Every enthusiast city has its escape routes — the roads you point the car at when the week has been too long and the traffic too much. Mumbai, hemmed in by sea on one side and ghats on the other, has better ones than most. Here are the ten we keep coming back to.
We ranked them on three things: the quality of the tarmac, the drama of the scenery, and how likely you are to actually enjoy them without a traffic jam ruining the flow.
The ghat classics
No list starts anywhere but the Tamhini Ghat, whose sequence of second- and third-gear corners through monsoon-green hills is the closest thing to a purpose-built driving road within reach of the city.
Just behind it sits the Malshej Ghat, wider and faster, better suited to a grand tourer than a hot hatch, and spectacular in the clouds.
A good road does not need to be empty. It just needs to be honest.
— Our weekend-drives editor
The coastal alternatives
If the hills are not your thing, the coastal stretch down towards Alibaug rewards a lazier, top-down kind of driving, all sea air and long sweeping bends.
Pick your road by your mood and your machine. And whichever you choose, leave before dawn — the best thing about all ten is an empty road, and that has an expiry time.