Reality Tours and Travel · Dharavi, Mumbai
A guided walk through Dharavi's recycling yards, potters' colony and home lanes with the company that started tours here in 2005. Pick it for the rules: groups of six at most, no cameras, and a business model that sends most of its profit to a local NGO.
Reality Tours and Travel was set up in 2005 by Chris Way and Krishna Pujari, and its Dharavi walk is the one that started tours here. The GetYourGuide listing is the shared version: a guide, up to six guests, and about two and a half hours on foot. You start at a railway station, cross into Dharavi and work through the trades: plastic sorted down to pellets, the kilns of Kumbharwada, leather, a bakery, soap and papad drying on the roofs. Then the residential lanes, where temples, mosques and churches sit a few doors apart, and a rooftop for the view.
The no-camera rule is the thing to know before you book. The listing calls it a strict policy to respect residents' privacy, and the operator's own page offers a link to downloadable photos instead. We think it is the right rule. You look at people rather than through a lens, and the people you pass are not part of anyone's slideshow.
The money matters to many guests, so read the claim carefully. Reality Tours says 80% of its post-tax profits go to its NGO, Reality Gives, which runs education programmes in Dharavi. That is the company's own statement, not an audited figure we could check. A resident survey the company commissioned in 2016 found most of the 81 people asked felt positive about the tours, and also that 65% had never heard of Reality Gives. Read it as a decent sign, not a verdict. For the wider debate, see our guide to the ethics.
Pick Mahim station (west entrance, by the ticket office) or Churchgate when you book. The operator's site lists shared starts at 10:00 or 14:30 at Mahim and 9:15 or 13:45 at Churchgate.
Plastic, metal and cardboard sorted, washed and turned into pellets in rooms barely wider than the machines.
The potters' kilns, then leather, a bakery, soap and papad, depending on what is working that day.
Narrow residential alleys where temples, mosques and churches stand side by side, and a roof for the view across Dharavi.
A water or cold drink at the end. The guide can find you a taxi or walk you back to a station.
★★★★★The people are friendly, the guides are outstanding and we felt safe even in the depths of the narrow corridors.
★★★★★Highly recommend Reality Tours.
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No. The listing has a strict no-photography policy inside Dharavi to protect residents' privacy. The operator offers a link to downloadable photos instead.
At Mahim station (west side, main entrance and ticket office) or at Churchgate station, depending on the option you choose. Some options add hotel pickup.
The listing gives 2.5 to 3.5 hours by option and a limit of six guests. Other travellers may join a shared tour.
Reality Tours says 80% of its post-tax profits go to its NGO, Reality Gives, which runs education programmes in Dharavi. That is the company's own figure; we could not audit it.
Ready to book
Small groups of six, a strict no-camera rule and 80% of post-tax profits to a Dharavi NGO. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
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