My friend Noor found a good offer on Holiday Factory for 3 nights in Baku and the package included 4-star hotel stay with breakfast and round-trip air ticket. So, we decided why not visit. We found out that the E-Visa is provided to specific nationalities so of course Tim got an E-VISA. However, Noor, Mimi and I had to apply through the consulate. The procedure is quite easy unless you travelled to Armenia which was my case and I had to submit additional documents.

Due to the Nagorno-Karabakh war, Azerbaijan and Armenia haven’t been in good terms so just make sure you haven’t been to Nagorno Karabakh area to avoid getting your visa rejected.

Holiday Factory representative picked us up from the airport and dropped us to the hotel. As soon as we checked in and left our luggage in the room, we went to a restaurant called Dolma located near old baku and a shopping area. Dolma means stuffed food, everything we ate was delicious but the cuisine is filled with butter.

Well, to summarise what we did in 4 days, here was our itinerary.

Day 1:

• Baku city
• Ate at Dolma restaurant and walked around the shopping area. (Nizami Street)
• Explored the corniche and parts of the city.
• Venice spirit of Baku
• Flaming Towers

Day 2:

• Walked the old Baku city
• Maiden Tower & Palace of Shirvanshahs
• Wanted to visit all the galleries but unfortunately everything was closed even the Modern Art Museum.
• Monument of Richard Sorge
• Booked a tour for the next day
• Dinner at Firuz.

Day 3:

Tour

• Mud Volcano
• Gobustan Park
• Bibi-Heybat Mosque
• Yanar Dag
• Ateshgah
• Heydar Aliyev Center
• Dinner Mangal Restaurant

Day 4:

• Smoking Shisha in Old City on a rooftop.
• Airport – back to Dubai

Tim and I personally liked Baku. It’s modern yet cultural and has a mix of contemporary and old. We would like to visit Azerbaijan again but next time will be in the rural areas to learn more about the people and explore the country’s nature.