Must see attractions in Baku

  • Top Choice
    Heydar Aliyev Center

    Vast and jaw-droppingly original, this Zaha Hadid building is a majestic statement of fluid 21st-century architecture forming abstract waves and peaks…

  • Top Choice
    Maiden’s Tower

    This tapering 29m stone tower is Baku’s foremost historical icon, with rooftop views surveying Baku Bay and the Old City. Possibly millennia old, its…

  • Y
    Top Choice
    Yarat Contemporary Art Centre

    Yarat means 'create', a spirit that's in ample evidence in this centre's many thought-provoking installations that don't shy away from sociopolitical…

  • F
    Top Choice
    Flame Towers

    Completed in 2012, this trio of sinuous blue-glass skyscrapers forms contemporary Baku's architectural signature. The three towers range from 28 to 33…

  • Top Choice
    Palace of the Shirvanshahs

    This splendid confection of sandstone walls and domes was the seat of northeastern Azerbaijan’s ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. Mostly 15th century…

  • F
    Top Choice
    Fountains Square

    Ever-popular with strollers, this leafy piazza forms Central Baku’s natural focus. The fountains for which it is named include one topped by shiny…

  • M
    MOMA

    This joyous tailor-made gallery uses struts and tubing to create a wide variety of intimate viewing spaces, in many of which you can recline on bean-bag…

  • C
    Carpet Museum

    From historic flatweaves to modernist picture-rugs, this tailor-made museum displays and explains a superb collection of Azerbaijani carpets. It's housed…

  • B
    Bulvar

    Full of rare trees, cafes, fountains and fairground rides, the central sweep of Baku's seafront park is eternally popular with families, amateur musicians…

  • Ş
    Şəhidlər Xiyabanı

    The most notable feature of the 'Highland Park' that stretches south from the Flame Towers is this sombre row of grave memorials – Bakuvian victims of the…

  • A
    Azər-İlmə

    Hand-woven carpets using wool coloured with vegetable dyes are created before your eyes in this amazingly grand, suburban gallery-workshop that includes a…

  • H
    Historical Museum

    Well-presented exhibits on Azerbaijan’s history and culture might miss the odd century here and there, but there’s more than enough to fill several hours…

  • B
    Bibi-Heybət Mosque

    Worth a quick stop en route to Qobustan, this 1998 neo-Ottoman-style mosque replaced a 13th-century original demolished by the Soviets 'for road widening'…

  • C
    Caspian Waterfront Mall

    Designed like an eight-petalled flower but five stories high and made of steel and glass, this giant project has been under construction since 2007 and…

  • T
    Tahir Salahov House Museum

    Tahir Salahov is probably Azerbaijan's greatest living painter, best known for bringing deep emotional intensity into Soviet Realism. The Baku house where…

  • C
    Crescent Moon Building

    Several gleaming towers are under construction at Crescent Bay opposite Port Baku, including a potentially phenomenal architectural attention-grabber in…

  • S
    State Art Museum

    Housed in two century-old oil-boom mansions, Baku’s foremost collection of classical art ranges from 17th-century French landscapes to Meiji-era Japanese…

  • C
    Cümə Mosque

    Though it appears relatively squat seen from outside, the interior of the Old City's carving-festooned 'Friday' mosque contains beautifully patterned…

  • T
    Təzə Pir Mosque

    The grandest historic mosque in central Baku, Təzə Pir was built between 1903 and 1914, funded by a female philanthropist. More-recent renovations added…

  • D
    Dom Soviet

    Baku's most striking Soviet-era building is a gigantic stone construction fronted by an impressive series of layered stone arches and topped by rows of…