Baku, Azerbaijan

Billing itself as the 'Land of Fire', Azerbaijan is a tangle of contradictions and contrasts. Neither Europe nor Asia, it's a nexus of ancient historical empires, but also a ‘new’ nation which has undergone an extraordinary transformation from the war-ravaged post-Soviet 1990s to an oil-enriched host of Formula 1 and Europa League football.

Photos

Itinerary

• Day 1

  Arrival Baku / Transfer to hotel

  Upon arrival at Baku, meet our representative
  
  Transfer from airport to hotel
  
  Baku
  
  Azerbaijan’s capital Baku is the architectural love child of Paris and Dubai … albeit with plenty of Soviet genes floating half-hidden in the background.
  Few cities in the world are changing as quickly and nowhere else in the Caucasus do East and West blend as seamlessly or as chaotically. At its heart, the Unesco-listed Old City lies within an exotically crenellated arc of fortress wall.
  
  Around this are gracefully illuminated stone mansions and pedestrianised tree-lined streets filled with exclusive boutiques. The second oil boom, which started around 2006, has turned the city into a crucible of architectural experimentation and some of the finest new buildings are jaw-dropping masterpieces. Meanwhile romantic couples canoodle their way around wooded parks and hold hands on the Caspian-front bulvar (promenade), where greens and opal blues make a mockery of Baku’s desert-ringed location.
  
  Day at leisure

• Day 2

  Baku Sightseeing

  Breakfast at the hotel
  
  Today City Tour of Baku covering the following
  
  Highland Park, Martins Alley, Flame Towers, Crystal Hall, Baku Boulevard, Old town Icery Sheher, Synyk Qala, Maiden Tower, SHirvanshsh Palace, Fountain Square, Nizami Street

• Day 3

  Baku / excursion to Gobustan and mud volcanoes

  Breakfast at the hotel
  
  Drive to south 70 km where located Gobustan Rock Arts museum and mud volcanoes.
  
  Gobustan geographical region is situated in East Azerbaijan and borders on the southern slope of Big Caucasus ridge in the north, Pirsaat River in the west, Harami and Mishov mountains in the south, the Caspian Sea and Absheron peninsula in the east.
  
  Gobustan - is an archaeological reserve in Azerbaijan, south of Baku, in Garadagh and Absheron regions, representing a plain located between the south- eastern slope of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and the Caspian Sea, and part of which is a cultural landscape of rock carvings, located in the 537 hectares. Gobustan monuments are divided into two groups: 1) Petroglyphs. 2) Ancient sites and other facilities. Later, we will explore mud volcanoes which located close to Gobustan museum.
  
  Mud volcanoes
  
  Out of the eight hundred mud volcanoes found across the globe, approximately half of them are situated in Azerbaijan.
  
  Some of these natural formations are quite massive, reaching several hundred meters in height. The volcanoes are dispersed throughout the rocky deserts of the Gobustan Reserve, located 60 kilometers from Baku.
  
  Venturing towards the Gobustan mud volcanoes feels like stepping onto another planet. Barren soil creates peculiar patterns underfoot, while light gray low hills stretch out in the distance, and no trees, bushes, or grass can be found nearby.
  
  It's easy to peer into the meter-high volcanoes and capture stunning photos of gas bubbles as they hiss and gurgle. For taller volcanoes, you can climb their sloping sides to reach extinct craters.
  
  Drive back to hotel

• Day 4

  Baku / Gabala Day Tour

  Breakfast at the hotel
  
  Drive to north west … 225 kms.
  
  On the way visit Shamakhi town here located Seven Tombs and Juma Mosque.
  
  Gabala is a city situated about 225 km from Baku, on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountains. The elevation of the city is 753 meters above sea level. It is a wonderful place to travel and leisure. Usually, the weather is pleasant in spring and fall, hot in summer, and cold in winter. Gabala proposes magnificent historical monuments that appear around the region and Its surroundings.
  
  Gabala city’s historical background has been as colourful as its existence and has formed one of the brightest pages of Azerbaijan’s history. Referencing the name of this area, we first recall the ancient city of Gabala, which for 900 years was the capital of the ancient Caucasus of Albania (from the fourth century B.C. to the fifth century A.D.) with its wide defensive walls. the first time, the name of the old city of Gabala, located on the medieval Silk Way and having a history of 2400 years, was listed as Kabalaka as far back as in the manuscript History of nature by Great Philipp, Roman historian
  
  At Gabala city visit Nohur Lake,, Gabala Land entertainment complex and Tufandagh winter summer complex
  
  Back to Baku

• Day 5

  Departure from Baku

  Breakfast at the hotel.
  
  Transfer to airport for return flight

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