Xan Lənkəran

Top choice in Azerbaijan


Oh, for more hotels like this. If you don’t mind staying out by the bus station, this handicraft-filled complex combines an air of well-contrived antiquity with all modern conveniences, including Grohe bathroom fittings, fluffy dressing gowns and underfloor heating. There's a village-style dining room, a Tolkienesque garden and a reception desk fashioned from two vast tree trunks.

Some walls are made of traditional mud-wattle, and in one sitting area you can lounge like a khan on piles of carpets and mutəkə (elbow cushions). Shelves are hewn from logs and 'hung' from chains, lamps are designed like 19th-century lanterns and even the cleaners wear traditional village costumes. The restaurant offers excellent-value meals.