Baku Five Days on the Caspian
Three nights in the capital, one in the Caucasus foothills, and a day out to the rock carvings and the fires. Here is how the five days actually run.
Return flights, 4- and 5-star hotels, all meals, entry tickets and travel insurance — five days from Kochi.
The Shape of the Trip.
Duration
5 Days, 4 Nights
Nights
3 Baku · 1 Gabala
Route
Baku · Gobustan · Gabala
Hotels
4 & 5-Star
Flights
Return Economy
Insurance
Travel Insurance to 70
Day by Day
Baku's seafront, the day outside the city among the carvings and fires, up to Gabala, and the walled Old City before home.
The group assembles at Cochin International Airport, clears immigration and customs, and flies to Baku. At Heydar Aliyev International Airport the local representative meets the group, and after lunch and check-in the Baku city tour opens with an English-speaking local escort: Highland Park on the western hill with its wide view over the city and bay, the Flame Towers (the trio of blue glass towers completed in 2012, drawn from the shape of a flame), the seafront boulevard along the Caspian with Mini Venice's canals and gondolas, and Flag Square, whose flagpole entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2010 above an eight-pointed-star museum.
Overnight in Baku. Meals: lunch, dinner.
The Gobustan State Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site about 64 km southwest of Baku, protected since 1966, holds more than 6,000 rock carvings of people, animals, dancers, boats, warriors, camel caravans and the sun and stars. From there, Soviet-era Lada cars take the rough track to the mud volcanoes, a field of cones pushing out cold grey mud. Next is Ateshgah, the Fire Temple of Baku, a castle-shaped complex around a central flame, a Zoroastrian place of worship raised in its present form in the 18th century by Indian Shiva devotees. The day ends at Yanar Dag on the Absheron Peninsula, where natural gas burns continuously about three metres high from the hillside.
Overnight in Baku. Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Travel north to Gabala, set in fine mountain country — the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus to the north, the Alazan-Haftaran valley in the middle, the Ajinohur upland to the south, with Mount Bazarduzu, the country's highest peak at 4,466 metres, in the region. On arrival, the cable car climbs to between 1,600 and 1,900 metres for the view back over Gabala. Nohur Lake follows, still and clear between high mountains — swimming is not allowed, though fishing is. Dinner at an Indian restaurant.
Overnight in Gabala. Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Return to Baku. The afternoon takes in the Car Museum at the Heydar Aliyev Center, a 57,500-square-metre complex by Zaha Hadid, known for its flowing curved walls with no sharp angles, named after Heydar Aliyev (first secretary of Soviet Azerbaijan 1969–1982 and president 1993–2003). In the evening, a drive through Nizami Street, the leafy pedestrian heart of central Baku, past the fountain topped with mirrored spheres and the layered facade of the Nizami Literature Museum, with time to shop.
Overnight in Baku. Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner.
The morning belongs to Icheri Sheher, the walled Old City at the historic centre of Baku, once the capital of the Shirvanshahs: the Shirvanshah Palace, the Maiden Tower, the medieval market square, the Icheri Sheher Archaeological Museum, caravanserais, mosques, madrassahs, bath houses, the Baku Khans' House and rows of 19th-century residences. After lunch, transfer to the airport for the return flight.
Meals: breakfast, lunch.
The group arrives at Kochi International Airport.
Tour ends.
What's Covered & What's Not
Cancellation Policy
| When you cancel | Charge |
|---|---|
| 30 days before departure | 50% of the tour cost |
| Within 15 days of departure | 100% of the tour cost |
Baku in Five Days, Straight From Kochi.
Set departures through the year, plus a fixed December group. Call us with your headcount and the desk will hold your place.