Baku
Vast and jaw-droppingly original, this Zaha Hadid building is a majestic statement of fluid 21st-century architecture forming abstract waves and peaks…
Must-see attractions in Azerbaijan
Baku
This tapering 29m stone tower is Baku’s foremost historical icon, with rooftop views surveying Baku Bay and the Old City. Possibly millennia old, its…
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Azerbaijan
For those prepared to climb over 1500 steps up a mountain crag, one of Naxçivan's great highlights is the magnificent view from the sparse medieval ruins…
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Azerbaijan
This ornate 1762 palace building features vivid murals and dazzling coloured light streaming through şəbəkə (stained-glass windows), making it Şəki’s…
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Azerbaijan
Perfectly proportioned, if gently leaning, Naxçivan’s architectural icon is a 26m brick tower dating from 1186. It’s decorated with geometric patterns and…
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Baku
Yarat means 'create', a spirit that's in ample evidence in this centre's many thought-provoking installations that don't shy away from sociopolitical…
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Azerbaijan
One of Azerbaijan's most impressive Islamic structures, the İmamzadə is a masterpiece of brickwork and Central Asian–style blue majolica tiles on the…
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Baku
Completed in 2012, this trio of sinuous blue-glass skyscrapers forms contemporary Baku's architectural signature. The three towers range from 28 to 33…
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Azerbaijan
Lənkəran’s sprawling bazaar area is centred on an architecturally drab concrete hangar, but it’s loaded with colourful produce and equally colourful local…
Baku
This splendid confection of sandstone walls and domes was the seat of northeastern Azerbaijan’s ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. Mostly 15th century…
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Baku
Ever-popular with strollers, this leafy piazza forms Central Baku’s natural focus. The fountains for which it is named include one topped by shiny…
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Azerbaijan
The Unesco-listed Qobustan Petroglyph Reserve protects thousands of stick-figure stone engravings dating back up to 12,000 years. Themes include livestock…
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Azerbaijan
The unique Ateşgah is an 18th-century fire temple whose centrepiece is a flaming hearth. Arching above is a four-pillared stone dome with side flues which…
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Azerbaijan
On top of utterly unpromising little Daşgil Hill is a weird collection of baby mud volcanoes, a whole family of ‘geologically flatulent’ little conical…
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Azerbaijan
The brilliantly renovated round-towered 'temple' in pretty Kiş village has been lovingly converted into a very well-presented trilingual museum. It’s the…
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Baku
This joyous tailor-made gallery uses struts and tubing to create a wide variety of intimate viewing spaces, in many of which you can recline on bean-bag…
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Azerbaijan
Laza is a diffuse scattering of houses encircled by soaring mountains with grass-clad slopes and ribbon waterfalls cascading over perilous cliff edges. A…
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Azerbaijan
For a surreal slice of transplanted Teutonic history, drive around half an hour south of Gəncə to this agreeable small town founded as Helenendorf by…
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Azerbaijan
Atop a supersteep grassy ridge, Beşbarmaq Dağ is a distinctive split crag whose mystical crown of phallic rocks attracts (mostly female) pilgrims. They…
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Azerbaijan
In a raised gully near Digah village, a 10m-long strip of 'eternal' fire licks gently at at the foot of Fire Mountain. The name is misleading for what is…
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Azerbaijan
Chabiant Winery offers the most appealing visitor experience of Azerbaijan's new breed of vineyards, with a hotel, tastings and swifts swooping between…
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Azerbaijan
Two beautiful high-altitude valleys meet at charming little İlisu. Amazingly this diminutive village of photogenic old homes was once the capital of a…
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Quba 1918 Genocide Memorial Complex
Azerbaijan
A startling pair of concrete spike-pyramids rise dramatically above a subterranean museum that very powerfully commemorates the massacres of April and May…
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Azerbaijan
Naxçivan's most attractive settlement appears like an oasis amid craggy desert landscapes. Its central square features a classic old-men's teahouse…
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Azerbaijan
Second only to the Möminə Xatun as Azerbaijan's most impressive medieval tomb-tower, the main 1320 mausoleum is a ribbed cylinder inlaid with ample 'Allah…
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Qala Ethnographic Museum Complex
Azerbaijan
This impressive open-air park-museum features several furnished, traditional-style Abşeron buildings – such as a house, blacksmith's forge, potters'…
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Azerbaijan
Today's Qəbələ was renamed for an ancient city mentioned in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (AD 77), and forgotten after it was destroyed by the 18th…
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Azerbaijan
One of Northern Azerbaijan's most culturally intriguing villages, Qrız sits on the crag-top plateau that looks out across the cliffs above Çaygoşan. The…
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Azerbaijan
High above the city, a plateau of summer pastures known as Xan Yaylağı offers truly superb viewpoints back over the valley and northwards towards high…
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Baku
From historic flatweaves to modernist picture-rugs, this tailor-made museum displays and explains a superb collection of Azerbaijani carpets. It's housed…
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Azerbaijan
In decades past, being sent to a Soviet salt mine was a synonym for horror. At Duzdağ, however, a former mine site has been converted into a curative…
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Baku
Full of rare trees, cafes, fountains and fairground rides, the central sweep of Baku's seafront park is eternally popular with families, amateur musicians…
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Azerbaijan
Across the river from central Quba, Qırmızı Qəsəbə is a much-celebrated Jewish village with two active synagogues, including the Grand Synagogue. Its…
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Baku
The most notable feature of the 'Highland Park' that stretches south from the Flame Towers is this sombre row of grave memorials – Bakuvian victims of the…
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Azerbaijan
An octagonal tomb-tower with gilded roof-point stands just outside the small side gate at Naxçivanqala's south tip. It was built in 2008 but the brickwork…
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Azerbaijan
The vast Shahdag National Park covers over 1.3 million sq km, encompassing many of the nation's most spectacular peaks and high-mountain trails. Lower…
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Baku
Hand-woven carpets using wool coloured with vegetable dyes are created before your eyes in this amazingly grand, suburban gallery-workshop that includes a…
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Azerbaijan
South of Göygöl are numerous woodland restaurants, then after Hacikənd the road emerges onto a ridge with magnificent views of the Lesser Caucasus range,…
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Azerbaijan
Lahıc’s pedestrianised main street is unevenly paved with smooth pale river-stones and lined with older houses built traditionally with interleaving stone…
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Baku
Well-presented exhibits on Azerbaijan’s history and culture might miss the odd century here and there, but there’s more than enough to fill several hours…
