A Guide to Azerbaijan: What to Do and Where to Stay

Azerbaijan’s wealth of fascinating and diverse attractions makes it a wonderful destination for any traveller. The capital, Baku, is an ideal place for a city break, offering a beautiful old town set against strikingly innovative modern architecture, with unique day trips within easy reach. Baku is blessed with temperate weather year-round, but if you’re visiting in the winter you’ll probably prefer to head up into the Caucasus Mountains to take advantage of the first-rate winter sports at the resort of Shahdag.

The best places to visit in Azerbaijan

Baku

Azerbaijan’s captivating capital Baku straddles medieval history and modern prosperity with ease

Extending for some 25km along the shores of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan’s capital Baku is a former Silk Road city that now straddles medieval history and modern prosperity with ease. Spend a morning wandering the orange sandstone streets of the Old Town, making sure to call in at the magnificent Palace of the Shirvanshahs, before enjoying lunch in the elegant Fountains Square with its characterful statues. In the afternoon, take a trip up the funicular to the Shahidlar Eternal Flame Monument, from which you’ll enjoy fantastic panoramic views of the city, overlooked by the iconic Flame Towers, an architectural representation of Azerbaijan’s nickname The Land of Fire.

One of the city’s best places to stay is the effortlessly sophisticated Courtyard by Marriott Baku, which is in comfortable reach of all of Baku’s top sights and offers an excellent restaurant and an on-site fitness centre. Alternatively, stay at the beautifully designed The Ritz-Carlton, Baku, located across Zaha Hadid’s famous Heydar Aliyev Center. The hotel is a dining destination itself: dine at Tribeca, an American-style brasserie serving classic New York and contemporary Californian cuisine or step inside the elegant Blind Tiger, a modern speakeasy where cocktails and jazz music blends in one of the most exclusive spot in Baku.

The Absheron Peninsula

The beautiful, fascinating Absheron Peninsula is one of the essential places to visit while in Azerbaijan (Photo: GettyImages)

An easy day trip from Baku, the Absheron Peninsula is one of the essential places to visit while in Azerbaijan. It’s here that the country’s history and natural phenomena are on full display: start with a trip to the well-preserved medieval castle of Mardakan, and head on to the Ateshgah Fire Temple, a Zoroastrian place of worship at which an eternal flame has been burning for centuries. Finally, don’t miss Yanar Dag, which translates as Fire Mountain – an appropriate name, as this burning hillside has been ablaze since the 1960s. The fantastic museum on site explains how the fire is fuelled, and also gives an insight into Azerbaijan’s prehistoric cultures. Yanar Dag is particularly dramatic at sunset, so time your visit for the evening, then return to Baku and stay in the city’s JW Marriott Absheron Baku, where you’ll find a fantastically stylish lobby, hugely comfortable rooms, and gorgeous views over the Caspian Sea.

Shahdag

Just a couple of hours’ drive from Baku are the foothills of the Caucasus, a beautiful range of mountains that are perfect for winter sports. The resort of Shahdag is where to go for skiing in Azerbaijan, boasting 17km of runs for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities; if you come in the summer, the surrounding mountains are perfect for scenic hikes. Settle in for a stay at the luxurious Pik Palace, Shahdag, Autograph Collection, where you’ll relax after a day on the slopes in the hotel’s fantastic spa, sauna and indoor and outdoor heated pools.

What to eat and drink in Azerbaijan

Plov

Azerbaijan’s signature dish is plov, which features tender chicken or lamb, delicately spiced (Photo: GettyImages)

Azerbaijan’s signature dish is plov, which originated in Central Asia and came to the country in the medieval period. The principal ingredient is meat – usually chicken or lamb – which is cooked until soft and tender with rice, flavoured with a variety of herbs and spices. It’s found on every Azerbaijani menu – great places to eat it include Shirvanshah Museum Restaurant, just north of Füzuli Park.

Piti

One of Azerbaijan’s more unusual dishes to try is piti, which is a delicious stew made by simmering lamb and vegetables in spices, then slowly baking it inside an earthenware pot. It’s served with flatbread, which you should use to soak up the stew’s liquid as your starter, then follow up by eating the meat and vegetables for the main course. It’s a particular speciality of the city of Sheki, in the country’s northwest, but you can find it in Baku at Sumakh Restaurant, a few blocks northeast of the Museum of Modern Art.

Halva

Moist with sugar syrup, aromatic with cardamom and coriander, and richly crumbly with hazelnuts, Azerbaijani halva is an unmissable delicacy (Photo: GettyImages)

Azerbaijanis are known for having a sweet tooth, and halva is one of the most popular local treats. Moist with sugar syrup, aromatic with cardamom and coriander, and richly crumbly with hazelnuts, Azerbaijani halva is an unmissable delicacy. Sweet shops all over Baku sell it, with Sheki Sweet Home just outside the Old Town being a particularly good place to buy.

Top things to do in Azerbaijan

While in Sheki, be sure to visit the ancient Caucasian Albanian church

When visiting Azerbaijan, make sure to base yourself in Baku for several days to take in its unmissable sights. One of the most interesting things to do in the city is to take a tour of its innovative and quirky architecture: the sleek Flame Towers are an obvious example, but there’s also the flowing curves of the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center and the fantastic Carpet Museum, which has been built to resemble a rolled-up carpet. Even the city’s medieval fortifications have unusual architectural features – including the iconic, bulging Maiden’s Tower, the purpose of which remains a mystery.

One of the best things to do on your trip to Azerbaijan is to visit the town of Sheki, in the country’s northwest. Once the capital of an independent state, Sheki’s top attraction is the exquisitely decorated Khan’s Palace, in which the vibrantly coloured stained glass windows cast beautiful light upon the magnificent murals. While in Sheki, there are numerous other fun things to do, including visiting the peaceful village of Kis and checking out its ancient Caucasian Albanian church, or shopping for Sheki’s craft speciality: gorgeous silk scarves.

Hidden gems in Azerbaijan

One of the most unique things to do in Azerbaijan is to take a trip south from Baku to Qobustan National Park, where you’ll find a remarkable geological curiosity: a cluster of six-foot-high volcanoes, which spit, gurgle and spew streams of cold mud. Azerbaijan has half of the seven hundred or so such volcanoes on the planet and their mud is thought to be good for the skin – you’ll often find locals bathing in the largest mud volcano, and they’ll be very keen for you to join them! Equally immersive is a visit to the town of Naftalan, home of the eponymous naftalan oil, where you can enjoy the unforgettable experience of a petroleum spa. If you don’t fancy a mud or oil bath, alternative things to do in Azerbaijan include a visit to the Qobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, which is home to ancient petroglyphs depicting animals, dancers and boats, thought to date back 20,000 years.

It's also well worth making a trip up to Khinaliq, a settlement in the Caucasus Mountains north of Baku that is one of Europe's highest villages. Owing to its isolated location, Islam did not reach the village until the twelfth century, long after the rest of Azerbaijan, and the inhabitants still retain the traditions, culture and language of Caucasian Albania, an ancient kingdom of which Khinaliq was once a province. The surrounding scenery is magnificent, and it's an ideal place to enjoy walking in the gorgeous mountains.

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A popular activity for many Bakuvians is to take a stroll along the city’s extensive seafront in the evening. Join them for a spot of people-watching, and to check out the remarkable architecture springing up on the boulevard.

Published: July 26, 2022

Last Updated: February 23, 2023

Article Tags:  Azerbaijan , Baku , Shahdag