Marine Drive 4.34

Marine Drive is a 3.5-kilometre-long boulevard in South Mumbai in the city of Mumbai. It is a 'C'-shaped six-lane concrete road along the coast, which is a natural bay. The road links Nariman Point to Babulnath and Malabar Hill. Marine Drive is situated over reclaimed land facing west-south-west. A promenade lies parallel to this road. Marine Drive is also known as the Queen's Necklace because, if viewed at night from an elevated point anywhere along the drive, the street lights resemble a string of pearls in a necklace. In 2012, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai announced that the entire road would be resurfaced, 72 years after it was originally laid.
The official name for this road, though rarely used, is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road. The promenade is lined with palm trees. At the northern end of Marine Drive is Chowpatty Beach. This is a popular beach famed for its Bhel puri (local fast food). Many restaurants also line this stretch of the road. Further down this road lies Walkeshwar, a wealthy neighbourhood of the city, also home to the Governor of Maharashtra.
Most of the buildings which were built by wealthy Parsis sport an art deco look that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Real estate prices along the esplanade are high. Many hotels dot the drive, most prominent among them being the 5-star Oberoi (formerly the Oberoi Hilton Tower however reverted to the original name as of early 2008), The Intercontinental, Hotel Marine Plaza, Sea Green Hotel and a few other smaller hotels. Marine Drive is the preferred connecting road between the central business district located at Nariman Point and the rest of the city.