why azerbaijan should be your next international adventure

Most people planning an international trip from India default to the same shortlist. Thailand, Dubai, Europe, maybe Maldives. Azerbaijan doesn't appear on that list yet, which is exactly why it should. The country sits at the intersection of Europe and Asia, the Caucasus Mountains on one side and the Caspian Sea on the other, with a capital city that looks like Paris from certain angles and feels like nowhere else from all of them. Why Azerbaijan should be your next international adventure is a question that answers itself the moment you land in Baku and realise the rest of the world hasn't found this place yet.

Baku, The City That Shouldn't Exist and Does

The old city, İçərişəhər, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Medieval walls, the Maiden Tower that has been standing since the 12th century, the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, the narrow lanes that the old Silk Road city was built around. Walk through it in the morning before the tours arrive and the specific quality of a walled medieval city that is still a living neighbourhood rather than a preserved museum is immediately apparent.

Ten minutes from the old city, the Flame Towers rise above the Baku Boulevard on the Caspian waterfront, the three glass towers shaped like flames that illuminate the city's skyline at night. The juxtaposition of the 12th century and the 21st sitting within walking distance of each other is the specific Baku experience that photographs attempt and don't fully capture.

The Caspian waterfront boulevard runs for several kilometres along the seafront, the promenade, the parks, the specific quality of a city that has invested in its public spaces in a way that rewards walking slowly rather than rushing between attractions.

Beyond Baku, What Azerbaijan Should Be Your Next International Adventure For

• The Gobustan National Park is 65 kilometres from Baku. Mud volcanoes, Azerbaijan has more than any other country in the world,  bubbling quietly in a landscape that looks like the surface of another planet. The ancient rock carvings at Gobustan, some dating back 40,000 years, sit alongside the mud volcano landscape in a combination that exists nowhere else.
• The Shahdag Mountain Resort in the Greater Caucasus is the skiing and mountain destination that most international visitors don't know Azerbaijan has. Snowfall between December and March, cable cars, the mountain scenery that rivals the European Alps at a fraction of the cost and without the crowds. The summer version of Shahdag, the hiking, the mountain air, the specific green of the Caucasus range in July,  is a different destination from the winter one and equally worth the journey.
• Sheki in the northwest is the historic Silk Road city that the serious Azerbaijan traveller makes the effort to reach. The Sheki Khans' Palace, the 18th-century summer palace with the painted walls and the stained glass windows, is one of the more extraordinary interiors in the region. The traditional piti, the local lamb and chickpea stew cooked in individual clay pots, is the specific meal worth eating in Sheki rather than in Baku.
• The Caucasus Mountains accessible from the village of Lahij, a traditional copper artisan village where the craft has been practiced in the same stone-paved lanes for centuries. The drive from Baku through the mountain landscape is the experience as much as the destination.

Azerbaijan Should Be Your Next International Adventure: Practical Information

Indian passport holders receive visa-free access to Azerbaijan, the e-visa process takes under three days and costs approximately $23. Direct flights from Delhi, Mumbai, and other major Indian cities to Baku run regularly through multiple carriers. The time zone difference is minimal. The cost of travel, accommodation, food, transport, is significantly lower than Western European destinations of comparable cultural richness.

The currency is the Azerbaijani manat. Cash is useful in smaller cities and villages. The food is the specific discovery most Indian visitors make and don't expect, the kebabs, the dolma, the fresh pomegranate that appears in sauces and juices throughout the country, the walnut-based dishes that the Caucasian cuisine produces.

Gaia Escapes

Azerbaijan should be your next international adventure, and Gaia Escapes is the travel company that makes the planning as straightforward as the destination deserves. Gaia Escapes specialises in curated international travel experiences that go beyond the standard itinerary, the kind of trip that covers Baku's old city and the Gobustan mud volcanoes and the Sheki palace and the Caucasus mountain villages in a single well-designed journey. Why Azerbaijan should be your next international adventure is one question. How to do it properly is another. Gaia Escapes answers the second one.