Baku city tour
Your excursion will start with visiting Heydar Aliyev Centre designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. It is vast
and jaw-droppingly majestic statement of fluid 21st-century architecture forming abstract waves and peaks that seem
to melt together. The real delight is simply pondering and photographing the extraordinary exterior from ever
changing angles. Make a stop next to the popular “I love Baku” sign to take some photos.
Want to have a close look at the Baku`s most popular landmark? Baku business and hotel complex Flame Towers
Baku is composed of 3 buildings. The surface of the Towers is fully covered with LED screens reflecting different visual
characters in motion, easily visible from the far corners of the city in the evening. Walk along the Alley of Martyrs
which is usually being included in the protocol visits of the foreign officials. Enjoy the panoramic view of the city and
its bay from Baku’s Highland Park (also called Upland Park), the highest point in the Azerbaijani capital.
Walk down to Baku Boulevard to view the International Mugham Center created in order to widely promote
Azerbaijani ‘mugham’ (folk musical composition) in the world and shaped as the national musical instrument – ‘tar’.
Here you will also see Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum, designed by Austrian architect Franz Janz and looking like
a rolled carpet.
Wander between the decorative stone bridges of so-called Little Venice, a small town on the water and one of the
jewels of Baku. It has two large and several small islands and its gondolas are travelling in the channels full of still and
clean water.
Cross the street and enter Icherisheher (Inner City), known as a “Fortress” or “Old City”, a unique historical and
architectural conservation area in the center of Baku. This is one of the most ancient places of the country where
archaeological excavations revealed burial vaults of the Bronze Age. Maiden Tower (12th century) and The Palace of
Shirvanshahs (13th-16th centuries) are the best known historical monuments located in the Old City. Besides them
there are a lot of other unique monuments such as mosques, minarets, the remnants of
caravanserais “Multani” and “Bukhara”, ancient baths, etc. Stroll down the paved streets of this ancient city and drop
to some of the numerous souvenir shops where you can buy national clothes, kerchiefs, scarves and caps, dishes and
handmade carpets.
After leaving Old City move to the modern downtown, straight to the Fountain Square, the most popular public place
with many restaurants and shops, main location for public festivals, shows and celebrations and pedestrian Nizami
street, old trading zone with lots of shops and boutiques.
Overnight in Baku.