Avoid, too, the hotel's restaurant, All Stir Fry, which often teems with unruly children, and choose instead from one of the neighborhood's culinary marvels.

Foreigners and wealthy Indians choose the Taj over other fancy hotels in town because it's a beautiful and regal landmark—worth visiting even if you don't stay here—with views past the Gateway of India to the Arabian Sea. The stunning brown-stone exterior sports rows of jutting white balconies and Gothic windows, and onion domes on the corner turrets echo the high, central Italianate dome.

But be sure to spend some time on simpler pleasures: sipping afternoon tea in the wood-paneled Palace Lounge, surrounded by rare paintings, or taking a swim in the stone pool in the garden surrounded by columned terraces.