What to Visit

This unique stone tower is one of the great enigmas of architectural archaeology. Powerfully built and still very sturdy, experts still disagree as to its original function – A fortress? A fire temple? A beacon? And the legends surrounding the name are as entertainingly varied. Interesting audio-visual displays within examine these questions but the highlight of a visit is emerging at the top for a superb panorama of the old city and beyond.

Forming an unmissable icon on the Baku skyline from miles around, the Flame Towers are a trio of sinuous, blue-glass skyscrapers whose 30+ storey curves really do resemble vast flames, especially during a remarkable nightly light show. They stand across the road from a peaceful ridgetop park which has a sombre significance as a martyrs’ cemetery but is also one of the most beautiful viewpoints from which to survey the city and the opal blue sweep of Baku Bay.

One of Baku’s great glories is its setting, gently curled round a brilliant blue bay of the Caspian. Paralleling the sweep of seaside for several kilometres, Baku Boulevard is a tree-shaded promenade park that’s ideal for sea views at any point but also has boat rides, tea houses, restaurants, a carpet museum, fountains, rare trees and even a ‘little Venice’ lagoon complete with gondolas. There’s nowhere better deal for a late-night summer stroll to breathe in cool, fresh sea air.

Baku has a remarkably rich selection of modern art galleries, befitting a nation which has produced some truly superb artists, especially in the latter 20th-century. MIM is the ideal place to peruse a representative selection of works by the great modern and contemporary stars, displayed in a specially designed gallery which is a work of avant garde art in itself.

In the early 20th century, Baku briefly became the world’s biggest petroleum producing area creating a string of local millionaires remembered by historians as ‘oil barons’. These folks built grand mansions including this one. Today it displays a very rich collection that offers fascinating insights into Azerbaijani history, but even for those with little interest in the history, seeing the brilliantly restored ‘Oriental Room’ in all its exotic opulence, is likely to be worth the ticket price on its own.

Old stone domes, pillars, archways and tree-shaded courtyards echo with exotic oriental legends in Baku’s 15th-century royal palace. Built when Baku was the royal capital of the Shirvan kingdom, it has been meticulously restored as a visitor attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Just five minutes’ walk from Icharishahar metro station, it’s right in the heart of Baku’s old city core with the Flame Towers rising on the western horizon as a startlingly modern counterpoint.

Yes, you heard it right. Mud volcanoes. Rather than mountains that spew lava, these are often quaintly loveable little pools and nozzles barely 2m high, which bubble and burp gasses and send forth gobs of cold mud. Around a third of all the world’s mud volcanoes are in Azerbaijan, and while, they aren’t especially dramatic, their lonely locations and the sheer curiosity of their existence proves an attraction. A famous group is 10km from Gobustan, around an hour’s drive from Baku.

Azerbaijan often calls itself the ‘Land of Fire’, and nowhere is the name more appropriate than at Ateshgah, a real life fire temple with ever-burning central hearth and stone flues which also burn flaming gas on special occasions. Now a fascinating museum, the site was possibly once a Zoroastrian holy site but the current structures date back to the 18th century and were built for Hindu traders who visited Baku as traders on the ancient ‘Silk Roads’. The site is 30km east of Baku in Surakhany.

Visiting Yanar Dagh, some 25 km northeast of Baku, it’s not hard to see how Azerbaijan became known as the ‘Land of Fire’. Here, near the top of a gentle hill on the edge of a suburban village, the earth is so steeped in methane gas that it appears to burn constantly – as it has since the 1950s when accidentally set ablaze by a carelessly discarded cigarette. Modest but intriguing, the sight is most interesting to observe at dusk.

Gobustan is famous for its rock drawings dating back to 40,000 years. This site is considered as the one of earliest inhabited settlement of people in Azerbaijan and reflects the activities of ancient people such as dance rituals, hunting scenes, carpentry and the images of animals. It is located a bit further from Baku – 64 km to southwest of Baku.

One of the world’s most audacious architectural statements, the sight of this extraordinary building is likely to be something you’ll remember for many years to come. Described by one journalist as like “whirls of whipped cream, buffeted into a mountain range of peaks”, it was the career-crowning triumph for architect Zaha Hadid, winning the London Design of the Year award in 2014. Inside there’s a museum, vast auditorium, exhibition hall, café and a jaw-dropping sense of space.

To feel the pulse of Baku life, join the passeggiata along pedestrianised Nizami Street with its out-door chandelier lamps, limestone-faced buildings and crowds of good humoured window shoppers. Continue into Fountains Square, an outdoor social hub with shady areas, curious statuary, a merry-go-round and plenty of cafes, shops and restaurants. On special occasions the fountains play and the square becomes a host for a range of celebratory events and outdoor concerts.