Destination: Azerbaijan

Odyssey travels by coach and occasionally uses local transport, including trains and ferries. Specifics are always outlined in your tour itinerary. Buses are widely available, with regular services running between Baku and most major towns. Taxis are also commonplace, and are fairly cheap. Train services can be somewhat slow, though they are relatively inexpensive.

In major cities, Odyssey stays in centrally located 3-4 star hotels, with easy access to public transport. In smaller towns or rural areas, we usually stay in family-run hotels or guesthouses. On our longstay tours, during which you spend the length of the tour in a single location, we use serviced apartments.

Odyssey always engages local guides with regional knowledge to ensure an authentic experience during which you can learn as much as possible about the history and culture of places you visit.

Azerbaijan covers an area of 86,600 square kilometres. Azerbaijan is a mountainous country, with the Caucasus and the Less Caucasus mountain ranges dominating the northern and western areas of the country respectively. The south-central and eastern portions of the country flatten out into flood plain, ending at the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan experiences hot summers and cold winters, with the mountainous regions experiencing especially cold temperatures during winter. Depending on when you intend to travel, check the weather reports and dress accordingly.

Azerbaijan has 2 properties inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites List, with another 10 on the Tentative List. You can view the official list of the sites here (https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/az). The current World Heritage Sites in Azerbaijan include:

Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, featuring thousands of elaborate rock carvings dating back millenia

Walled City of Baku, filled with historic buildings and monuments including the Maiden Tower, a 12th-century monument of national significance

As a Muslim majority country, important occasions on the Islamic calendar are observed and commemorated with several festivals across the year. Ramazan Bayram (Ramadan) is a month of fasting, the end of which is observed with prayers at mosques and donations to charities, then celebrated with families gathering to exchange gifts and sweets. Secular occasions include National Salvation Day, commemorating the 1993 election of former president Heydar Aliyev, and Republic Day, which celebrates the founding of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in 1918. If you’re a jazz enthusiast, be sure to check out the International Baku Jazz Festival, which brings jazz musicians from all over the country and across the world for a week of live jazz performances.

Splendid Azerbaijan: The History and Culture of the Land, by Glen Alberto Salazar
Solar Plexus: A Baku Saga in Four Parts, by Rustam Ibragimbekov
Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter’s Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic, by Thomas Goltz
Classic Poetry of Azerbaijan: An Anthology
Book, by Paul Smith

The culinary traditions of the Caucasus region carry over into the food of Azerbaijan. Like elsewhere in the Caucasus, dolma (minced meat, herbs and spices wrapped up in cabbage leaves) and plov (a dish made of rice, meat, vegetables, and herbs) are widely popular in Azerbaijan. Nuts and herbs are commonly used to add flavour and texture to many Azerbaijani dishes, such as lavangi (chicken stuffed with walnuts and herbs) and kufta bozbash (a soup made from meatballs, potatoes, peas, saffron and tumeric). Nuts are especially used in desserts, with healthy amounts used in making shekerbura (a sweet patty filled with ground nuts mixed with sugar) and pakhlava (a pastry made with alternating layers of filo and chopped nuts and honey).

Black tea is commonly served after a meal, and is often served with sugar, lemon, or honey as a sweetener. Other traditional beverages in Azerbaijan include sherbet (made from sugar, lemon, saffron, mint, basil, and fruit) and aryan (a savoury drink made from yogurt mixed with salt and water).

Generally speaking, Azerbaijan is a safe country to travel in; however, it is advised to avoid travelling to the either the Nagorno-Karabakh region or the Armenia-Azerbaijan border due to the risk of armed conflict in these areas.

Whenever you travel overseas, it’s always wise to take an appropriate travel adaptor. Azerbaijan’s electricity supply runs at 220V and 50Hz. Azerbaijan uses Type C and Type F electric plugs, so make sure you have the right travel adaptor with you.