The Taj Mahal Palace is a grand dame of hotels. Regal, grand, aged and full of splendour. One of my favourite hotels in the world. Located in the Colaba district, right by the Gateway of India, the original hotel building was built in 1903.
We arrived at 1am on Christmas Eve, picked up at Mumbai airport by a hotel car, with fresh cold towels and iced water on hand. We were even offered to order room service from the car, so that it would be ready for when we arrived and checked in. We chose from the in-room dining menu and our driver called it in, to be in our room 15 minutes after arrival. Because of course, the first thing you try in an international hotel after a long flight is the club sandwich, with a duty-free JD and coke!
One thing I love about the Taj is that when their car picks you up, you don’t even have to go to reception to check in, they whisk you straight to your room and do all the boring admin stuff there.
We stayed at the Taj Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and left on Boxing day. The purpose of the stay was to unwind for a few days before flying onto Kerala. Unwinding basically involved a lot of lying down and a lot of room service, interspersed with cups of tea by the pool, and a lovely meal at their rooftop restaurant, Souk.
As per the time we stayed here before we excellent service, a lovely room and the chance for total relaxation – however my still-too-full-of-work-and-life head didn’t quite allow for proper sleep. It was that or jet lag, or a combination of both, but we still had a lovely time and a lovely start to the holiday.