Baku, Gobustan, Lankaran and Gabala: 5-day sightseeing tour

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day 1

   Arrival in Baku, meeting at the airport and transfer to the hotel. After check-in, you have free time, which you can use at your own discretion: walk along Nizami Street, go down to the Seaside Boulevard, ride a pleasure boat on Baku Bay — this is available in season — try Azerbaijani tea with local sweets. You can look into the Deniz Mall shopping center or Crescent Mall.

2. Day 2

   The most urban day of the trip, entirely on foot. Breakfast can become a separate event: instead of the usual hotel one, a traditional meal awaits you in a restaurant — with scrambled eggs, homemade butter, cheeses, honey and tandoor bread, but such an option is only in the premium tariff; in the other packages breakfast takes place at the hotel. Then a long walk begins past the mansions of oil barons, palaces and buildings with rich facades. It is worth stopping separately at the National Museum of Azerbaijani Literature and the Ismailiyya Palace. Passing through the Philharmonic Garden, you enter the Old City — Icherisheher, where next to the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs mosques, old baths and caravanserais are crowded together. Lunch at the Kurban Said restaurant introduces you to dushbara and dolma, and the day ends with a walk along the Baku Boulevard past the Mugham Center and the Carpet Museum.

3. Day 3

   A day of travel to the south, the most saturated in distances. On the way to Lankaran you stop in Gobustan: a reserve with thousands of ancient petroglyphs and an interactive museum, and nearby is the tourist complex of mud volcanoes, which, according to the conclusions of NASA geologists, resemble the relief of Mars. Then the subtropics begin: at the Citrus Valley farm the hostess will tell about citrus cultivation, and you can try or buy oranges, lemons, tangerines, kiwis and feijoas — fruit picking is available in season. Lunch in village style introduces you to levengi, and after it — Lankaran with its fortress, the Kichik Bazar mosque and the Mirakhmad Khan Palace. The day ends with Hirkan National Park with Lake Khanbulan, where ancient flora and fauna have been preserved.

4. Day 4

   The northwestern direction, a day in Gabala and its surroundings. In the village of Nij lives the largest community of Udis — a people speaking an endangered language. Here you will see the Albanian-Udi Church of Jotari Saint Eliseus and the Church of the Holy Mother of God Mary (Bulun). Lunch takes place in the Udi Ocaghi museum-restaurant with Udi cuisine — goz dolmasi and sweet uchgulag. After lunch — the SAVALAN winery: a tour of the vineyards, an introduction to production and a tasting with a professional sommelier, as well as the Wine Museum with the largest wooden barrel in the world. In the basic tariff, entry to the winery and wine tasting with snacks are for an additional fee; in the comfort and premium tariffs the tasting is included in the price: 3 or 6 types of wine with a cheese or cheese and meat plate.

5. Day 5

   Breakfast at the hotel and free time before departure. Then check-out from the hotel and transfer to the airport with a flight home. This is a day without excursions — time to pack up and say goodbye to the city.