Travel Postcard: 48 hours in Mumbai

MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) - If you can ignore the heat and chaotic traffic, Mumbai has a dazzling panoply of life to offer its visitors. Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors get the most from a short stay in India's most vibrant city.

FRIDAY

5 p.m. - The city stretches almost 40 km (25 miles) from north to south, but most visitors spend their time in a small southern nook with a concentration of neo-gothic Victorian buildings, bars, curio shops and a seafront promenade.

Wander around Colaba-Fort area looking at these colonial-style buildings and the Gateway of India, a yellow basalt archway by the Arabian Sea that commemorates King George V and Queen Mary's visit to Mumbai, then known as Bombay.

7 p.m. - Savor the finest martinis, champagnes and cigars at the Taj Mahal hotel's Harbour Bar (www.tajhotels.com) and watch the sky turn a deep red over the Gateway. For a dinner of kebabs and fried chicken hop over to Bade Mian, a popular roadside stall known to be frequented even by guests staying at the Taj.

But those unwilling to take a chance with Bade Mian's greasy fare can try one of Colaba's many loud, smoke-filled bargain-value joints like Leopold's, Cafe Royal or Cafe Mondegar which also serve steaks, sandwiches and fish n chips.

10 p.m. - The risque went out of Mumbai's nightlife ever since a drive against crime and prostitution closed down its innumerable beer bars where midriff-baring women danced to Hindi film music. But the lounges and discos around Colaba are still pulsating and Henry Tham and Polyesther are particular favorites with the boisterous sons of India's growing middle-class.

SATURDAY

9 a.m. - This is the newest addition to the city's tourist map - Dharavi. A tour of what is billed as Asia's largest slum is cheap and offers a quick look at organized urban squalor - of open sewers and rotting garbage. Walk through the dingy alleys with tenements so closely packed that neighbors exchange household effects from opposite balconies.