Hussainabad is the historic core north of the Gomti — the small, tightly built quarter that holds almost all of Lucknow's headline Nawabi monuments. Within ten minutes' walk of one another you have the Bara Imambara, the Chota Imambara, the Rumi Darwaza, the Husainabad Clock Tower, the Jama Masjid, the Sat Khanda, and the Hussainabad Picture Gallery.
It is also the most photogenic part of the city: low-rise, low-traffic, with views over the reservoir between the Clock Tower and the Imambaras that are the closest thing Lucknow has to a postcard. The bazaars between the monuments still trade in religious paraphernalia, sweets, and the ittar that nearby Kannauj has produced for the city for two centuries. The neighbourhood is at its best at dawn or at dusk.