FAIRMONT MUMBAI

This new hotel near the Mumbai airport offers a whirl through art deco dreams and techno healing.

- By Shunali Khullar Shroff

WHERE TO STAY

You don't expect this kind of glamour so close to the airport. Five minutes from landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport's Terminal 2, you're in a cab gliding past concrete and chaos—and then you arrive. Fairmont Mumbai appears suddenly, a stark white façade wrapped in black-and-gold accents, looking like a film set channelling 1920s New York.

There are no half measures here. The lobby opens up like a stage: monochrome marble floors, a sunburst ceiling glowing with stained glass. A giant sculptural artwork—a tribute to Mumbai's Hanging Gardens—seems to grow straight out of the wall. It is crafted with everything from enamel and repoussé metal to embroidered fabric and block-printed wood. Deco, yes. But Indian too.