Taj Mahal Tower, Mumbai

Taj Mahal Tower, Mumbai (Mumbai, India) 7 Hotel Reviews | Tablet Hotels

"No, they haven't gone and turned the original Taj Mahal into a hotel — but this place is so impressive that it would be easy to forget about its namesake altogether. Conventional wisdom holds that this is the finest hotel in India, the equal of any luxury hotel in New York or Paris, and given Indian architecture's flair for the dramatic, it is no surprise that from the outside, this hotel could pass for at least the ninth or tenth wonder of the world. But that's actually the back of the hotel you are seeing from the harbor — legend has it that the architect drew up the plans from abroad, and didn't visit the site until construction had been completed. Supposedly as his boat approached, he saw that the hotel had been built the wrong way around, and was so frustrated that he threw himself overboard. Whether or not this is true, there are benefits to the odd layout; the “back” of the hotel is all guest rooms, with no grand entrance taking up space, and more rooms thus overlook the harbor — and what may have been intended as a driveway and entrance is instead the swimming pool and courtyard, while the actual entrance is a discreet, out-of-the-way affair." - Tablet Hotels