Azerbaijan sightseeing. Travel guide - attractions, sights, nature and touristic places

The majority of Azerbaijan cities look like huge museum complexes. Without a doubt, Baku remains the most appealing destination for tourists. The old part of the city is home to hundreds of historic landmarks, castles and mosques. The Old Town is sometimes even called “the Baku Acropolis”. It is home to such famous sights as the Palace of Shirvanshahs, Maiden Tower, Icheri Sheher Fortress, The Mausoleum of Seyid Yahya Bakuvi and numerous mosques, the most famous of which are Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr Mosque, Molla Ahmad Mosque, Mirza Ahmad Mosque and Juma. There are also Christian shrines in the city, for example, Holy Myrrhbearers Cathedral. In Baku, you will find more than 30 museums, 7 theatres and several concert halls.

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There are also several signature landmarks in Baku suburbs. The village of Qobustan is home to unique rock drawings, many of which were made more than 10 thousand years ago. There are also several medieval fortresses, old cemeteries and awesome caves in the mountains. The size of this culture reserve is more than 100 thousand square kilometers. Qobustan has become an important stop in tourist excursions and trip planning.

Shabran is another town that is worth attention of vacationers. This historic centre was founded as a protective and strategic post. Many ancient facilities, such as Gilgilchay and Ciraq Qala fortresses have survived till our days. The northern part of Azerbaijan is the location of another ancient city – Besbarmaq that has the right to be called the most beautiful city of the country. Simply no other city in Azerbaijan can compete with Besbarmaq in terms of the number of parks, botanic gardens and nature reserves. The most popular landmarks are Afruja waterfalls and Tengi canyon. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

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The town of Semaha is an interesting tourist destination because of its numerous ancient castles and mosques. The most famous museum in the town was named after famous poet Mirza Sabir. Do not forget to visit Qiz Qalasi Fortress, Juma Mosque and the mausoleum of Addy-Gyumbez.

The town of Sheki is known as one of the oldest settlements in Azerbaijan. The town and its suburbs still hide numerous ancient buildings, towers and castles. Most precious findings are exhibited in the Museum of Archaeology. All artefacts there were found during archaeological excavations in Sheki and surrounding regions. As Azerbaijan is an old country with rich history, there are magnificent old buildings, shrines and monuments in almost every town in the country, and numerous theatres, museums and galleries will make your stay there even more pleasant.

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History and Entertainment

The country is visited by fans not only of eventful sightseeing programs, but also of other types of holidays. In Azerbaijan, there are excellent beach resorts, the most popular and most crowded of which is in Baku. They are distinguished by the well-developed infrastructure. There are a lot of pubs, restaurants and disco clubs on the coastline. The true leader in terms of the number of beaches is Sumgayit where 20 beaches are equipped. They are covered with white shells. Sumgayit is very popular with families.

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic monument in Baku

Azerbaijan also offers the top-rated ski resort called Shahdag. It is located in the namesake submontane district, in the surroundings of Qusar. The main peculiarity of the resort area is its unique nature. Several years ago, the ski school was opened at the resort. There are slopes of different levels and a children’s club. There are also 12 lifts at the resort. Tufan is smaller than its main “competitor” and will impress the fans of a peaceful and calm atmosphere.

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Azerbaijan is known as a place where a lot of unique wellness resorts are located. The main value of the country is oil. It is actively used in local for sanatoriums recovery purposes. The most famous wellness resort is Naftalan. The extraordinary House on Crutches Museum confirms the successful activity of local sanitariums. There are crutches left by former sanatorium patients who recovered from serious musculoskeletal diseases. The balneological resort of Naxcıvan is also very popular. In its territory, there are several thermal springs and liman lake producing brine and muds.

During your vacation, you should certainly combine your favorite entertainments with visiting shops and markets of Azerbaijan. Here, you can buy luxurious silk of the local production, beautiful ceramic items and local craftsmen’s masterpieces. One of the largest craft markets of the country is located in the historical district of Baku. In the suburban district of the capital, there is the Carpet Center. On picturesque markets of Azerbaijan, you can always buy fragrant spices, herbs, Baku baklava, and white cherry jam.

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Fantastic City Tours and Excursions in Azerbaijan

Reference information

Map of all parks

National and city parks of Azerbaijan
♥ National Park 'Aghgol National Park' . On the map Show on the map

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♥ National Park 'Hirkan National Park' . On the map Show on the map

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♥ National Park 'Shirvan National Park' . On the map Show on the map

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Famous and uniques places in Azerbaijan from our review series

Baku

From the series “The Last City-Fortresses Survived to This Day”

Baku – the largest city of Caucasus – is one of the oldest city in the world. There was saved the complex of the Medieval defensive system. As long years ago, the heart of Baku is the Old Town. Nothing has changed since the medieval time. You can see the complex of the old baths, ancient palaces and narrow paved with stone streets. The most symbolic landmark of Baku is the Maiden Tower. With this tower is connected a number of legends.

Another peculiarity of the old square are the sellers. They offer buyers the handmade carpets and different souvenirs. At some streets you will see the carpets, hanging on the buildings. Such streets look like real art galleries. In the city you can combine walks in the historical places with the modern entertainment. There is a wonderful beach, the … Read all

Bull Island Balls

From the series “Most Curious Artifacts of Extraterrestrial Origin”

In Azerbaijan, not far from Baku is the tiny Bulla Island, which is known under the name Hyarya Zirya. On this island in the seventies of the last century the geologist Konstantin Mamedov discovered the mysterious spherical formations. In total, the researcher has found 21 bullets. All the formations had the same structure and were clearly divided on two halves with the deep gating.

The scientists involved in meteorite research immediately drew the parallel between the discovery of Mamedov and the mysterious Salzburg meteorite because their sections were similar. To the research targets, it was decided to split pairs of spheres. All the balls selected were easily split along the joint.

The base of the spheres was aluminum and less than 20% of the structure was the uniform alloy of … Read all

Sumgait

From the series “Top 14 Most Polluted Cities of the Planet”

From the ecological point of view, the cities of the world are worth mentioning the Azerbaijani city Sumgait - the great center of the chemical industry. According to 2012, about 285 thousand people live in the city, many of which work in the industrial sector. Gradually, the chemical industry was not the main industry of the city; In Sumgait, today there are large machine builders, food processing companies, as well as the major centers that produce the building materials.

The townspeople and the industrial representatives are extremely curious about the statements about the bad influence of the farms on ecology. The city dwellers do not want to believe that their city is facing the huge ecological disaster and reject any reports from the ecologists. Over the last decade, a series of … Read all

All unique sightseeing Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan sightseeing. Travel guide - attractions, sights, nature and touristic places

History and Entertainment

Fantastic City Tours and Excursions in Azerbaijan

Famous and uniques places in Azerbaijan from our review series

Baku

Bull Island Balls

Sumgait

Sightseeing in popular cities of Azerbaijan

Map of travel guides to Azerbaijan cities