderful and relaxing trip on a local boat. I didn't know that there were 122 steps up for the visit, but able to accomplish that with ease (and a few stops on the way). What wonderful cave carvings in stone and a wonderful explanation of the reasons and history of the caves. Great half-day trip that I would highly recommend.
GENAROJOSE_H, Aug 2025
Wonderful experience on Elephanta Island with everything very well organized and a guide on the island very professional and best forgives that made me enjoy the spectacular caves of Elephanta. I had a fantastic and unforgettable day. Highly recommended. Genaro, Tenerife, Spain 😍🫶
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Stephan_W, Sep 2024
Excellente Führung, sehr informativ, viele Details erfahren; gute Organisation; kulturelles Highlight
From $27.25
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Elephanta Caves & Island Tour with Multiple Options
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