Discover Mumbai

A Layover in Mumbai: Visas, Transit Hotels and What to Do in 4, 8 or 12 Hours

Travel Essentials · Discover Mumbai Team · 7 October 2026 · 8 min read

A Layover in Mumbai: Visas, Transit Hotels and What to Do in 4, 8 or 12 Hours

Mumbai is one of the busiest connecting airports in India, and the city is wrapped right around it: from the Terminal 2 metro station you can be in the old city in under an hour. So a layover here can be a short trip into the city or a few quiet hours asleep in a transit hotel. This guide covers what you need to know to choose: the visa rules, how much time you really need to leave the airport, what you can do with four, eight or twelve hours, and where to rest if you stay put.

Everything here is about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM). From 25 October 2026 every flight at BOM uses Terminal 2, after Terminal 1 closes for rebuilding. Mumbai’s second airport, Navi Mumbai (NMI), is a separate airport across the harbour; it has its own section below.

The short version

  • Can I leave the airport? Only if you hold a valid Indian visa (or are Indian, or an OCI cardholder), and only if you have time. Staying airside on one ticket needs no visa.
  • How long do I need? At least seven or eight hours for a worthwhile trip into the city on an international connection. Less than that, stay in the airport.
  • The quickest way into town: Metro Line 3 from the Terminal 2 station, which runs from early morning until about 10:30 PM.
  • To rest: the Niranta transit hotel inside Terminal 2 rents rooms by the hour, and the lounges are open 24 hours.

Visas and the e-Arrival card

If you are changing between two international flights on a single ticket, with your bags checked through, and you stay inside the international transit area, you do not need an Indian visa. India’s consulates state that a transit visa is not required for a foreigner in direct transit by air who does not leave the airport.

You do need a visa if you have to pass through immigration for any reason: to leave the airport, to collect and re-check your bags, or because your two flights are on separate tickets that the airlines will not connect. The airport’s own advice is that you may leave only if you have a valid visa for India and enough time. An e-Visa is the usual choice; apply only on the official government site.

The e-Arrival card, which replaced the paper landing form in April 2026, is for foreign nationals and OCI cardholders entering India. If you stay airside and never pass immigration, you are not entering India and do not need one. If you are going into the city, fill it in online in the 72 hours before you land. Our arrivals guide explains it.

Connections inside the airport

  • International to international. Follow the transfer signs. If your bags are checked through and you hold your onward boarding pass, it is a security check and a walk to the gate. The airport recommends allowing three to four hours for international connections; an hour is possible on a single ticket if nothing goes wrong.
  • Domestic to international on one ticket. Common for travellers from other Indian cities. You go through emigration and security at Terminal 2. Allow at least two hours; on a single ticket the airline is responsible for rebooking you if a delay makes you miss the connection.
  • International to domestic. Mumbai is your first stop in India, so you clear immigration and customs here. If your bags are not tagged through to your final airport, collect them and check them in again. Indian citizens and visitors with a visa can then leave the airport if there is time.
  • Separate tickets. Treat these as two journeys: you must clear immigration, collect your bags and check in again, which needs a visa if you are not Indian, and the airline of the second flight owes you nothing if the first is late. Leave a very generous gap.
  • Until 25 October 2026, some domestic flights still use Terminal 1, and a free shuttle bus runs between the terminals for connecting passengers. Allow extra time for it. After that date, every BOM flight uses Terminal 2.

How much time do you need to see the city?

Work backwards. On an international arrival, allow about an hour to an hour and a half to get through immigration, customs and out of the terminal; more when several long-haul flights land together, which is common late at night. Then plan to be back at Terminal 2 three hours before an international departure or two hours before a domestic one. Add the journey each way. What is left is your time in the city.

Layover What is realistic
Under 5 hours Stay in the airport. Eat, shower in a lounge, or rent a transit hotel room.
5 to 7 hours Possible only with a visa and a domestic onward flight. Somewhere close: Juhu Beach or the hotel restaurants near the airport.
7 to 10 hours One part of the city: the old city by metro, or Bandra by cab.
10 hours or more A proper half day: the old city and Marine Drive, with time to eat.
Overnight Sleep near the airport or in the transit hotel, and see the city in the morning.

What to do with the time

With 7 to 10 hours (daytime). Take Metro Line 3 from the CSMIA T2 station inside the airport. Riders report about 40 minutes from the airport area to Churchgate, which puts you in the old city: walk from the Churchgate or Hutatma Chowk stations through the Fort to the Gateway of India, past the Victorian buildings, the Irani cafes and Colaba Causeway, then come back the same way. Our Fort and Kala Ghoda guide has a walk that fits a layover. The metro is air-conditioned, cheap and immune to traffic, which matters here more than anywhere.

If temples interest you, the Siddhivinayak station on the same line is a short walk from Siddhivinayak Temple.

Something closer. Juhu Beach is about half an hour by cab from Terminal 2 outside rush hour; go at sunset for the snack stalls. The Mahakali Caves, Buddhist rock-cut caves more than 1,500 years old, are a short walk from the SEEPZ station, a few stops north of the airport on Line 3; our Andheri guide has the details. Bandra, with its sea front and cafes, is 30 to 45 minutes by cab; see our Bandra guide.

At night. The metro stops at about 10:30 PM, so a night layover means a cab: about 45 minutes to Marine Drive with no traffic. Marine Drive is busy, lit and pleasant until late, and a walk along it at midnight is a very Mumbai way to spend a layover. For a meal, several hotel restaurants near the airport serve around the clock; our Andheri guide lists them.

Rain. In the monsoon, from June to September, roads near the airport flood quickly in heavy rain, and a 30-minute cab ride can take far longer. Use the metro, keep your plans close to it, and keep a bigger margin for getting back.

Staying in the airport

The transit hotel. The Niranta Airport Transit Hotel has rooms inside Terminal 2, rented by the hour. Its rooms on Level 4, in international departures after immigration, are for passengers who stay airside; those on Level 1, on the arrivals side, are open to anyone, including people who have left the airport and are coming back. Book ahead if your layover falls at night.

Lounges. Terminal 2’s lounges are open 24 hours and take walk-in guests for a fee, as well as eligible card and membership holders. The international lounge on Level 4 has showers. If your onward flight is domestic, use the lounges in domestic departures on Level 3.

Luggage. If you leave the airport, a paid left-luggage room on Level 1 of Terminal 2, near the Niranta hotel, will keep your bags by the hour.

Meeting a friend. Visitors cannot go beyond check-in, so a friend cannot meet you if you are staying airside. If you have left the airport, they can buy a visitor ticket for the meeting area in the arrivals hall on Level 2. On a short connection, do not try to step out to meet someone; getting back through check-in and security takes longer than you think.

Safety. Terminal 2 is open, staffed and busy all night, and the transit hotel and lounges are the comfortable places to wait out a long night, alone or not.

Navi Mumbai airport (NMI)

A layover at NMI. The newer airport is out near Panvel, and there is little to do near it, especially at night. On a short layover, stay in the terminal. On a long daytime one, the old city is about an hour away by cab over the Atal Setu sea bridge, and Chalo buses run from the airport to Colaba, Dadar, Bandra and Andheri.

Connecting between NMI and BOM. These are separate airports about 40 km apart. Allow 50 to 70 minutes by cab off-peak and up to two hours at rush hour or in heavy rain, plus the time to leave one terminal and check in at the other. Because you must leave the airport, foreign travellers need an Indian visa. If you can, book both flights from the same airport; if you cannot, leave at least five hours between flights.

Practical notes

  • Money and phones. ATMs and currency exchange are in arrivals. Our arrivals guide covers SIM cards, eSIMs and the taxis, and our money guide covers UPI and cash.
  • Getting back. Leave the city earlier than you think you need to. Traffic is the one thing you cannot predict here, and the metro is the safest way back in the daytime.
  • A longer stop. If you have a day or two, see our where-to-stay guide for the areas near the airport and in the old city, and our Plan Your Trip page for everything else.

Sources

Header photo: Terminal 2, Mumbai airport by Innocentbunny, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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