Speedboat or ferry: getting from **Mumbai to Alibaug**
Three ways across the harbour compared on time, cost and hassle — and an honest answer on when the speedboat is worth it.
21 June 2026 · 5 min read
Alibaug is about ninety minutes away and three hours away at the same time, depending entirely on how you get there. Here is the honest comparison.
By road
Three hours on a good day via the Atal Setu, considerably more on a Friday evening or a long weekend. It is the cheapest option if you already have a car and the only one that gets you there with your own vehicle at the far end. It is also the least pleasant.
The catamaran ferry
Scheduled, air-conditioned, cheap per head, and about an hour door to jetty. For a couple or a solo traveller it is comfortably the best value crossing available. The trade-off is the timetable — you leave when it leaves, and on peak weekends it fills.
A **private speedboat**
Twenty minutes, on your schedule, with your own group and your luggage. You are chartering the whole boat, so the price is fixed regardless of whether two or six people travel — which is what makes it sensible for a family or a group and expensive for one person.
Nobody should book a speedboat to save money. You book it to save two and a half hours and arrive without having queued for anything.
The monsoon
From roughly June to September all water crossings stop. The road is the only option, and it is a slow one in the rain. Plan Alibaug trips for the October–May window.
