Mumbai & Goa

A chaotic, 13-million-strong melting pot of ethnic groups from all over India, Mumbai - still called Bombay by many who live there - is India's economic engine and home to the world's largest film industry. Hooked on money, glamour and corruption, the city is now reinventing itself. New bars, restaurants and shopping malls are multiplying to service a thriving middle class; new construction is frenzied; and TV, radio and print media are booming. Mumbai now even has its own Time Out magazine.

But with half its population living in slums, Mumbai remains a city of brutal inequality and shocking poverty. The current battle over how to redevelop Mumbai's sprawling cotton mill lands - as public housing and open spaces, or shopping malls and offices - reflects a larger struggle for the soul of a city rushing into an uncertain future.

Six hundred kilometres away, the golden beaches of Goa feel like another country. Still the party paradise it always was, Goa is now determined to go upmarket, restoring its capital city, turning heritage sites into boutique hotels and hosting an annual international film festival that hopes one day to rival Cannes. Drawing on insider expertise, Time Out is uniquely placed to guide you through both locales.