Baku Highlights
A curated tour of Baku's most iconic sites — from the UNESCO-listed medieval Old City and ancient fire temples to jaw-dropping modern architecture on the Caspian shore.
Trip Stops
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Baku's UNESCO-listed walled Old City is a labyrinth of cobblestone alleys, medieval mosques, and caravanserais dating back to the Palaeolithic era. Enclosed by 12th-century walls up to 10 meters high, it holds layers of Zoroastrian, Persian, Ottoman, and Russian history in just 22 hectares — earning the nickname 'the Acropolis of Baku' from ancient traders.
📍 Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan
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Baku's most iconic landmark, this 29.5-meter cylindrical tower has puzzled historians for centuries — its original purpose remains unknown. Featured on Azerbaijan's banknotes and official emblems, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Legends abound: the most popular tells of a princess who leapt from the top to escape a forced marriage.
📍 Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan
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A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the finest examples of medieval Azerbaijani architecture, this 15th-century royal complex served as the seat of the Shirvanshah dynasty for 200 years. The image appears on Azerbaijan's 10-manat banknote. The complex includes a palace, mosque, mausoleum, burial vaults, and an ancient bathhouse.
📍 Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan
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The lively social heart of modern Baku, this pedestrian square is ringed by cafes, restaurants, and elegant 19th-century buildings. Known as 'Parapet' in the Soviet era, it buzzes with locals and visitors day and night. The adjacent Nizami Street is Baku's main shopping promenade, lined with Art Nouveau oil-boom mansions.
📍 Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan
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A sweeping 3.75-kilometer promenade along the Caspian Sea, Baku Boulevard is the city's favorite spot for an evening stroll. Built in 1909, it stretches from the Old City to Little Venice — a charming canal system where you can ride gondola-style boats. The boulevard also offers views of the iconic Flame Towers reflected in the Caspian.
📍 Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan
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The world's first carpet museum, established in 1967, now housed in a stunning building shaped like a rolled-up carpet — designed by Austrian architect Franz Janz and opened in 2014. It holds the largest collection of Azerbaijani carpets in the world and has toured exhibitions to over 30 countries. A must for anyone interested in the ancient art of Caucasian carpet weaving.
📍 Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan
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Three soaring flame-shaped skyscrapers that dominate Baku's skyline at 190 meters tall, clad in over 10,000 LED panels that light up the night sky with animated fire, the Azerbaijani flag, and ocean waves. They embody Baku's nickname — 'Land of Fire' — rooted in its ancient Zoroastrian heritage. The tallest tower houses the five-star Fairmont Hotel.
📍 Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan
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Designed by the legendary Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid and opened in 2012, this 57,500 m² cultural complex is a masterpiece of flowing, curve-first architecture with not a single sharp angle. It won the Design Museum's Design of the Year award in 2014. Inside, rotating exhibitions cover Azerbaijani history, art, and culture.
📍 Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan
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A 17th–18th century Zoroastrian temple built around a naturally occurring gas vent that once burned perpetually — giving it the name 'Ateshgah' (House of Fire). Hindu and Sikh pilgrims also worshipped here along the Silk Road. The eternal flame was extinguished when the gas supply depleted in 1969, but it has been reignited artificially for visitors today.
📍 Surakhani, Baku, Azerbaijan
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A UNESCO World Heritage Site located about 60 km south of Baku, Gobustan is home to over 6,000 rock carvings spanning 40,000 years of human history. The park also contains around 300 mud volcanoes — roughly half of all mud volcanoes on Earth — which bubble and occasionally belch small flames. NASA scientists have studied Gobustan's volcanic landscape as an analogue for conditions on Mars.
📍 Gobustan, Baku, Azerbaijan
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