About
|
Formal Name |
Republic of Azerbaijan |
|
Location of Azerbaijan |
Europe, Asia |
|
Capital |
Baku |
|
Demonym |
Azerbaijani |
|
Area |
86,600 km2 (33,400 sq mi) |
|
Land Boundaries |
Total: 2657,1km, Land Borders: Russia (390km), Georgia (480km), Iran (765km), Armenia (1007,1km) and Turkey (15km) |
|
Population |
9.9 Million |
|
Ethnic Groups |
Azerbaijani, Lezgian, Armenian, Russian |
|
Languages |
Azerbaijani & Lezgian |
|
Administrative and Territorial Structure |
59 districts, 11 cities, 1 autonomous republic (7 Districts & 1 City). Azerbaijan is subdivided into 9 regions. |
|
Religion |
Islam (Shia Muslims), Christianity |
|
Currency |
Manat (AZN) |
|
Time Zone |
UTC + 4 (AZT) |
|
Calling Code |
+994 |
|
Internet TLD |
.az |
|
Drives On |
Right Side |
|
Visa on Arrival |
No |
|
Major Cities |
Ganja, Sumgait, Mingechevir, Lankaran, Agdam, Khachmaz, Quba, Shamakhi |
Azerbaijan is a country located in Eurasia region. It is situated in Caucasus region of Eurasia. Azerbaijan Geography is dominated by three physical features. First is Caspian Sea in the east, second is Greater Caucasus mountain range in the north and third is extensive flatland in the centre of Azerbaijan. Caspian Sea’s shoreline forms a natural boundary for the country in the east. Azerbaijan is a small country in size with total area of 86,600 Sq. KM only. In the east Azerbaijan borders the Caspian Sea, Georgia and Russia to the north, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the southwest and west. Baku is the capital city of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan Nature is influenced by the fact that majority of the country is surrounded by mountains except its eastern part Caspian shoreline and some other areas. So you can see lot of mountain landscapes in Azerbaijan. The greater Caucasus mountain range is Azerbaijan’s highest elevation and Bazardyuze Dagi rising to the height of 4,485 m is the highest peak in the country.
Climate and Weather in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan Climate varies. It has subtropical and humid climate in the southeast and subtropical and dry climate in central and eastern regions. The climatological diversity of Azerbaijan is mainly contributed by the complicated geographical location and landscape of the country, the proximity of Caspian Sea, Sun’s radiation effect and air masses of different region. There are 9 climate patterns found in Azerbaijan out of 11 Koppen climate classifications. Central lowland of Azerbaijan has semi desert and dry steppe climate and south hills of the country are covered with mild, dry winters. Climate in Azerbaijan is generally warm in coastal region and temperature falls down in areas with proximity to mountains.
One can experience good Azerbaijan Weather during the months of May, June, July, August and September. During these months Azerbaijan has pleasant average temperatures. July and August are warmest month and January is the coolest. November is the wettest month and so it is not considered the best month for visiting the country.
History of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan History is such that it was under different empire’s rules for long periods and enjoyed only brief periods of independent statehood. Arabs arrived first into Azerbaijan in 7th century and they established Islam as the predominant religion in this land. Then in 11th century Seljuk Turks arrived and they made Turkish as the main language of the land. Later on Ottoman Turks and Iranians influenced Azerbaijan. This was followed by taking over Northern Azerbaijan by Russians in 1812 while southern part was still a province of Iran. Series of wars between Russia and Iran took place and Russia emerged victorious however this did not last for long as after the World War I in 1917, Azerbaijan got freedom as a result of Russia’s collapse.
History of Azerbaijan since 1917 saw prosperity for this young country. Oil exploration in Caspian Sea contributed heavily for generating huge wealth for the country. This period stayed for a while only and in 1920 Russians returned and they established Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Since then it struggled for freedom and got it only after Soviet Union collapsed. So, Azerbaijan History is interesting and one can see the struggle of the land to get freedom. It is a small land but rich with history.
Culture and Traditions in Azerbaijan
Though Azerbaijan is largely Muslim population yet it is very much secular society looking religion as a private matter. Azeri is the language of the country and Russian language is spoken widely here. Azerbaijan Culture received major influence of Iranian, Turkic and Caucasian heritage. No one can forget Russian influence on cultural development of the country. Having footprint of past Azerbaijan in modern times is very much influenced from western culture as well. Dance is a major part of its culture. There are several folk dances of Azerbaijani people which are quite old and melodious as well. Abayi, Agir Karadagi and Alcha Gulu are some names of local folk dances.
Azerbaijan Tradition is worth experiencing. They are welcoming people and they are quite artist as well. Carpet and textile making are ancient Azerbaijani crafts which flourished in the medieval period and they became popular in entire Asia and Europe. Azerbaijani Rugs are super example of their carpet weaving and Azerbaijani carpets and textiles have always been known for their rich vegetation patterns, depictions from the poetry of Nezami Ganjavi, and traditional themes. For a very long time Azerbaijan has been known as a center where large variety of crafts took place and that continue. Another example is miniature books incorporating elaborate calligraphy and illustrations.
Food and Cuisine in Azerbaijan
The Azerbaijani Cuisine has influences of the foods of different cultures for centuries. Even today once can find that cuisine of Azerbaijan has distinctive and unique features. Many Azerbaijani foods which are an integral part of the country can now be seen in the cuisines of other neighbouring cultures. For the Azerbaijan people, food is very significant part of their culture. Their foods and cuisine are deeply rooted in the history, traditions and values of the nation. Azerbaijan has 9 climate zones out of 11 in the world, which contributes heavily in making Azerbaijan a richly fertile land which in turn contributes in richness of cuisine of the country.
Azerbaijan Food is full of greens and vegetables and there is lot of varieties as well. Vegetables like aubergine, sweet pepper, spinach, cabbage, beet, onion, radish etc are used in variety of dishes. Rice and flour products are used in national cuisine. Fresh herbs also accompany main dishes quite often. Many of Azerbaijan national food items are made of lamb and poultry meat. Light snacks are also very much part of starters of meals. Black tea is the national beverage of Azerbaijan. This is taken after food is eaten and Black Tea is offered to guests as a welcome gesture also.
Azerbaijan’s state language belongs to Oguz sub-group of the south-west branch of Turkic language. The different dialects of modern Azerbaijani languages are Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern group.
• The most well-known of Azerbaijan’s burning mountains is Yanar Dag. It burns all year round due to natural gas escaping from the ground.
• Azerbaijan is the first country in the world to declare themselves Muslim democratic country with equal rights for women.
• Azerbaijan was the first country in the world to start organized oil drilling and around 2nd world war, produced 70% of the world’s oil supply.
• Azerbaijan is situated on the banks of Caspian Sea, which is the biggest lake in the world.
• Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion, was born in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, and attended chess school there.
• The national animal of Azerbaijan is the Karabakh Horse. They are famed for their speed and good temperament.
• The public transport is presented by Baku (Azerbaijan) metro and numerous minibuses. At any time of the day, you can use the services of private taxis, which will take you to the needed point in Azerbaijan.
• The first medical aid is usually free. There are also private paid medical clinics and services, doctors that can speak a foreign language. In the chemists’ there is a big choice of medicaments and most of them are open 24 hours with their ‘Aptek’ glow sign boards.
• The Gobustan Nature Park has been declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. As well as half the mud volcanoes in the world, it is also home to well preserved ancient rock art and carvings, and the unique “musical stones” known as Gaval Dashgot that gives a peek into the lives of the pre-historic inhabitants of Azerbaijan.
• People in Azerbaijan are genuinely surprised when you are trying to take pictures of something ugly, unfinished or poor. Seriously they can’t understand why don’t you shoot nice and shiny new government buildings!
• Azerbaijan is home to half of the world’s population of mud volcanoes, over 400 in fact.
Tourism
Azerbaijan Tourism
Azerbaijan, lies on oil-rich Caspian Sea, is also known as the ‘Land of Fire’ concluded as a puzzle of diversity and discrepancy. Azerbaijan was home to the first human beings on earth and the most ancient proto human habitation. The oldest discovered human remains was discovered here. Azerbaijan proclaimed independence in 1918 and has been the world's first democratic country and the first to grant equal political rights to women. The country has 3400 mud volcanoes and consists of various different landscapes. The population consists of various nationalities and ethnicities and has cosmopolitan cultures. It's the land of music and in 2003, Mugham, a form of classical poetry was recognized by UNESCO as masterpiece of aural and cultural heritage of humanity. People are friendly and fun loving. Azerbaijan has produced some of the greatest poets, scientists, musicians and is home to several UNESCO world heritage sites. With its rich culture and heritage, Azerbaijan attracts.
Baku is the capital and largest cosmopolitan city of Azerbaijan, politically, economically and culturally involved city. It is located 28 meters (92 ft.) below the sea level and on the shores of Caspian Sea, the largest salt water lake on the planet. Baku is surrounded by the semi deserts and mud volcanoes along with curios fire phenomena. Luscious orchards are backed by the Great Caucasus mountains are a breathtaking contrasts. This city is acclaimed for its archaic walled old city, contains the Palace of Shirvanshahs, royal complex and the Maiden Tower. To explore the magnificent view of the Baku city, you must visit Maiden Tower, majestic as well as mysterious monument. Baku Seaside Park, Boulevard, is the most attractive place for all who visit Baku. Alongside with historical monuments, modern Baku has gained new architecture and marvelous icons of engineering. The city skyline is filled with curvaceous glass buildings in between ancient and European modern architecture. One has to take a walk in the evening to see the fascinating lighting of the buildings which surely is commendable artwork.
Why not to travel to Azerbaijan? Pack your bags and fly to dredge up the Land of Fire with the impressive Azerbaijan Tour Packages. All the holiday packages to Azerbaijan will definitely give you some thrilling yet amazing memories to persist.
Get to know more About Azerbaijan: Dook Dossier 2017-2018
Attractions in Baku & Azerbaijan:
Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where past and present intricately intertwined, has three UNESCO world heritage sites alongside the most modern and futurist architecture. Below are some popular tourist attractions:
Old Baku City
Baku Boulevard
Azerbaijan Carpet Museum
National Museum of History of Azerbaijan
Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku
Absheron Peninsula
Nizami Street - Recreational and shopping Place
Ateshgah (Temple of Fire)
Yanardag (Burning Mountain)
Nohur Lake, Baku
Bibi Heybat Mosque
Highland Park
Gobustan Ancient Caves and Mud Volcanoes (UNESCO site)
National Flag Square
Ski Resort Day Excursions (Gabala & Shahdag)
Genjlik Mall
Boat Ride in Caspian Sea - The World's Biggest Lake
Travel Guide
Penny Wise Azerbaijan
|
Items |
Price in Manat |
Price in Dollars ($) |
|
Meal for 2, in mid range Restaurant, Three-course |
40 |
22.99 |
|
Combo Meal at McDonalds or Similar |
7 |
4.02 |
|
Domestic Beer (0.5 liter draught) |
2 |
1.15 |
|
Imported Beer (330 ml bottle) |
3.5 |
2.01 |
|
Cappuccino (regular) |
4 |
2.30 |
|
Coke/Pepsi (330 ml bottle) |
0.59 |
0.34 |
|
Water (330 ml bottle) |
0.33 |
0.19 |
|
Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) |
7 |
4.02 |
|
Pack of Cigarettes (Marlboro) |
4 |
2.30 |
|
Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) |
4 |
2.30 |
|
Taxi 1km (Normal Tariff) |
0.7 |
0.40 |
|
Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) |
3 |
1.72 |
* Prices are our approximation and may vary slightly.
* Prices are market prices of articles and may vary at restaurants and hotels.
Azerbaijan Flight Connections (Flight to Baku)
Destination: Baku - Azerbaijan
Pickup & Drop: Delhi International Airport
Mode of Travel (Flight Details): Fixed Departure for Baku
Baku Flight Connections:
• Air Arabia has flights to Baku twice a week from 13 ports in India.
• Uzbekistan Airways has flights from Delhi to Baku via Tashkent.
• Fly Dubai has daily flights from 8 airports in India.
Azerbaijan Tour FAQs
If you have any query about Azerbaijan Tourism, Tourist Destinations, Attractions, Visa Process, and other tour related information then visit Frequently Asked Questions of Azerbaijan.
Visa Information
Azerbaijan Visa Information:
Azerbaijan Visa process takes 7 working days.
Documents Required:
• Scanned passport copy in JPG format not exceed than 1 MB.
• Soft copy of photos.
Contact for more details about Azerbaijan Tourist Visa!
Reviews
We visited Ukraine last week with a close family of 12, excellent services by Dook Travels, needless to mention what was promised, they delivered much more than that. We happened to meet Mr. Anwar in their Kiev office, nice office of dook international made us more confident on the services we were going to avail. We would love to travel with DOOK again. Thanks Dook Delhi and Kiev team. Keep it up.
Went to Tashkent Samrkand and bukhara, good tour and great hospitality. would recommend to try local food. Their team in delhi office is quite helpful and managed our visas even on last minute. Thanks Dook!
Our trip to Kiev, Ukraine arranged by Dook Travels has went very well without any trouble. Only thing is that we required little more time at the airport for visa on arrival, but it also went very smoothly without any hassles because of the documents which you supplied in time to us. We enjoyed the tour to the fullest. All the tours were arranged very nicely and concerned peoples of your company were very cooperative, they guided us very well and cooperated in all the small things also amazingly well.
We are back from holidays yesterday evening. We had excellent time both in Moscow and Kiev. The hotel, Vehicle and Guide arrangements were good. Your local rep Mr. Anwar was very cooperative and we are very happy with his services. He did coverup the local sightseeing comfortably spread over 3 days. In short we had great time in Moscow and Kiev with lots of pictures & memories back home. Thank you for all your timely support. All The Best Team Dook.
This is with reference to our recent trip to Almaty, we would like to thank you for advising us on choosing Almaty as our holiday destination. We have good memories from this trip as Almaty is a fantastic place to go with friends and family. We would like to point out that the services by our local guide Atta were beyond exceptional, he showed us everything there is to see in Almaty. The food is two of the restaurants Bombay Beirut as well as spice mantra were good. I would definitely recommend this place to friends and family and also Dook Travels for its exceptional services.
I would like to thanks Dook Travels for such a wonderful trip for Bishkek 4th May to 8th May. It was lifetime memorable trip and arrangement was so good like hotel, local guide, food, sightseeing, etc. In future Dook will my preference for any trip.
Thank you Dook for your services with respect to our 3 guests who went to Bishkek on 27th April 2018 (Fixed Departure). My special thanks for you who took great efforts to organize everything with our special requirements of a Visa, Private Car and single occupancy rooms at such a short notice from our end. Thanks for all the timely arrangements and keeping me updated with Visa progress by mail as well as on mobile. Looking forward for the same cooperation levels at times...
We just came back from a 10 days tour of Uzbekistan which was organised by your agency. This trip and DOOK was recommended by my colleague Alok Chauhan. I think his choice of Uzbekistan & Dook was excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and outings there. Your team did an excellent job, Right from the beginning to the end they were constantly in touch with me. They always responded very promptly to our requests and quickly resolved any problem we faced during the trip. Overall, it was memorable experience; thank you all!
Dook gives you the best travel deals, some of the lowest airfares and the best travel experience. My experience with them for Tashkent tour was outstanding. Hotel, vehicle, food, tour Guide, etc. everything was superb. Undoubtedly this was a great family trip. You can choose Dook Travels for the best booking experience, hotel stay, sightseeing and Indian Cuisine.
We've recently booked a trip to Russia for 07 guests. Our whole experience from the time we had started the booking process to the execution of the trip has been commendable. I'd really like to thank Akanksha and her entire team for making our and the guests experience worthwhile. We have super reviews from the guests; they are absolutely satisfied with the hotels, transportation and have made a special mention about the guide. The guide during the trip was extremely helpful. It's not only the guests who are filled with appreciation but it is also us. We have been guided and helped in the most excellent way. With our experience, our confidence in DOOK has increased manifold. Really looking forward for a wonderful association and more and more business in the future.
Thank you for all the supports throughout the trip. Passengers are very happy with the services provided by Dook Travels. They especially appreciate the Guide, Hotels and Food provided in Almaty & Astana, Kazakhstan. Only they were slightly disappointed with Day one Airport pick up delay. Overall this was an amazing trip for all the passengers. Thank you so much for your excellent services.
I have taken a 4 nights Tashkent family trip from the Dook International and really they are spectacular for their services. Our tour guide was highly knowledgeable about the destination. Also, hotel choices provided by them were great. Their customer service is really very impeccable, every time, there was always a friendly voice on the other end. Thank you so much for a memorable trip.
Quite knowledgeable and professional people. 700 People in one shot were handled exceptionally in Kazakhstan. Looking forward to work again for Azerbaijan. Thank you Dook Team @ Delhi & Almaty offices.
Fabulous staff, fantastic services, unforgettable experience of Kiev and Belarus visited with friends. I can never forget this experience. Do visit with family and friends with Dook Travels for any CIS and central European country and have the best travel experience.
We had awesome family trip to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It was beyond our expectations. Luxury coaches, Excellent guides, Tasty Indian Food, Perfectly arranged tours with no hassle. Thank you Dook Travels to provide us lifetime memorable trip.
The best travel company I have ever come across. I personally recommend the viewers to choose DOOK for all the CIS countries. I went to Kiev with my family, and everything we were provided with was superb. Hotels, tours, meals, all services were great and most important their staff is very supportive and kind. DOOK assures their customer satisfaction. I loved my trip and had an unforgettable time, Thanks to Dook International :)
We a big family of 17 went to Almaty & Astana this month with Dook. All went excellent at both places with their superb guides. Both the cities are exceptionally beautiful. Astana gives you a modern feel like Dubai whereas Almaty brings you to the nature. We had Indian meals at both the cities & never felt like out of home. Thanks Dook Team. Shall plan a trip to Baku & Kiev next year. Cheerio
We took a long itinerary tour to Uzbekistan for 6 nights and had our stay in Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand. It is a beautiful country to visit with a huge option of local veg and non-veg food. Local food is highly suggested in Uzbekistan. Great country of great people with best company.
