Baku
Azerbaijan · -20 m
Description
Baku (Bakı) stands on a bay of the Caspian twenty eight metres below sea level and is three cities at once. The walled Icherisheher, on the UNESCO list, is a warren of stone lanes around the Maiden Tower and the fifteenth century Shirvanshahs' palace. Around it runs a ring of grand mansions built by the oil barons of the eighteen nineties, when this one peninsula produced half the world's petroleum. Behind that stand the Flame Towers and Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Centre, paid for by the second oil boom, and a boulevard runs several kilometres along the water below all of it.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 3 to 6 days (optimal 4 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: April – June or September – October
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Icherisheher walled old city (UNESCO World Heritage)
- Maiden Tower
- Flame Towers and their night light show
- Heydar Aliyev Centre by Zaha Hadid
- Baku Boulevard along the Caspian
- Palace of the Shirvanshahs
- Fountains Square and the oil baron mansions
- Highland Park funicular and the martyrs' lane
- Nizami Street and the covered arcades
- Plov, dolma and the Azerbaijani kitchen
- Ateshgah fire temple at Surakhani(Day trip)
- Yanar Dag burning hillside(Day trip)
- Carpet Museum in its rolled carpet building
- Tea houses and the pear-glass armudu service
- Baku Formula 1 street circuit (approx. September)
- Old town caravanserais and the carpet shops
- Bibi-Heybat Mosque on the bay road
- Caspian sunset from the Little Venice canals
Getting there
- Airports:
- GYD
- Train stations:
- Baku
- Seaport:
- Reachable by ship or ferry