Azerbaijan: Baku, Sheki and the Caucasus Mountains — Where to Go and What to Try

Baku: the Old City and the seafront

The heart of Baku is Icherisheher, the Old City within its fortress walls, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here you'll find the Maiden Tower, the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, caravanserais and narrow lanes full of carpets and workshops. The long Seaside Boulevard stretches along the water, while modern buildings of unusual architecture rise above the city, beautifully lit up in the evening.

Absheron: fire and ancient rock art

Baku is surrounded by the Absheron Peninsula. Here you'll find Yanar Dag, a hillside where natural gas has been burning out of the ground for many years, and the Ateshgah fire temple. Further south lies Gobustan, with rock art left by ancient people and its mud volcanoes.

Sheki and the Caucasus Mountains

Sheki is an old town on the slopes of the Caucasus, famous for the Palace of the Sheki Khans with its shebeke stained-glass windows, and for a caravanserai where you can stay the night. On the way, it's worth stopping in Gabala, with its cable car up into the mountains, while lovers of wild nature can head on to the high mountain village of Khinalug.

What to try

Azerbaijani cuisine means plov, meat cooked over charcoal and plenty of fresh herbs.

• Plov — the main festive dish, and every region makes it its own way.
• Lula kebab and shashlik cooked over charcoal.
• Dolma wrapped in vine leaves.
• Qutab — thin flatbreads filled with herbs, meat or pumpkin.
• Piti — a soup of lamb and chickpeas cooked in clay pots, especially famous in Sheki.
• Tea with jam and sweets — Sheki pakhlava and shekerbura.

Good to know before you go

Azerbaijan is a hospitable country, and a few simple tips will help you feel at ease.

• Tea here is a sign of hospitality, and it isn't customary to turn it down straight away.
• Mosques are entered in modest, covering clothing, and women cover their heads.
• Payments are made in manats; cash comes in handy in small towns and at markets.
• It's easier to order a taxi through an app — that way you know the fare in advance.
• The wind off the sea can be strong, so a light jacket is useful in almost any season.

Staying connected

In Azerbaijan you need the internet from the very first minutes: to call a taxi, open a map, find a restaurant or show your hotel booking. You can install your eSIM at home over Wi-Fi, so after landing you won't have to hunt for a SIM card at the airport or stand in queues. When a plan's validity begins is shown on the checkout page before you pay: for some plans it starts at the first connection in the destination country, for others on installation or right after purchase. Your main number stays in your phone, and calls and messages to it keep arriving as usual, under your carrier's terms.