Solo travel is one of the best ways to see Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. This fascinating city barely registers on most travel radars, and there are plenty of reasons, from food to history, to visit Baku.
Here is everything you need to know for a solo trip to Baku, complete with tips getting around, expenses, safety and what to do:
Practical Information for Solo Travel in Baku
Contents
Baku, Azerbaijan
Baku is a rapidly developing city. Azerbaijan is in the Caucasus region of Eurasia, with the Caspian Sea to the east, Iran bordering to the south and Armenia, Georgia and Russia forming borders to the north and west.
Travel to Baku primarily consists of foreigners visiting for work, with major international petroleum companies maintaining a presence in the area. The country has massive natural gas reserves that have fueled a boom in the capital city.
Solo travel to Baku and the rest of Azerbaijan has increased in recent years, with the city seeing an influx of independent travelers. Outside of Baku, the tourism industry in Azerbaijan remains in infancy. There is a lot of nature to enjoy, tons of great food and plenty of picturesque villages, but not a lot to offer for most tourists.
Heydar Aliyev International Airport
Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport is Azerbaijan’s gateway of travel to the world. The airport is nice, shiny and new.
Entrance to Azerbaijan through Baku International Airport is fairly simple for solo travel. The process begins online, where you apply and pay ($25) for a visa. It takes about a week for confirmation. Upon arrival in Baku, immigration officials really have one concern: whether or not you’ve been to Armenia. After answering no, the official flipped through my passport to confirm, took my photo and fingerprints, then sent me on my way. Quick and simple.
Make sure to have a copy of your hotel booking. This is a visa requirement.
Before leaving the secure area, there is an ATM down the escalators, in the corner on the ground floor.
Transportation to the city is easy. Solo travel on a budget in Azerbaijan will require a lot of public transportation, and the Airport Express to Baku city center is a deal.
DO NOT take a taxi. Prices for taxis are absolutely insulting. I was quoted no less than the equivalent of $50 for an official taxi to the city. Prices were not negotiable. This is legal robbery of unsuspecting visitors.
Instead, the Airport Express stops directly in front of the terminal. Tickets for the bus can be purchased at a small kiosk (cash only), outside the doors and next to a coffee stand. The bus departs every 30 minutes, heading to the city center with one stop along the way. The bus is air conditioned, clean and comfortable.
The Airport Express costs about 2 Azerbaijani manat (AZN). That’s barely more than $1. Don’t waste money on a taxi.
The bus unloads in the city center, at 28 May metro station, where you can take a subway, walk or find a more affordable taxi to your destination.
Baku, Azerbaijan Solo Travel Costs
While the rest of Azerbaijan lags behind, Baku is as incredibly expensive place to live, evidence by the designer shops and fancy high rise condominiums popping up across the city.
For travelers, Baku isn’t the cheapest destination, but travel to “Little Dubai” can be done on a budget. There is not an abundance of hostels and guesthouses in the city center. Most foreigners, likely in Azerbaijan for business, wind up in one of the many luxury hotels of Baku.
Of the limited options available, travelers can expect to pay a per night average of 30-40 AZN (about $20 USD) on the low end. A room with air conditioning, which is not normally needed in Baku, will cost more.
However, in 2018, Baku experienced one of the hottest summers on record, with temperatures 20 degrees (Farenheit) above average. The surge in power demands caused massive blackouts in Baku and across Azerbaijan, even leading to the subway system losing power and shutting down.
Ride the Subways
Solo travel in Azerbaijan eventually leads to the subway in Baku. The Baku Metro is the best method for getting around the city. Riding on the Soviet-era subway trains is an uncomfortable, but fun ride. The trains are only about 50 years old, but you can feel every jolt, bolt, twist and turn as they blaze beneath the streets. Perhaps it is the rickety, old cars, but the Baku Metro feels faster than any other subway in my travel experiences.
Seriously, hold on.
The Baku Metro is typical of Soviet metro systems. Like others, it is incredibly far below city streets, effectively doubling as a bomb shelter. And it is beautiful. Despite everything else, the Soviets deserve credit for their subway systems. The detail and intricate design put into each station is impressive. There are also reminders on the walls of lessons learned about propaganda and communism, but that topic isn’t exactly cheerful.
The Baku Metro is good news for a travel budget. One ride on the subway is 0.2 AZN. A reloadable card is required, which costs 2 AZN. The card plus five rides will cost a mere 3 AZN. That’s less than $2 USD! Buses are even cheaper, making public transportation the easy choice for solo travel in Baku.
English is sparse in Baku, so plan your routes and know your stops before setting out for the day.
Solo travel in Azerbaijan is a thrill, but easy in Baku. Free from the constraints of prearranged group travel buses, solo travelers are able to go where they please on the speedy trains of Baku.
Safety in Baku
When hearing of solo travel to Baku, most people express confusion and concern that anyone would travel to Azerbaijan. In fact, many westerners are entirely unaware that Azerbaijan is a country.
That’s okay, though. What people lack in awareness of Baku is simply a better opportunity for off-the-beaten-path solo travel. With Baku off of most travel radars, the worry is that a solo traveler could be in danger in Azerbaijan.
Thankfully, there is no need to fear for safety in Baku. As long as you aren’t Armenian, Azerbaijan is a safe country. The two countries aren’t exactly best buds, and travel across the border is practically impossible.
Locals in Baku are out and about enjoying the city’s parks and are helpful to tourists. Any notion of being unwelcome is not apparent.
For visitors to Baku, the city is safe. Walking the wide, shiny promenades in the city center, it’s hard to imagine feeling any worry. Bakuvians enjoy their city and do not want any disturbance of the peace. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani government has worked hard – and done a great job – to eliminate any extremist groups that may hinder progress and harm a good reputation of safety.
How to Dress in Baku
The only area tourists should exercise caution in Azerbaijan is with clothing. Unlike some nearby Muslim nations, women in Azerbaijan dress freely. Baku is more liberal than the rest of the country, with women enjoying high fashion and dressing to impress.
Western women may encounter staring. Lots of uncomfortable staring. When it is warm out, it is tempting to wear a tank top and shorts, a skirt or something cooler. This is fine in Baku, and your safety is not at risk, but the stares can be uncomfortable. It is best to move along and ignore the onlookers.
For men, dress in Azerbaijan is peculiar. Men in several countries in the world wear long pants year-round. In Azerbaijan, men wearing shorts is particularly taboo. A few government officials have been outspoken about the issue. There are men in Baku bold enough to wear shorts, but not many.
Tourists get a pass on wearing shorts more than locals in Baku, but I recommend blending in as much as possible for solo travel anywhere.
Onward Solo Travel from Baku
Onward travel from Baku, heading elsewhere in Azerbaijan, is a simple, yet complex affair for solo travelers. If you’re going back to the airport, simply retrace your steps, starting where the Airport Express drops off at 28 May station. If further travel is via bus, travelers need to go to the main bus station.
The bus station is easy to reach from the Baku Metro. Take the Green Line from 28 May Station to Memar Əcəmi Station. There, switch to the Purple Line to Avtovağzal, which is one stop away. Avtovağzal means “bus station,” and that’s where you want to go.
Navigating the Baku bus station can be a headache for solo travelers that don’t speak the language. Hopefully for you, my headache will help you avoid the same frustration.
Tickets can be purchased at the station, inside in the back of the building. On the 3rd level. The back of the building appears empty, but there will be a few ticket windows open. Say the name of your destination and the employees will direct you to the appropriate window.
This doesn’t sound complicated, but in a massive, four-story international bus station with hundreds of shops – and did I mention no one speaks any English? – finding the right ticket window can be a nightmare. Get there early and be patient. Also, good luck.
What to See & Do in Baku
Gobustan Petroglyphs
Gobustan is a site of prehistoric petroglyphs dating back thousands of years. The rock carvings include Viking ships, Roman markings, as well as depictions thousands of years older.
The visitor center and museum at this UNESCO-designated site is informative, interesting and modern. Entrance is cheap, at 5 AZN.
There are thousands of carvings spread out among the barren rocks, with paths leading around many of them. However, the carvings are underwhelming. Truthfully, pictures are sufficient. Sure, the carvings are interesting and anthropologically important, but they’re much smaller than images suggest. It’s fairly difficult to even get a decent photograph without a high-powered lens.
Consider that the drive to Gobustan takes at least an hour and hiring a car is the only practical option. Time is better spent in Baku for most tourists. If you have a spare day and anthropology excites you, wandering Gobustan for a few hours is the perfect activity.
Mud Volcanoes of Gobustan
If Gobustan is alluring, make sure to save time for a more interesting site nearby. Also in the Gobustan National Park are the famous mud volcanoes. The area is home to nearly half of the world’s mud volcanoes.
If you’re thinking massive mountains spewing mud, scale down your expectations. Mud volcanoes are large mounds in a geothermally active area. Mud bubbles up and slowly oozes out, over time building up to these mini “volcanoes.”
The Gobustan mud volcanoes are a fascinating thing to see in Azerbaijan, but require a tedious journey from Baku that makes solo travel to the spot almost impossible for non-locals. Theoretically, it is possible to catch a bus to the nearest town. From there, drivers may or may not be hanging out by the road waiting for passengers. But the bus takes a long time and runs inconsistently.
The route to the mud volcanoes – it is not a road – winds along a dusty, bumpy path. Drivers have a deep trust in their cars, careless and fearless of the terrain. They drive straight through bumps and obstacles at a blistering pace in their old Soviet jalopies. As for off-roading in an old Soviet Lada, it’s pretty fun. Wear sunglasses and bring a cloth, though. It’s dusty.
The site is not developed – it’s just there. On the day I visited the mud volcanoes, there were no other tourists in sight. A few locals were soaking in one of the bubbling pits of mud, which is supposedly therapeutic.
The Azerbaijan mud volcanoes are pretty cool, but it is best to think twice about making the solo travel venture to Gobustan from Baku. It’s a long way out for a short wander. Although the next time I visit Baku, I plan to have a mud soak of my own.
Ateshgah of Baku
The Ateshgah of Baku is a temple that has been home to fire-worshiping Hindus, Sikhs and Zoroastrians. The current complex is a few hundred years old, but there is evidence of use going back over one thousand years.
The temple is centered around a flame in the center that burned naturally from gas leaks for hundreds of years. The original flame finally burned out and the current flame is man-made, but the temple is still authentic.
The trip out to Ateshgah of Baku is like any solo travel in Azerbaijan – crowded buses and a lot of guessing, traveling on an indirect route to finally reach the destination.
With the cheap transportation mentioned above, and an admission cost of only 4 AZN, the Ateshgah of Baku is a great budget activity for a day. The best part of visiting the Ateshgah of Baku is seeing a side of the city few other tourists ever will. Bus 184 from Koroğlu metro station will (eventually) get you to the Fire Temple.
Yanar Dag
Yanar Dag is a another fiery attraction outside of Baku. This is an open, 50-foot-long flame coming out of the ground. There’s so much natural gas in Baku that it is literally leaking out of the ground. At some point, this gas leak ignited and has been burning for years.
Why Yanar Dag is often recommended to tourists is beyond me. It’s certainly intriguing, but to spend several hours bussing around Baku only to come upon a little bit of fire is a colossal waste of time.
The suburbs and towns the bus passes through are very different from the city. For window-watchers like myself, that is the cool part of this excursion. However, unless you are in need of some kind of solo travel day-challenge of navigation, stay in Baku.
Yanar Dag, it’s a fire. See the picture above. Save the time.
Exploring Old City Baku
Old City Baku is a real-life postcard before your eyes. The tiny, walled Old City is another UNESCO-designated site travelers can check off the list. The various buildings range from a few hundred to a thousand years old.
Among the narrow, winding streets of Old City Baku are mosques, museums, a palace and the iconic 12th century Maiden Tower.
The Old City may be small, but it is worth spending at least a day wandering the area. Oddly, the streets are calm and quiet, while thousands of people walk the streets beyond the walls. There are several shops for tourists as well, selling everything from gaudy t-shirts to beautiful handmade rugs.
Restaurants in the Old City range from touristy Italian to fast food. There are a few restaurants serving local food, too. The prices are inflated, owing to the location, but the food is fantastic and is a great starting point for a curious eater.
Shopping in Baku
Travelers in search of cool trinkets and souvenirs will find plenty in the shops around Old City Baku. The rugs are a tempting spoil for any traveler to the region. But before you go and drop serious cash on an antique rug, buyer beware.
There are strict laws regulating the purchase of rugs. Souvenir rugs will (probably) cause no issue. But authentic, especially antique, rugs are not easily (read: legally) transported. Old rugs that are eligible for tourist export are subject to serious taxes, sometimes effectively doubling the price. If you’re caught trying to bring an antique rug out of the country, expect a lot of grief, including fines, visa revocation and possibly criminal charges.
Oh, and locals may ignore the laws and sell rugs anyway. Customs officials will not be sympathetic to your plight, and trouble will ensue.
The tip: when in Baku, travel light and leave the rugs behind.
Eating Cheap in Baku
Baku is not an expensive city. Aside from the accommodation costs mentioned above, solo travel to Baku can be done on a budget. Food is not expensive, either.
There is a growing industry of fine dining and expensive restaurants in Baku, but you can still eat great food elsewhere. Piti, a simple mutton and vegetable soup, is an Azerbaijani national treasure that is worth eating at least once. Other common foods include various lamb dishes, dushbara (Azerbaijani dumplings), an assortment of yogurt-based dishes and great pastries.
If you’re looking for something quick and cheap, there are few places in the world with as many shawarma stands and shops as Baku. In Baku and the greater region, for any sort of solo travel on a budget, shawarma is your best friend. They do it right in Azerbaijan. Ayran, a popular salty yogurt beverage in the wide world of shawarma, is always the perfect pairing.
Local bakeries are also a great source of cheap food. Freshness is the norm in Baku, and you can grab a few pastries to eat for the day for a few manat.
Finding cheap food is an important part of travel, and Baku is an easy place to turn your cash into plenty of delicious local food.
Azerbaijani Beer & Cheese
Azerbaijanis love their beer and consume more booze per capita than any other Muslim country in the world. (Technically, Kazakhstan consumes slightly more, but it has a considerable population of non-Muslims.) Xirdalan, the de facto national beer of Azerbaijan, is a drinkable brew readily available in Baku. Xirdalan is a soothing relief from the dry, windy air.
Azerbaijanis eat cheese when they drink beer. The cheese is braided when made and served in strings. The chewy cheese comes in long, thin strings and has a slight smokiness to accompany the high saltiness. It may not be endemic to Azerbaijan, but it pairs perfectly with beer. And locals eat it, so join in!
The best part about beer in Baku is that it is really cheap. A giant mug of that delicious ice cold golden nectar from the gods can be yours for 1-2 AZN, about a dollar.
Baku is a destination barely on the radar of most tourists. Azerbaijan is often lumped in with the turmoil of surrounding areas, but the country is peaceful and safe. Foreigners are welcome and locals in Baku are receptive to tourists.
Azerbaijan is changing, and Baku is at the forefront. Head-turning skyscrapers are just the beginning. Fortunately, Baku has a strong hold on its culture and visitors can enjoy the best of the city’s food and culture.
Despite a few expensive aspects of visiting Azerbaijan, it is generally an affordable destination, and solo travel in Baku is a wonderful experience.
Hey I just wanted to say that I saw your recent collab on The Ninja Gypsy’s blog and just wanted to say that I am so glad to see other bloggers have the same positive sentiments about this country that I do! I’ve visited four times myself and fallen in love a little more each time. This country truly is one of the most underrated in the world.
Hey, thanks for checking it out! I couldn’t agree more. It’s a beautiful country and definitely underrated. Four times? That’s awesome! I can’t wait to go back myself.