AZ · Curated travel guide
Mount Bazardüzü, Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve, Shamakhy Astrophysical Observatory and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Azerbaijan and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
Mountain in Russia and Azerbaijan
A peak of the Greater Caucasus on the border of Russia (Dagestan) and Azerbaijan, in the Qusar region. Rising 4,466 metres (14,652 ft) above the sea, it tops both Dagestan and Azerbaijan.
Photo: Freieck, CC BY-SA 3.0
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World Heritage
National park in Azerbaijan
A protected historic and natural site in Azerbaijan, near the settlement of Gobustan, about 70 kilometres (43 mi) southwest of Baku, created to protect the area's natural musical stones, its mud volcanoes and its prehistoric carvings in the rock.
Photo: Rəcəb Yaxşı, CC BY-SA 4.0
Observatory in Azerbaijan
An observatory founded on November 17, 1959, by decree No. 975 of the Azerbaijan SSR's Council of Ministers, bearing the name of Nasreddin Tusi. It is a research institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS), within the Academy's department covering the physical, mathematical and technical sciences.
Photo: Gulmammad ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0
UNESCO World Heritage Site in Baku, Azerbaijan
A palace of the 15th century built by the Shirvanshahs, called by UNESCO "one of the pearls of Azerbaijan's architecture". It stands in Baku's Inner City, and with the Maiden Tower makes up a group of historic monuments on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Photo: Urek Meniashvili, CC BY-SA 3.0
12th-century monument in Azerbaijan
A monument of the 12th century in the Old City of Baku. With the 15th-century Shirvanshahs' Palace it makes up a group of historic monuments that UNESCO put on its World Heritage List in 2001 as cultural property, Category III.
Photo: Ludvig14, CC BY-SA 4.0
Art museum in Baku, Azerbaijan
The biggest art museum in Azerbaijan, founded in Baku in 1936 and named in 1943 after Rustam Mustafayev, a leading Azerbaijani theatre artist and stage designer.
Photo: Urek Meniashvili, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Free-standing concrete telecommunications tower in Azerbaijan
A free-standing concrete telecommunications tower in Baku, built in 1996. At 310 metres it is Azerbaijan's second-tallest structure, after the chimneys of the Azerbaijan Thermal Power Plant, and the tallest reinforced concrete building in the Caucasus.
Photo: Interfase, CC BY-SA 4.0
Opera house in Baku
Baku's opera house, once called the Mailov Theatre, which the Armenian architect Nikolai Bayev designed in 1911 for Daniel Mailov, an Armenian magnate and one of the Mailov brothers.
Photo: Sefer azeri, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Office, residential, hotel, shopping mall in Baku, Azerbaijan
Three skyscrapers in Baku. Their main contractor, Dia Holdings, belongs to two brothers linked with the network of offshore companies of Azerbaijan's ruling Aliyev family.
Photo: Francisco Anzola, CC BY 3.0
Palace in Azerbaijan
A historic monument in Shaki, in northwestern Azerbaijan, once the summer home of the Shaki khans, built in 1797 under Muhammad Husayn Khan Mushtaq.
Photo: Ludvig14, CC BY-SA 4.0
Officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, a landlocked country where Eastern Europe and Western Asia meet, in the South Caucasus. The Caspian Sea lies on its east; on land it borders Dagestan, a republic of Russia, to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey on its western side, and Iran along the south. Baku is its capital and largest city.
Officially The Republic of Azerbaijan. Known locally as Azərbaycan.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Mount Bazardüzü, Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve, Shamakhy Astrophysical Observatory and Palace of the Shirvanshahs and others. Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Azerbaijan that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
1 of the 10 in this guide: Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve. That is not the full count for Azerbaijan, only the listed sites that made this guide.
Azerbaijani. The currency is AZN.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $2.94 for 1GB per day. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
Bakcell and Azercell. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to Bakcell and Azercell once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB per day Cheapest | 1 GB | 1 day | $2.94 | Get it → |
| 1GB for 7 days | 1 GB | 7 days | $3.11 | Get it → |
| 1GB per day | 1 GB | 1 day | $3.72 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $5.37 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $7.07 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $8.29 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
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