Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya

A ribbed dome rises above the palms at the southern end of Kala Ghoda, and beneath it sits the most complete museum experience in Mumbai.

• Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya — still called the Prince of Wales Museum by taxi drivers of a certain vintage — was designed by the Scottish architect George Wittet in the Indo-Saracenic manner, the hybrid idiom he also used for the Gateway of India a short walk away.
• Local basalt and buff stone are worked into arcaded verandas, carved jaali screens and slender chhatris, while the great central dome takes its cue from the sultanate architecture of the Deccan.
• The result is one of those rare civic buildings that photographs as well from the lawn as it reads from inside, and the palm garden wrapped around it is a genuine relief from the traffic on Mahatma Gandhi Road.
• The foundation stone was laid in 1905 to mark a royal visit, but the opening was delayed for years: the completed building was pressed into service as a military hospital and welfare centre through the First World War, and the museum finally received the public in 1922.
• It was renamed in the late 1990s for the Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
• Today it is a Grade I heritage structure and among the more carefully looked-after historic museums in the country, with restored galleries, considered lighting and a steady programme of loan exhibitions that brings major international collections to south Mumbai.
• Three floors wrap around a central rotunda.
• The archaeology galleries open with Indus Valley seals, weights and painted pottery, then move through Gandhara Buddhas, Gupta-era terracottas and western Indian stone sculpture.
• For many visitors the real prize is upstairs: the miniature-painting rooms, with Mughal, Deccani, Rajput and Pahari works drawn in large part from the Tata family bequests that seeded the collection.
• Beyond that are Himalayan and Tibetan art, Chinese and Japanese decorative arts, coins, textiles, arms and armour, a natural-history section, a children's gallery and a modern-art wing.
• Allow two to three hours; audio guides are usually available, and the counter will confirm the current photography and bag-storage rules.
• Eating vegetarian here is easy, provided you look before you sit.
• Kala Ghoda, Fort and Churchgate are cosmopolitan districts where plenty of cafés serve meat, egg and seafood dishes alongside everything else, so seek out a board that actually says "pure veg" rather than assuming.
• The neighbourhood's older dining halls run Gujarati and Marwari thalis at lunch — unlimited rotli, dal, kadhi, two or three shaak and a sweet — and several kitchens will prepare a Jain plate without onion, garlic or root vegetables if you ask at the start.
• Udupi-style counters nearby turn out idli, medu vada, dosa and filter coffee through the day, though a few also keep an egg menu, which is worth checking.
• For a quick stop, street carts around the Fountain sell vada pav, bhel and grilled sandwiches; ask for no egg and, if it matters to you, that your order be cooked on a separate surface.
• Bakeries in the area are mixed, so confirm whether cakes and puffs are eggless before buying.