By air
For many visitors, Sahar (30km), Mumbai's busy international airport , provides their first experience of India. The complex is divided into two "modules", one for Air India flights and the other for foreign airlines. Once through customs and the lengthy immigration formalities, you'll find a 24hr State Bank of India exchange facility, rather unhelpful government (ITDC) and state (MTDC) tourist information counters, car rental kiosks, cafés and a prepaid taxi stand in the chaotic arrivals concourse. There's also - very usefully - an Indian Railways booking office which you should make use of if you know your next destination; it'll save you a long wait at the reservation offices downtown. If you're on one of the few flights to land in the afternoon or early evening - by which time most hotels tend to be full - it's worth paying on the spot for a room at the accommodation booking desk in the arrivals hall. All of the domestic airlines also have offices outside the main entrance, and there's a handy 24hr left luggage "cloakroom" in the car park nearby (Rs20-50 per day, depending on the size of your bag; maximum duration 90 days).

From the domestic terminal it is less than a fifteen-minute walk (across the main road) or Rs15 auto-rickshaw ride to Vile Parle station from where suburban trains run every few minutes (5am-midnight; 35-40min; Rs5) to Churchgate. The international terminal lies about 3km from the next station out of town on the same line, Andheri, and linked to it by buses #308, #338 and #409 or a Rs25 rickshaw ride. This is a fast and cheap way into town, and convenient unless you are really loaded down with luggage.

Many of the more upmarket hotels, particularly those near the airport, send out courtesy coaches to pick up their guests. Taxis are comfortable and not too extravagant. To avoid haggling over the fare or being duped by the private taxi companies outside the airport, pay in advance at the taxi desk in the arrivals hall. The price on the receipt, which you hand to the driver on arrival at your destination, is slightly more than the normal meter rate (around Rs260 to Colaba or Nariman Point, or Rs93 to Juhu), but at least you can be sure you'll be taken by the most direct route. Taxi-wallahs invariably try to persuade you to stay at a different hotel from the one you ask for. Don't agree to this; their commission will be added on to the price of your room.

Internal flights land at Mumbai's more user-friendly domestic airport, Santa Cruz (26km to the north), which is divided into separate modern terminals: the cream-coloured one (Module 1A) for Indian Airlines, and the blue-and-white (Module 1B) for private carriers. If you're transferring directly from here to an international flight at Sahar, 4km northeast, take the free "fly-bus" that shuttles every fifteen minutes between the two. The Indian government and MTDC both have 24hr information counters in the arrivals hall, and there's a foreign exchange counter and accommodation desk tucked away near the first-floor exit. Use the yellow-and-black metered taxis that queue outside the exit. The touts that claim to be running a prepaid taxi system overcharge hugely - a journey to Colaba should cost around Rs250, no more.

Don't be tempted to use the auto-rickshaws that buzz around outside the airports; they're not allowed downtown and will leave you at the mercy of unscrupulous taxi drivers on the edge of Mahim Creek, the southernmost limit of their permitted area.

By train
Trains to Mumbai from most central, southern and eastern regions arrive at Victoria Terminus (officially renamed Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus or CST), the main railway station at the end of the Central Railway line. From here it's a ten- or fifteen-minute ride to Colaba; either pick up a taxi at the busy rank outside the south exit, opposite the new reservation hall, or make your way to the main road and catch one of the innumerable buses.

Mumbai Central , the terminus for Western Railway trains from northern India, is further out from the centre; take a taxi from the main forecourt, or cross the hectic road junction next to the station and catch a BEST bus from the top of Dr DN Marg (Lamington Road); #66 and #71 run to VT (CST) and #70 to Colaba Causeway. It costs around the same to take a suburban train from Mumbai Central's local platform, across the footbridge. Four stops on is Churchgate station, the end of the line, a short taxi ride from Colaba (Rs20-30).

Some trains from south India arrive at more obscure stations. If you find yourself at Dadar , way up in the industrial suburbs, and can't afford a taxi (Rs120), cross the Tilak Marg road bridge onto the Western Railway and catch a suburban train into town, or take BEST bus #1 or #70 to Colaba, #66 to Central. Kurla station, where a few Bangalore trains pull in, is even further out, just south of Santa Cruz airport; taking a suburban train for Churchgate is the only reasonable alternative to a taxi (Rs220). From either, it's worth asking at the station when you arrive if there is another long-distance train going to Churchgate or Victoria Terminus shortly after - it's far preferable to trying to cram into either a suburban train or bus.

By bus
Nearly all interstate buses arrive at Mumbai Central bus stand, a stone's throw from the railway station of the same name. Again, you have a choice between municipal black-and-yellow taxis, the BEST buses (#66, #70 & #71), which run straight into town from the stop on Dr DN Marg (Lamington Road), two minutes' walk west from the bus station, or a suburban train from Mumbai Central's local platform over the footbridge.

Most Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses terminate at Mumbai Central, though those from Pune, Nasik (and surrounding areas) end up at the ASIAD bus stand, a glorified parking lot near the railway station in Dadar .

Buses from Goa drop off at various points between central and downtown Mumbai. Most of the private companies currently work from the roadside in front of the Metro Cinema, at the north end of MG Road, while Kadamba (the Goan state transport corporation) buses stop nearby on the opposite (east) side of Azad Maidan, where they have a small ticket kiosk. Both places are an inexpensive taxi ride from the main hotel district.