6 Best Sights in Central Mumbai, Mumbai

Best known for its excellently renovated Palladian and high-Victorian facade and interiors (it was awarded UNESCO's 2005 Award of Excellence in the field of cultural conservation), Mumbai's oldest museum houses a collection of artifacts that includes everything from clay models to lithographs and photographs. It also hosts talks, lecture series, and art and photography exhibitions in its Museum Plaza. A museum shop offers a host of souvenirs for the folks back home---fridge magnets of the Minton tiles adorning the museum floor, books on art, and the like. There's also a museum cafe.

The Jewish Chinchpokli Cemetery, built by Elias David Sassoon in 1878, has been well restored and converted into a memorial to the 22 Jews who fled to India during the Holocaust and passed away here. Most of the graves, though, belong to the Baghdadi Jewish community who migrated here during the British colonial era.

A reminder of an older, fading Mumbai, the Gothic-style Gloria Church sits on the elbow of Byculla’s main road. Built first by the Portuguese in Mazgaon in 1632, then subsequently shifted to its current location, this is Mumbai’s oldest existing Roman Catholic church.

Set far out on a thin, rocky jetty in the Arabian Sea, this striking, dilapidated white shrine was built in honor of the Muslim saint Haji Ali, who drowned here some 500 years ago on a pilgrimage to Mecca. When a coffin containing his mortal remains floated to rest on a rocky bed in the sea, devotees constructed the tomb and mosque to mark the spot. The shrine is reached by a long walkway just above the water. Unfortunately, the new Coastal Road has all but obscured it from view (although it is still accessible to anyone).

Diagonally across the road is the inexpensive Noorani restaurant, famous for its biryani; succor after a sun-spattered visit to the shrine. For the iron-stomached tourist, a glass of fresh fruit juice at Haji Ali Juice Centre (just outside and impossible to miss) beckons; we suggest the mara mari, a blend of pineapple and sweet lime.

The walkway is lined with destitute families, calling on the Muslim tradition of giving alms, as you make your way down. Inside, the shrine is full of colored-mirror mosaics and crowded with worshippers praying over the casket, which is covered with wilted flower garlands. Men and women must enter through separate doorways. On some evenings a busker plays qawwalis (a style of Muslim music) after the sunset prayers. There's no admission charge, but you may consider giving ₹100 or so to the mosque charity box. The shrine closes at 10 pm.

This Hasidic synagogue is probably Mumbai's most active synagogue, but being in Byculla, it's not really much of a tourist destination; it's also not always open to visitors. But if you're in the area---which is actually in the Muslim area of Madanpura---you can view this Bene Israel shrine from the outside and talk to locals. The congregation and caretakers at this well-attended shrine (with about 750 members) can lend insight into the future of this community. Although the communities of Baghdadi and Cochini Jews have dwindled to just a few thousand, the Bene Israel community continues to modestly prosper. Magen Hassidim is the face of India's modern Jews who are now part of the nation's mainstream.

At Jacob Circle, a 20-minute taxi ride north of Shaare Rahamim, is Tiphaereth Israel Synagogue, home of the Bene Israel Jews—a tiny still-thriving Maharashtrian Jewish community. Ask for the Yehudi mandir (Jewish temple). This small, shiny synagogue, tucked away on a side lane, is quite charming; unlike Shaare Rahamin, it seems well loved and well maintained, although the original structure has been altered through the years. It's best to call before visiting: the synagogue is open mostly in the morning or evening.