Yes. Azerbaijan is easy to backpack on your own, with cheap buses from Baku to every main town and a decent hostel scene in the capital, though English thins out quickly once you leave Baku.
Most travelers arrive by air at Baku on an e-visa applied for online, since road borders have stayed closed to regular travelers for years and the only overland link is the overnight train from Tbilisi. Hostel dorms in
Baku cost 15 to 30 AZN (US$9 to 18), and village homestays in places like
Khinalug run 30 to 50 AZN (US$18 to 30) with meals. Buses to
Quba take 2.5 to 3 hours for 4 to 6 AZN. Russian is widely understood, and a translation app covers the rest.
Ten days is the right amount for a first trip to Azerbaijan, enough for Baku plus the northern mountains and Shaki without constant bus days.
With 5 days, stay in
Baku and do day trips to
Gobustan and the Absheron beaches. With 10 days, add 3 nights in
Quba for
Khinalug and Laza, a night in
Lahij and 2 nights in
Shaki (5 hours from Baku by bus). With 15 days, you can add
Gabala,
Ganja and
Goygol National Park. The exclave of
Nakhchivan needs a flight from Baku of about 1 hour 10 minutes, plus 2 to 3 extra days.
Yes, you can cover nearly all of Azerbaijan without a car, using intercity buses, marshrutkas, one main train line and shared taxis for the mountain villages.
From Baku International Bus Terminal, buses reach
Quba in 2.5 to 3 hours,
Shaki in about 5 hours and
Ganja in 5 to 6 hours, with fares mostly between 5 and 12 AZN (US$3 to 7). Trains also link Baku and Ganja. Shared taxis climb from Quba to
Khinalug in about 1.5 hours and from Ismayilli to
Lahij in about an hour. A short taxi ride fills the gaps, such as the mud volcanoes near Gobustan or the road to Laza.
The must-visits in Azerbaijan are the Walled City of Baku, Gobustan’s rock carvings, the mountain village of Khinalug and the old silk-road town of Shaki.
Give
Baku 2 to 3 days for the old town, the
Heydar Aliyev Center and the Carpet Museum.
Gobustan National Park is a half-day trip about 60 km south.
Khinalug sits at roughly 2,300 meters, about 1.5 hours above
Quba, and is best with a homestay night.
Shaki, 5 hours from Baku, has the painted Palace of the Shaki Khans. If you have more time,
Ganja and nearby
Goygol lake round out the west.
If you are short on time in Azerbaijan, skip the resort side of Gabala, the Naftalan oil spa and the exclave of Nakhchivan, and keep your days for Baku, the mountains and Shaki.
Gabala is pleasant, but its amusement park and resorts duplicate what you get on a quick stop between Lahij and
Shaki.
Naftalan is a fun oddity, yet it means a full day out of
Ganja.
Nakhchivan requires a flight and 2 to 3 days. In
Baku, the Ferris wheel and Absheron beaches can go if you only have 2 days. The south around
Lankaran is also skippable, being 4 hours from the capital in the opposite direction from the mountains.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Azerbaijan in seconds. Try it out!
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