Experience the best of Lucknow

Lucknow was the capital of the Nawabs of Awadh in the 18th and 19th centuries, who left a city of domes, gateways and gardens. The Bara Imambara, built in the 1780s, has a vast vaulted hall and an upper labyrinth, the Bhul Bhulaiya, and the Rumi Darwaza, a towering gate, stands nearby. The Chota Imambara, the Husainabad clock tower and the Residency, whose ruins carry the marks of the siege of 1857, complete a historic circuit.

Chowk, the old market quarter, is known for chikankari, delicate white embroidery, and Hazratganj is the old shopping boulevard. La Martinière, a palatial school building, was designed by a French soldier, Claude Martin. Malihabad, to the north-west, is famed for its mangoes, and Lucknow's traditions of Urdu poetry, kathak dance and courtly manners are celebrated across the country.

Awadhi cooking is the pride of the city, best enjoyed in the pleasant months from October to March: galouti kebabs that melt in the mouth, said to have been made for a Nawab without teeth, kakori kebabs, dum biryani, sheermal bread, and malai makhan, a frothy milk sweet of winter mornings. Summers are very hot, and the monsoon runs from July to September.