Marine Drive

Marine Drive is a C-shaped seafront road and promenade about 3.6 km long in south Mumbai, running beside the Arabian Sea. At night its row of street lights, seen from higher ground, looks like a string of pearls, which earned it the name Queen's Necklace. It is one of the city's defining landmarks and a favourite place for walks, jogs and evening outings.

The road grew out of the Backbay reclamation scheme, first suggested in 1860 and taken up again in the 1920s, which aimed to join Nariman Point to Malabar Hill. Wars and planning problems meant only part of it was carried out: of some 1,500 acres planned, about 440 were reclaimed, much of it taken by the military. Palm trees and Art Deco buildings from the 1920s and 1930s line the promenade, and people sit on the sea wall to watch the waves hit the rocks.