The highlight of this modest temple, rebuilt in 1927 and set among extensive lawns and ancient excavated ruins with a circumambulatory path, is its serene 5th-century reclining Buddha, unearthed in 1876. Six metres long, it depicts Buddha on his ancient death-bed and is one of the world’s most moving Buddhist icons. At sunset, monks cover the statue to the shoulders with a long saffron-coloured silk sheet, as though putting Buddha to bed for the night.

Behind the temple is an ancient 19m-tall stupa, and in the surrounding park is a large bell erected by the Dalai Lama.

Features an elaborate temple, beautifully maintained gardens with bonsai-style trees, a monastery and a temple containing a gilded Buddha. There’s also a Sunday school and health clinic across the street, both of which welcome visitors. Unfortunately for the rest of us, accommodation is reserved for Thai citizens only.

Architecturally, this half-ruined 15m-high stupa is little more than a large, dome-shaped clump of red bricks, but there's an unmistakable aura about this place that is hard to ignore. This is where Buddha’s body is said to have been cremated and monks and pilgrims can often be seen meditating by the palm-lined path that leads around the structure.

This small shrine, set among monastery ruins, marks the spot where Buddha is said to have made his final sermon. It now houses a 3m-tall blue-stone Buddha statue, thought to date from the 10th century AD.

The large collection of gardens and ruins that makes up the Residency offers a fascinating historical glimpse of the beginning of the end for the British Raj. Built in 1800, the Residency became the stage for the most dramatic events of the 1857 First War of Independence (Indian Uprising): the Siege of Lucknow, a 147-day siege that claimed the lives of thousands.

The compound has been left as it was at the time of the final relief and the walls are still pockmarked from bullets and cannon balls.

The focus is the well-designed museum (8am to 4.30pm) in the main Residency building, which includes a scale model of the original buildings. Downstairs are the huge basement rooms where many of the British women and children lived throughout the siege.

The cemetery around the ruined St Mary’s church is where 2000 of the defenders were buried, including their leader, Sir Henry Lawrence, who – according to the famous inscription on his weathered gravestone – 'tried to do his duty’.

This colossal imambara (tomb dedicated to a Shiite holy man) is worth seeing in its own right, but the highly unusual labyrinth of corridors inside its upper floors make a visit here particularly special. The ticket price includes entrance to Chota Imambara, the clock tower and the Hussainabad Picture Gallery, all walking distance from here.

The complex is accessed through two enormous gateways that lead into a huge courtyard. On one side is an attractive mosque, on the other a large baori (step-well), which can be explored – bring a torch (flashlight). At the far end of the courtyard is the huge central hall, one of the world’s largest vaulted galleries. Tazia (small replicas of Imam Hussain’s tomb in Karbala, Iraq) are stored inside and are paraded around during the Shiite mourning ceremony of Muharram.

But it’s what is beyond the small entrance – intriguingly marked ‘labyrinth’ – to the left of the central hall that steals the show. It leads to the Bhulbhulaiya, an enticing network of narrow passageways that winds its way inside the upper floors of the tomb’s structure, eventually leading out to rooftop balconies. As with the step-well, it’s handy to have a torch.

Just beyond the Bara Imambara is the unusual but imposing gateway Rumi Darwaza ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Hussainabad Trust Rd), said to be a copy of an entrance gate in Istanbul; ‘Rumi’ (relating to Rome) is the term Muslims applied to Istanbul when it was still Byzantium, the capital of the Eastern Roman empire. Across the road is the beautiful white mosque Tila Wali Masjid ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ), a deceptively shallow building built in 1680. The interior is repainted periodically over the original designs.

If you are visiting as part of an opposite-sex couple, you will be required to pay for a guide (₹100) to prevent any hanky-panky in the labyrinth (yes, we're serious).

This elaborate tomb was constructed by Mohammed Ali Shah (who is buried here, alongside his mother) in 1832. Adorned with calligraphy, it has a serene and intimate atmosphere. Mohammed’s silver throne and red crown can be seen here, as well as countless chandeliers and some brightly decorated tazia.

In the garden is a water tank and two replicas of the Taj Mahal that are the tombs of Mohammed Ali Shah’s daughter and her husband. A traditional hammam is off to one side.

Outside the complex, the decaying watchtower on the other side of the road is known as Satkhanda (Seven Storey Tower; MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Hussainabad Trust Rd). It has only four storeys because construction was abandoned in 1840 when Mohammed Ali Shah died.

The 67m red-brick clock tower ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; free with Bara Imambara ticket; hdawn-dusk), the tallest in India, was built in the 1880s. Nearby is the Hussainabad Picture Gallery (Baradari; MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Indian/foreigner ₹20/200, free with Bara Imambara ticket; h7am-6pm), a striking red-brick baradari (pavilion) built in 1842 that was once a royal summer house. It overlooks an artificial lake and houses portraits of the nawabs.

In Faizabad, the so-called 'Taj Mahal of the East' (OK, an overstatement) is a unique mausoleum built for the queen of Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula. It has three domes built above each other, with wonderfully ornate decoration on the walls and ceilings, and is considered to be a prime example of Awadhi architecture.

This is one of the town’s most popular temples, and is the closest of Ayodhya's major temples to the main road. Walk up the 76 steps to the ornate carved gateway and the fortress-like outer walls, and join the throng inside offering prasad (temple-blessed food).

This palace rebuilt into a temple is one of the most impressive in Ayodhya, It was supposedly given to Lord Rama and his wife Sita as a wedding present, and the interior features three shrines dedicated to the holy couple.

Beyond the far northern end of the main road, this museum houses paintings and ancient sculptures. Every evening except Monday, the museum hosts free performances of the Ram Lila – a dramatic re-enactment of the battle between Lord Ram and Ravan, as described in the Hindu epic the Ramayana – at Tulsi Smarg Bhawan, a nearby park, from 6pm to 9pm.

Walk about 500m or so along the main road deeper into Ayodhya, turn right at the police station across from Akash Cycle Company, and the museum is another 500m or so on your right.

This is the highly contentious spot said to be the site of Lord Rama's birth. Security here is staggering (think crossing from West Bank into Israel!). You must first show your passport, then leave all belongings apart from your passport and money (even your belt!) in nearby lockers. You are then searched several times before being accompanied through a long, caged corridor that leads to a spot 20m away from a makeshift tent shrine, which marks Rama’s birthplace.

You get about 10 seconds to look at it before being hustled away. Go for the surreal experience, not the unremarkable tent shrine (and if lines are very long, skip it). To get there, turn left at Dashrath Bhavan, when coming from Hanumanghari.

This is the particularly auspicious point where two of India’s holiest rivers, the Ganges and the Yamuna, meet one of Hinduism’s mythical rivers, the Saraswati. All year round, pilgrims row boats out to this holy spot, but their numbers increase dramatically during the annual Magh Mela, a six-week festival held between January and March, which culminates in six communal ‘holy dips’.

Every 12 years the massive Kumbh Mela takes place here, attracting millions of people, while the Ardh Mela (Half Mela) is held here every six years.

In the early 1950s, 350 pilgrims were killed in a stampede trying to get to the soul-cleansing water, an incident recreated vividly in Vikram Seth’s essential novel A Suitable Boy. The last Ardh Mela, in 2007, attracted more than 70 million people – considered to be the largest-ever human gathering until the 2013 Kumbh Mela, which attracted about 32 million on Mauni Amavasya, the main bathing day, and 100 million across the 55-day festival; expect equally astonishing numbers at the next Allahabad Kumbh Mela in 2025.

Old boat hands will row you out to the sacred confluence for around ₹50 per person (hard-bargaining Indian) or ₹100 (hard-bargaining foreigner), or ₹600 to ₹800 per boat.

Around the corner from Sangam (skirt the riverbank around the front of Akbar’s Fort) is Saraswati Ghat ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ); further along the shore is Nehru Ghat ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ). Both host a nightly aarti (an auspicious lighting of lamps/candles), but neither is as impressive as what you'd see in Varanasi or Mathura.

This intriguing park, surrounded by huge walls, contains four highly impressive Mughal tombs. One is that of Prince Khusru ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; hdawn-dusk), the eldest son of Emperor Jehangir, who tried to overthrow his father in 1606, but was instead apprehended, imprisoned and blinded. He was finally murdered in 1622 on the orders of his half-brother, who later took the throne under the name Shah Jahan. If Khusru’s coup had succeeded, Shah Jahan would not have become emperor – and the Taj Mahal would not exist.

A second tomb belongs to Shah Begum ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; hdawn-dusk), Khusru’s mother (Jehangir’s first wife), who committed suicide in 1603 with an opium overdose, distraught over the ongoing feud between her son and his father. Between these two, a third, particularly attractive tomb was constructed by Nesa Begum ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; hdawn-dusk), Khusru’s sister, although was never actually used as a tomb. A smaller structure, called Tamolon’s Tomb ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; hdawn-dusk), stands to the west of the others, but its origin is unknown.

If you linger around the tombs of Prince Khusru and Shah Begum, someone will appear with keys to let you inside, where you can see a beautiful array of nature paintings and unique, tree-shaped window jalis (carved lattices). You'll have to negotiate a price – but don't pay more than ₹100 for all four tombs.

This picturesque two-storey house is a shrine to the Nehru family, which has produced five generations of leading politicians, from Motilal Nehru to the latest political figure, Rahul Gandhi. This stately home is where Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and others successfully planned the overthrow of the British Raj. It is full of books, personal effects and photos from those stirring times.

Built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, this 16th-century fort on the northern bank of the Yamuna has massive walls with three gateways flanked by towers. Most of it is occupied by the Indian army and cannot be visited, but a small door in the eastern wall by Sangam leads to one part you can enter: the underground Patalpuri Temple.

This unique temple is crowded with all sorts of idols; pick up some coins from the change dealers outside so you can leave small offerings as you go. (You may be pressured into giving ₹10 to ₹100 at some shrines, but a few coins are perfectly acceptable.)

Outside the temple – though its roots can be seen beneath ground – is the Undying Banyan Tree. Pilgrims used to leap to their deaths from it, believing this would liberate them from the cycle of rebirth.