Juhu Beach

Juhu Beach is Mumbai's most famous beach — a 6-kilometre stretch of sand in the northern suburbs that is simultaneously a social gathering place, a street food paradise, and the backyard of Bollywood, with the beachfront homes of Amitabh Bachchan (Jalsa) and other film stars lining the southern end. The beach is crowded every evening with families, horse-drawn carriages, acrobats, and food vendors serving the pav bhaji, bhel puri, and fresh coconuts that define a Mumbai beach evening.

Like Chowpatty, Juhu is not a swimming beach (pollution levels are high), but it is one of the great democratic spaces in Mumbai — a place where film stars and slum residents share the same sand, and where the sunset over the Arabian Sea is free and spectacular. The Sunday evening crowds are the largest, when the beach takes on the character of a festival ground.