Fire temples and a flame shaped skyline, a silk road palace of stained glass, and a mountain village that has spoken its own language for two thousand years.
Into the city of winds on the Caspian, where a medieval walled core sits beneath three flame shaped towers. After the flight we keep it easy, a first evening on the seaside Boulevard, the Maiden Tower glowing, a taste of Azerbaijani plov.
The UNESCO old city of Icherisheher on foot, the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, then the swooping white waves of Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Center, the Flame Towers, and the carpet museum shaped like a rolled rug. Two cities in one day.
South to Gobustan, where 6,000 petroglyphs older than the pyramids cover the rocks and grey mud volcanoes bubble on the plain. Back via the Absheron peninsula, Ateshgah, the fire temple, and Yanar Dag, a hillside that has burned by itself for centuries.
A scenic drive west into the Greater Caucasus foothills (about five hours), breaking at the Diri Baba mausoleum cut into a cliff and the blue tiled Juma mosque of Shamakhi. Arrive in Sheki, a silk road town of red roofs under the mountains.
The Palace of the Sheki Khans, a tiny summer palace whose windows are shebeke, thousands of pieces of coloured glass set without a single nail, then the old caravanserai, the ancient Albanian church at Kish, and the coppersmiths hammering in the mountain village of Lahij.
A drive (about four hours) along the mountains to Quba, apple orchard country in the northeast. Across the river lies Qirmizi Qasaba, the 'Red Town', one of the last all Jewish towns outside Israel, with its grand synagogues and quiet lanes.
A 4x4 up a dramatic mountain road to Khinalug, at 2,300 metres, one of the highest and oldest continuously inhabited villages on earth, its people still speaking their own ancient tongue. Then back down to Baku for a last Caspian night.
A final Baku breakfast before your transfer to Heydar Aliyev airport. Azerbaijan is a surprise the whole way through, fire and silk, glass and stone, the Caspian at one end and the high Caucasus at the other.
Three ways to do the same route: Comfort, Premium or Luxe. Breakfasts in. Mix tiers city by city if you like, it is your trip.
Priced to your dates, your hotel tier and how the two of you like to travel. Ask, the first answer usually lands within minutes.
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