By air
Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD), ~25 km
Europe · Azerbaijan
Baku, Azerbaijan
A walled old city on the Caspian shore
Getting there
Best time to visit
April to June and September to October — mild and pleasant
Don't miss
Icherisheher
Maiden Tower
The Palace of the Shirvanshahs
Baku Boulevard
Things to do
Walking the old city
Strolling the seafront
A trip to Gobustan rock art
Visiting fire temples
Where to eat
Sources: Photo: AlixSaz · CC BY-SA 4.0
What to pack
Light layers, windproof jacket, comfortable shoes
A quieter corner
Yanar Dag, a hillside where natural gas has burned for decades
Questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Baku?
April to June and September to October — mild and pleasant. What to pack: Light layers, windproof jacket, comfortable shoes.
How do I get to Baku?
Fly into Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD), ~25 km.
What is there to do in Baku?
Walking the old city, strolling the seafront, a trip to Gobustan rock art, visiting fire temples. A quieter find: Yanar Dag, a hillside where natural gas has burned for decades.
What should I eat in Baku?
Plov, qutab flatbreads, dushbara dumplings and black tea with jam.
About Baku
- Coastal
Where it is
Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan, on the southern side of the Absheron Peninsula on the west coast of the Caspian Sea.
History
Baku's walled old city grew around the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, built when the Shirvanshah rulers made Baku their capital in the 15th century. An oil boom in the late 19th century turned it into one of the world's main oil-producing centres. The old city was listed by UNESCO in 2000.
People
Baku's people speak Azerbaijani, a Turkic language, with Russian also widely heard, and tea houses, carpet weaving and mugham music remain part of everyday culture.
Known for
- The walled old city of Icherisheher
- Modern towers lit up at night
- Caspian seafront boulevard
- Oil-boom era mansions
Did you know?
Baku lies below sea level, making it one of the lowest-lying capital cities in the world.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.