Overview
- Features: Five star hotel and one of Mumbai’s prominent landmarks
- Opening Times: Anytime
- Best Time to Visit: Late October to early March
- Duration: 30 minutes to 1 hour
- Travelled By: Train, auto rickshaw
- Cost: $200-250 for a hotel room
- Address: Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Type: Building
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Summary
Built in 1903 by JN Tata, the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai is a five star hotel and one of Mumbai’s prominent landmark. Located in the Colaba district of downtown Mumbai, it is situation overlooking the harbour and the Gateway of India. You can stay here and be a part of the celebrity status if you have the $$$.
Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai
Built in 1903, the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai is a five star hotel and one of Mumbai’s prominent landmarks. This iconic hotel is a fairy-tale blend of Islamic and Renaissance styles of architecture, popularly known as the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. It was built by the Parsi industrialist JN Tata, supposedly after he was refused entry to one of the European hotels on account of being ‘a native’. Others believe that the Taj was built at the urging of the editor of The Times of India who felt a hotel “worthy of Bombay” was needed. It is situated in a prime location in the Colaba district of Mumbai facing the harbour and the Gateway of India.
From a historical and architectural point of view, the two buildings that make up the hotel, The Taj Mahal Palace and the Tower are two distinct buildings, built at different times and in different architectural designs. Part of the Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, this building contains 560 rooms and 44 suites. There are seven floors in the Taj Mahal Palace and 22 floors in the Taj Mahal Tower. The Taj Mahal Palace and Hotel has 11 restaurants.
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The original Indian architects of the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai were Sitaram Khanderao Vaidya and DN Mirza, and the project was completed by an English engineer, WA Chambers. The dome of the hotel is made from the same steel used in the Eiffel Tower. The hotel was the first in India to install and operate a steam elevator. The hotel also imported American fans, German elevators, Turkish baths and English butlers for the first time in India.
Over the years, the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai has hosted notable guests such as The Beatles, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac, The King & Queen of Norway, The Duke & Duchess of Kent, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, Roger Moore, Joan Collins, Mick Jagger, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Deep Purple, Michael Palin, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey, as well as professional cricket teams on tour.
The original red-domed Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai was almost completely gutted by fire in the aftermath of the 26/11 terrorist attacks, which saw guests and staff of the hotel taken hostage and several killed, but the outside has been swiftly restored to normal and the adjoining Taj Mahal Tower, a modern skyscraper, has fully reopened for business.
It is worth popping into the Taj for a bite to eat or a drink, or to go to the nightclub with its clientele of well-heeled young Indians. Unfortunately, drug addicts, drunks and prostitutes frequent the area behind the hotel, but you can also find couples and young families taking in the sea air around the Gateway of India at night.
Getting to & from the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai
The best way to get here is to take a taxi or auto rickshaw as the nearest train station is Churchgate, 5 kms away.
