Baku

Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan and the natural starting point for almost every journey in the country. It sits on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, and it combines three cities in one: the walled medieval Old City of Icherisheher, the grand oil-boom quarter that grew around it in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the glass-and-steel skyline of the last two decades, crowned by the Flame Towers.

Baku deserves at least two full days, while three days is considerably better if travelers also want museums, food experiences and excursions around the Absheron Peninsula. This guide covers what to see, how the city fits together, when to come and how to use Baku as the start of a wider Azerbaijan itinerary.

What is Baku?

Baku is the largest city and the political, economic and cultural centre of Azerbaijan, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula. It is one of the largest cities in the Caucasus, and its metropolitan area holds a substantial share of the country's population.

Baku lies approximately 28 metres below sea level, making it the world's lowest-lying national capital. The Caspian is a landlocked sea whose surface sits well below ocean level, and the city's waterfront follows that low shoreline.

The name is usually explained as deriving from the Persian for "wind-pounded city", and the nickname City of Winds is earned: the khazri, a cold north wind, and the gilavar, a warm southerly, can both blow hard across the peninsula.

Icherisheher, the Old City

Icherisheher, the Inner City, is the walled historic core of Baku and the reason most first-time visitors come. Within its twelfth-century walls a dense pattern of lanes, caravanserais, mosques, bathhouses and stone houses climbs a gentle slope above the waterfront. Two monuments dominate it: the Maiden Tower near the shore and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs at the top.

The Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 under criterion (iv), as reference 958. That inscription covers the Old City and its two principal monuments only; it is a separate property from the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape south-west of the city, which was inscribed in 2007.

Allow half a day for a first walk. The lanes are easy to get lost in, which is part of the pleasure, and everything is within a few minutes of everything else.

Maiden Tower

The Maiden Tower, Qız Qalası in Azerbaijani, is a cylindrical stone tower with a long buttress-like projection, standing close to the Caspian shore at the edge of the Old City. The visible structure is largely twelfth century, but excavations and the building's unusual form suggest that earlier elements at the site may date much further back.

What the tower was for is not settled. Defensive use, a watchtower over the harbour, a religious role linked to older fire or Zoroastrian traditions, and an astronomical or observatory function have all been proposed, and each has evidence for and against it. These should be understood as theories rather than certainty. The tower now holds a museum on its floors, and the roof gives one of the best views over the Old City and the bay.

Palace of the Shirvanshahs

The Palace of the Shirvanshahs is the finest monument of medieval Azerbaijani architecture. The Shirvanshahs, whose dynasty ruled Shirvan for centuries, moved their capital from Shamakhi to Baku in the fifteenth century after earthquakes, and built the complex at the highest point of the Old City: the two-storey palace itself, the domed Divankhana or council chamber, the family mausoleum, the palace mosque with its minaret, a bathhouse and the mausoleum of the court scholar Seyid Yahya Bakuvi.

The complex is austere pale limestone with restrained carved decoration rather than tilework, which is what gives it its character. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage property together with the Old City walls and the Maiden Tower.

Mohammed Mosque and Synyk-Kala

Tucked into the lanes of the Old City is the Mohammed Mosque, the oldest datable Islamic building in Azerbaijan. An inscription records its construction in 1078–1079 AD, 471 in the Islamic calendar, by the architect Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, which makes it the first Islamic structure in the country whose date is known with certainty.

Its minaret carries a second name, Synyk-Kala, the Damaged Tower or Broken Tower. In 1723, during the Russian naval campaign on the Caspian, Baku was bombarded from the sea and the minaret was struck and damaged. Local tradition holds that a storm rose and drove the ships away, and the damaged minaret was deliberately left unrepaired for a long period afterwards, becoming a quiet symbol of the city's resistance. The mosque is small and easy to pass by; it rewards a pause.

Baku Boulevard and the Caspian seafront

Baku Boulevard, the seaside promenade along the bay, dates from 1909, when the oil-rich city laid out a formal park on the shore. It has been extended repeatedly and now runs for kilometres past gardens, cafés, the Carpet Museum, a Ferris wheel and the marina. It is where Baku walks in the evening, and the most pleasant way to move between the Old City and the museums to the south.

Oil-boom Baku

The first oil boom, from the 1870s to the First World War, made Baku one of the wealthiest cities of the Russian Empire, and the money built the quarter that surrounds the Old City: Fountains Square and Nizami Street, the mansions of the oil barons, theatres, the philharmonic hall and streets of ornate European-style facades in local limestone. The Nobel brothers ran their oil business from here. This district is where most hotels, restaurants and shops are, and it is entirely walkable.

Flame Towers and Highland Park

The Flame Towers, three curved glass towers completed in 2012 on the ridge above the bay, are the modern city's signature. After dark their facades become screens for moving flames, flags and water, visible from almost everywhere in Baku. The best view of them and of the whole bay is from Highland Park, reached by the funicular from the seafront or on foot up the steps.

Highland Park adjoins Martyrs' Lane, a memorial avenue and cemetery for those killed in January 1990 and in the conflicts that followed. It is an active place of remembrance for the city, not a viewpoint. Visitors are welcome, and should dress and behave as they would at any national memorial.

Heydar Aliyev Center

Designed by Zaha Hadid and opened in 2012, the Heydar Aliyev Center is a single flowing white form with almost no straight lines, and one of the most photographed buildings in the region. It houses exhibition halls, a museum and an auditorium, and the lawns around it are as much part of the experience as the interior. It lies a short taxi ride north-east of the centre.

Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum

The Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum, founded in 1967, moved in 2014 into a purpose-built building on the Boulevard shaped like a rolled carpet. It holds the world's largest collection of Azerbaijani carpets and explains the regional schools, Quba, Shirvan, Ganja, Karabakh and others, whose designs are still woven today. For anyone who intends to buy a carpet in Azerbaijan, an hour here first is well spent.

More places to visit in Baku

• Fountains Square and Nizami Street: the pedestrian heart of the oil-boom city, for cafés, shops and evening strolls.
• Bibi-Heybat Mosque: on the shore south of the city, rebuilt in the 1990s on the site of a thirteenth-century mosque destroyed in 1936, and an important place of pilgrimage.
• Taza Bazaar: the city's main food market, for pomegranates, herbs, cheese, dried fruit, spices and caviar under one roof.
• National Museum of History: in a former oil baron's mansion, with the mansion's own rooms as part of the exhibition.
• Yanar Dag and Ateshgah: the burning hillside and the fire temple lie outside the city on the Absheron Peninsula, and are covered in the Absheron guide.

Gobustan from Baku

The Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, about an hour south-west of Baku, is a separate UNESCO World Heritage property, inscribed in 2007 under criterion (iii). Its rocky outcrops carry more than 6,000 engravings of people, animals, boats and hunts, made over thousands of years, and the nearby mud volcanoes are usually visited on the same half-day. Gobustan is not part of the Old City inscription and not on the Absheron Peninsula; it is the classic day trip from the capital.

Getting around: metro, BakıKart and taxis

Central Baku is compact and walkable. For longer trips the metro is fast and inexpensive; fares on the metro and city buses are paid with a BakıKart, a rechargeable transport card bought and topped up at station machines. Taxis are plentiful and ride-hailing apps work well; agree or check the fare before setting off with a street taxi. The Heydar Aliyev Center, Bibi-Heybat and the Absheron sights are taxi or tour territory rather than walking distance.

Is Baku walkable?

Yes, for everything in the centre. The Old City, the oil-boom quarter, Fountains Square, the Boulevard and the Carpet Museum are all within a comfortable walk of one another, and the funicular or the steps take you up to Highland Park. Pavements are good and the centre is flat apart from the climb to the ridge. Summer heat and the winter wind are the only things that make walking hard work.

How long do you need in Baku?

One day covers the Old City and the seafront at a rush. Two full days let you add the Carpet Museum, the Heydar Aliyev Center, Highland Park at sunset and a proper meal or two. A third day opens the Absheron Peninsula, Ateshgah and Yanar Dag, or Gobustan and the mud volcanoes. Baku deserves at least two full days, while three days is considerably better if travelers also want museums, food experiences and excursions around the Absheron Peninsula.

Best time to visit Baku

April to June and September to October are the most comfortable months, warm without being hot and with the seafront at its best. July and August are hot, and the Absheron wind can be strong in any season. Winters are mild by Caucasus standards but grey and windy, and short daylight limits excursions. Spring and autumn also suit combining Baku with the mountains, which are cool in summer and snowbound in winter.

Food in Baku

Azerbaijani cooking is one of the pleasures of a visit: plov, the saffron rice dish served in dozens of variations; dolma; qutab, thin stuffed flatbreads; kebabs; and fresh herbs, pomegranate and walnuts through everything, finished with black tea from pear-shaped glasses and pakhlava. The Old City and the streets around Fountains Square have restaurants for every budget, and the Boulevard cafés are for tea with a view.

Baku as the start of an Azerbaijan tour

Almost every route through Azerbaijan begins and ends in Baku, and the city is the hub for the country's regions. The Absheron Peninsula with its fire temple and burning hillside is a half-day from the centre. North, the road climbs to Quba-Khachmaz, Khinalig and the Greater Caucasus. West, the classic overland route runs through Shamakhi and Lahij in Mountainous Shirvan to Gabala and Sheki in Sheki-Zagatala. A flatter, faster lowland road also runs west through Central Aran, past Mingachevir, toward Ganja.

Before you travel, check the visa and entry requirements: most European, North American and Australasian visitors need an e-Visa for Azerbaijan, and the land borders are not currently open for ordinary tourist crossings, so Baku is reached by air.

Is Baku worth visiting?

Yes. Few cities put a UNESCO-listed medieval core, a grand belle-époque quarter and a bold contemporary skyline within one walk of each other, and fewer still do it on a seafront. Add the museums, the food and the excursions to the fire temple and the petroglyphs, and Baku carries two or three days comfortably before the rest of Azerbaijan begins.