Azerbaijan is a beautiful country with unique mix of cultures and religions. We were fortunate to spend a day in its capital city, Baku.
How did we come to know about this place?
Like most of you, I had hardly ever hard of this country until we were planning our itinerary for Georgia. While listing the places (checking the map), we spotted “Azerbaijan” as its neighboring country and that’s how we explored. On reading so many good things about this place we had decided to visit for a short span at least.
Visa & Immigration :
Click here and scroll down to Azerbaijan to get complete visa details.
During immigration the officials inquire, if you are traveling from Armenia or had been there in the past. If yes, then things might get a little complicated. Relations don’t seem good between both the countries, so if you are planning to travel to Armenia it is recommended to travel Azerbaijan first or review more about the disputed places you aren’t supposed to visit in Armenia.
How Did We Get to Baku ?
Overnight train:37 runs daily from Tbilisi (Georgia) to Baku. The train is an affordable, safe and convenient way to travel between the two countries.
We bought our train tickets at the main station for 48 GEL each and passports are mandatory to do the bookings.
You can get the tickets online from this site – https://ticket.ady.az/en,
Things to keep in mind :
– Need to be at the train station at least 20 minutes prior to the departure time.
– During the journey there are two immigration checks around 30 mins halt each. They take your passports and return back later. So keep your passport and visa documents handy.
– You don’t find anything to eat in the train, so stock up with enough food & water.
Salam Baku :
We reached Baku around 9:45 AM and got surprised looking at the ultra modern railway station, it seemed more like an international airport than a train station.
We went to the nearby restaurant, connected to WIFI and contacted our Airbnb host. Farid was so kind, he picked us from the railway station and took us to his apartment.
Few more things to keep in mind :
– There are people at the train station who ask you if you would like to do any currency exchange. Just stay away from them and either go to a bank or an ATM for AZ currency.
– Uber is cheap here, so apart from metro you can use uber to commute within the city.
Things to do in Baku :
First we went to the Nizami street. It is one of the famous streets for shopping with nice architecture around.
Next was Icheri Seher also called as Baku’s old town. This is UNSECO world heritage site and used to be the medieval capital. Walking around these pretty and narrow streets got us the ancient feels.
Apart from the famous attractions like 12th century Maiden tower, traditional carpet weavers and souvenir shops here, Sweet memory bakery is a must visit place.
As we were strolling in the streets, Uma who runs the Sweet memory bakery invited us to her store. She explained how the deserts were made and offered some free trials.
They were so delicious especially the jam, we packed some to take back home:-)
Wandering up and down the streets we reached the Bazaar square.
From the top of the street, the sand-coloured buildings rising like dunes and Capsian sea in the background looked like an old Arabian tale.
Baku Boulevard is another must visit with amusement parks, cafes, bars, Baku Eye, national flag square are some of the attractions here.
If you want to enjoy the views of Caspian sea and the flame towers this would be a perfect place for you.
After a long day we definitely wanted to have some good local food. So we returned to the old city again and had local food at this place called “Zam Zam restuarant”. They served us authentic dishes and played traditional live music, will highly recommend this place.
Day 2:
Considering the limited time, we just wanted to swim and have a relaxed time in the Caspian Sea . We went to the Crescent beach hotel and unfortunately they were renovating and no swimming was allowed.
Luckily “Ramada” hotel next to this allowed us to chill by the beach side, which had private beach and pool access.
After having a great time at the beach we headed to the Nizami street and did some quick shopping.
Well end of story and though it was only a day we spent in Baku, we shall always cherish our memories here. This unexpected country is gem of a place; right from people, culture and infrastructure, balance maintained between ancient and current world everything is so good about this place.
Baku is very famous for the Grand Prix events. So if you are planning to visit Baku check if any racing events are happening then.
Cars rushing through the charming old city buildings mixed with stylish contemporary architecture will definetly be a unqiue experience.
Great Sridhar,wish to join at least next trip