One of the very few national parks in the world inside the limits of a major city, Borivali National Park covers 104 square kilometres of pristine jungle in the north of Mumbai. The park is home to 251 species of birds and 40 species of mammals, including deer and leopards. In the centre of the park are the Kanheri Caves, hollowed out by Buddhist monks in the 1st century AD.

Rising over Malabar Hill, these neatly trimmed gardens are a popular place to catch the sea breeze and relax in the shade of animal-shaped topiary. The name comes from the fact that the gardens are perched on top of Mumbai's main reservoir. There are good views over town ­ hidden somewhere in the trees below the gardens are the Towers of Silence, where Mumbai's Parsi community lays out the dead.

This perfect circle of greenery was laid out in 1869 inside an impressive wrought iron fence that wouldn't look out of place in London's Hyde Park. Workers from the surrounding offices come here to enjoy the dense tropical foliage and snooze in the cool shade of ancient trees. This is one of the few colonial monuments to keep its British-era name, a tribute to the pro-Independence writings of Sir Benjamin Horniman.

FORT. The huge green park in front of the Bombay University and High Court was once a seafront esplanade. The land from here to Marine Drive was reclaimed in the 1920s. This area had served as the boundary of the British fort ­ it was earmarked for development after Independence, but local people campaigned to preserve the area as a public park. Today it is one of Mumbai's best loved public spaces, the setting for hundreds of impromptu cricket matches every afternoon.

The sprawling botanical gardens surrounding Bombay Zoo (and covered by the same entry ticket) feature trees and shrubs from all over the British empire. Some of the trees here are the oldest examples of their species in India. The park is entered through a grand Victorian marble gateway; it's a popular picnic spot but plastic bags and water bottles are banned inside.