Elephanta Caves Tourism: Hotels, Reviews, Packages, Photos, Maps, Experience, Itinerary

Located about 10 kms from the Gateway of India or 9 nautical miles into the sea, are the famous Elephanta Caves, which are a great tourist attraction. It is about an hour?s ferry ride away. They are also known as Gharapuri and were named Elephanta caves by the Portuguese, after the statue of an elephant near the landing area of the island. The entire cave temple complex covers an area of about 60,000 square feet and it consists of a main chamber and two lateral ones, courtyards and several subsidiary shrines. There are regular excursions to these caves every day from the Gateway of India. 

Though the entire complex has a number of things to see, one of the main sights here is the Maheshamurti cave in which Lord Shiva is shown as a creator, protector and destroyer