A little-known fact about Mumbai is that it has the second-largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world, right after Miami. In June 2018, UNESCO granted an ensemble of 94 historic buildings the status of a World Heritage Site. Mumbai (Bombay as it was known) started off as seven islands that the Portuguese used as a harbor for their spice trade. When Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza, these islands were gifted as part of his dowry and were promptly rented out to the East India Company for the princely sum of 10 pounds a year!

The company promptly grew Mumbai into a major trading center and port. Cotton, Spices and Opium were flourishing and a tremendous amount of wealth was generated and a single city was born. With the growth of the population, generation of incredible wealth, new building technologies, and the Backbay reclamation, Art Deco started to grow in popularity over the Indo-Saracenic and Victorian Gothic styles as it is more contemporary and appealed to the Traditional and Business Royalty of the day.

Today there are over 200 buildings in this stunning style and a lot of them are in excellent condition and several of them were incorporated by us into a lovely walking tour! Combine this with our other terrific Mumbai experiences and see this amazing city the way it should be done.