Do you know where Azerbaijan is? Like if I offered you a dollar, could you point to it on a map? As of a few weeks ago, I couldn’t. Baku … Bak-what? And isn’t that the most amazing outcome of travel? Falling madly in love with a place you didn’t even know existed … That’s Baku for us.
So, Azerbaijan is on the western coast of the Caspian Sea (which is technically really the biggest lake in the world but used to be a part of the ocean before the continents did their shifting thing … so we will let her keep hold of her “sea” title). The small country – size of the state of Maine – shares borders with Georgia, Armenia, Russia and Iran. The country has considerable wealth due to extensive oil reserves and is known as the country of fire and rocks (more on that later).
We chose to visit Baku because it’s a common weekend destination from Dubai. It’s a quick 2.5 hour flight, no time change and the air is clean and the grass is green (the grass is also real which is a draw). The people are incredibly welcoming to tourists – since tourism is still growing. It’s a very inexpensive country to visit but is quite luxurious. We spent 4 nights and 5 full days and barely scratched the surface of potential.
Our immediate reaction was to be completely floored by the amount of green space in such a large city. The green mixed with the historical and futuristic buildings ... head is on a swivel!
Hotel:
Loyal Marriott fans here. When you’ve been traveling for a while, you accumulate points and we are loyal to a few brands (Hilton and IHG too) but Marriott is a major player for us. There were a few Marriotts to choose from and we opted for the Baku Boulevard because it was directly on the Sea and only $100/night with breakfast for all three of us. The hotel was snazzy, clean, INCREDIBLE service. Pool was fantastic and the restaurants were beyond. Incredibly impressed with the bang for our buck there. It was on the farthest end of the boulevard, so next time we might stay a bit more central but for $100/night – it was perfection.
**travel hack. In this part of the world the complimentary breakfasts are insane. They are full feasts. We ALWAYS opt for the breakfast portion and then ultimately never need lunch. Early dinner and we are set. Only paying for one meal a day cuts down on our budget considerably.
Food:
Can’t miss the view or the meal from the Flame Towers at Bar 19. Totally bananas. And they have a great rug design. The carpet doubles as a road for your 3-year-old to drive his cars along so you can enjoy your glass of Azerbaijani red. There is a funicular that runs up the mountain to bring you to the flame towers. Highly recommend!
Grocery stores were shockingly cheap – we thought we were doing the mathematical conversions wrong. We always stock up on snacks and drinks in local grocery stores and bought more on our last day to bring home. There is an awesome Bravo mart right near the hotel. Their mini matchbox cars for sale are worth checking out if your child would like to add to his collection 😉
Transport:
This was the least English speaking country we had been to, so that made transport pretty darn tricky. We got totally taken with a cab from the airport to our hotel (I didn’t do my research) and the one ride was more than any other ride the entire trip lolz. You’ll see a ton of Uber cars, but don’t be fooled, they aren’t the Uber the rest of the world knows … so your Uber app won’t work. We ended up walking a ton because the cabs were really hard to understand (but also cheap – 20 mins was about $5USD.) We also hired a guide for 2 days to take drive us around and take us to all the sites. He was amazing. Truly a gem of a man, patient and accommodating when our plans needed to change. Cost for 2 full days of driver, car, tour guide and all entrance fees was $200 total. Also, his ability to translate was really important – we couldn’t have seen half of what we saw if he hadn’t been able to talk us in.
Safety:
Yes. Very. Did we feel “different” and “foreign”? Yes, immensely so. Tourism isn’t as big as I predict it will become so blonde hair and blue eyes are a novelty, especially for the kids. It was sweet, harmless and we were happy to help them practice their English.
Healthcare:
Pleased to say that I have absolutely no idea. No sickness this trip. Likely because the air was clean, no sand and no one’s allergies were triggered. I’m curious how communication barriers might make health care tricky though.
ITINERARY
Day 1: Arrival Day
Land at Airport – BEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD. From deplaning to getting our bags literally took 12 minutes. We had organized our visas online prior but immigration etc. was a dream.
Arrived at Hotel, early dinner and walk the boulevard. Baku takes their outdoor spaces seriously. Like very seriously. The corniche is miles long and beautiful. Perfect for watching the fisherman, making friends and carrying dead fish around.
Day 2: Walking Tour
Immediately choose new matchbox car from grocery store and walked the 2+ miles to the “touristy area.
Old Baku, Maiden Tower, Palace of the Shirvanshahs. This is the old original town of Baku and I swear I could spend days just wandering the old cobble stone streets. From the vendors that try to charm you with their handmade wares to the endless stairs to no where, Old Baku is a movie set thousands of years old.
Baku Carpet Museum. Gotta be honest … was pretty skeptical of a museum filled with rugs and was totally humbled by the first room. The museum itself is built to resemble a giant rolled up rug (no joke) and is filled with the most equisitive hand made woven rugs. To imagine the man hours required … mind blowing.
We took our time walking home along the park that lines the Caspian Sea. Turkish icecream, playgrounds, sculpture admiration … lazy walk back to the hotel.
Day 3: ROCKS
Our tour guide drove us the hour plus to the Gobustan Museum and Mountains. These mountains are filled with some of the oldest and most exquisite petroglyphs in the world. The museum itself is worth the trip but the petroglyph walk through the caves … I mean, come on.
Mud Volcanoes. Our Prius was unable to make the drive out the mud volcanoes – massive surprise, so began the sketchiest part of our trip (I hope H’s grandparents don’t read this). Our guide flagged down a “Russian Car.” Which are old Lada’s from the Soviet Union days. These cars are like 40 years old and little tanks. You can’t kill them but they look like a clown car. So in we piled and the driver just shot out into the wilderness. There were no roads, like a dirt path and we just pounded over the potholes for miles towards “mountain of mud.” This was the moment of the trip where I was glad we shared our location recently. But we made it and the volcanoes were cool as hell and H didn’t throw up in the Russian car and we made it back, so overall a great day!
** we still have our USA phones and numbers, but because we don’t have a US address anymore, we transferred these lines to my dad’s Verizon plan. He claims he doesn’t activate the “shared location” when we travel but he does and it’s sweet. Mainly, I know this because when we travel my phone always beeps with “your location is being shared”. Ha! It’s actually one of the things that makes me feel safe when were travel cause … just in case. But Dad if you read this, I totally know you aren’t tracking my phone (wink, wink)
Day 4: FIRE
We again used the same tour guide and headed north to the Atashgah Zoroastrian Fire Temple. Due to all the natural gas under the earth’s crust in Azerbaijan, there are multiple places where the earth is just continually burning. The flame in this temple has been burning for thousands of years. It’s an incredibly powerful, spiritual and religious place.
We then headed out to Absheron National Park. It’s at the tippy end of the country jutting into the Caspian Sea. The lake’s water level has dropped dramatically in recent years so our driver just floored the Prius over recently exposed lake bed to bring us out to explore. This was a part of the journey we couldn’t have done without a translator. I have legitimately no idea what the police at the gate said but our driver seemed to talk our way in. It was stunning. One of my favorite places to explore.
Our final stop was to Zaha Hadid’s simply stunning Heydar Aliyev Centre. The entire community space in the middle of the city was gorgeous. Filled with young people, dogs, explorers, families. Just a beautiful place to relax and explore.
Day 5: Home
In summary, Baku was exceptional. 3 days would be more than enough to explore but we will likely go back for a few weeks next summer – rent a car and drive out to the mountains. Clean air – Yipee!
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