Azerbaijan - Independent travel in Central Asia

Ganja - nice region to visit in Azerbaijan

StranNickII — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:59:20 +0000

We’ve been to Ganja twice, and still had things left to see). Of the places I personally visited, I really liked the direction toward Goygol — on the way it’s worth stopping by the German quarter, it’s quite atmospheric in itself, there you should visit the Lutheran church, the wine cellar, and most importantly — the Viktor Klein Museum! обязательно with a guide. The bureau is located opposite the church, but you’ll need a translator. In Ganja in general there are far fewer people who speak Russian. We were lucky to get an amazing bureau employee Murad, but we had a translator–taxi driver with us. The lake was already accessible in May, but Maralgol was closed, we only managed to get there the following year in summer. Be sure to visit the Gates of Ganja and the Mausoleum of Nizami. It’s free, but the staff there are so… passionate about what they do, they really зарядят you with their love for the city). Sheki is also great, especially the caravanserai, there’s a shop with real scarves at the silk factory, the quality is better than what we bought in Baku.

3 Days in Baku: Budget, Food Spots, and Honest Impressions

NatSelezneva — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 08:52:40 +0000

We flew to Baku as a couple for three days — absolutely loved the city: clean, well-maintained, with beautiful architecture.

Upon arrival, we withdrew manats from an ATM (very convenient — no need to run around looking for exchange offices), and right away bought a Baku Card, topped it up with 10 manats (2 for the card itself and 8 for the balance).

We stayed at Travel Inn Hostel in a room with a private bathroom — 97 manats (about $57 USD) for 3 nights. Excellent location, clean and comfortable. When I was searching for accommodation, I was surprised that on Booking most hotels had wonderful reviews, while on Google Maps it looked grim. Many places ask for your Booking reservation, check the PIN code, and then cancel the booking so guests can’t leave negative reviews (and apparently there are reasons for those). I was worried the same thing would happen to us, but no — everything was fine.

We visited the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum — a great exhibition, we really enjoyed wandering around. We also went to the Museum of Miniature Books inside the fortress — a small space, but with many interesting экземпляars. Took the funicular up (you can’t pay with the Baku Card, cash only — 1 manat, about $0.60 USD per person one way). Walked to the Heydar Aliyev Center — the building is very impressive, though we didn’t go to the exhibitions. Walked around at night, didn’t notice any safety issues.

Places we visited:

Qaynana — too pretentious, and the food was average (we had saj and two Turkish coffees, 49.5 manats — about $29 USD total).
La Quzu — not bad, tasty dolma, kurze, tava-kebab (all of the above plus 2 beers — 55 manats, about $32 USD).
Went twice to Borani. Liked the branch near Sahil more, slightly less the one on Nizami. First time ordered 3 dishes + 2 beers — 37.90 manats (about $22 USD), second time 2 dishes and 2 glasses of pomegranate wine — 43.50 manats (about $26 USD).
Liked Anadolu the most — also went twice. Pide, qutabs, barberry soup and a teapot of tea — 29.40 manats (about $17 USD). Second time: kurze, qutabs, beyti-lyulya, 2 lemonades — 42 manats (about $25 USD).
Stopped by Bir-İki Doner — 2 beef doners and 2 ayrans for 16.5 manats (about $10 USD), very tasty and prepared quickly.
Wanted to have lunch at Xezer on Aziz Aliyev Street, but didn’t. Right from the entrance there was some suffocating smell of garlic and something stale, the food photos in the menu looked like a cheap cafeteria — very unpleasant place, no desire to order anything.

For takeaway, bought baklava from Ramizoglu and shekerbura from Azza — highly recommended.

In three days we spent 500 manats (about $295 USD), including the hostel payment. Overall, it turned out to be quite budget-friendly.

My short trip to Azerbaijan

Christina — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 07:25:01 +0000

Hi everyone! I just want to share my impressions 🙂 We spent only one day in Baku and were absolutely delighted. Clean, beautiful, well cared for, and before the New Year it’s also very festive 🙂 But most of all we loved the people — very polite, helpful, and friendly.

We used Bolt and Maxim taxis to and from the airport (via the apps).

In the area around the Hazz Hotel they are doing sidewalk construction, so there’s dirt and mud everywhere, it’s almost impossible to walk. The hotel itself, by the way, is not bad, with a good location. But in some places it needs minor repairs (glue the wallpaper, whitewash the ceiling, etc.).

We flew with AZAL for the first time. Wonderful planes, service, and food 😁

Overall, we really liked Baku and decided to come back later for a longer stay.