Dubai to Azerbaijan – Things to do with Kids

Looking for the perfect itinerary from Dubai to Azerbaijan with kids, you’ve come to the right place. This post talks about Azerbaijan top attractions and some of the famous places to visit in Azerbaijan, the land of fire. Within its 86,000 square kilometers, you can experience 9 out of 11 existing climate zones, different geographies and some interesting natural phenomenon like the mud volcanoes, fire mountain (Yanar Dag in Baku) and snow slopes (Gabala).
Full of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, lots of history and engaging museums, its one destination I highly recommend as a long weekend getaway from Dubai. The average maximum temperature in Baku (capital city of Azerbaijan) is around 27°C and minimum around 19°C. The other cities like Shamakhi and Sheki see a similar weather profile and Gabala (the snow capital) will be a perfect retreat. This Dubai to Azerbaijan 3 days itinerary, is flexible as the same can be done if you have only 3 days excluding the flying in and out or 3.5/4 days excluding the air time.
The itinerary is designed to cater to kids and adults alike along with different preferences and still covering the famous places to visit in Azerbaijan. It chooses sights and things to do that has the diversity of Azerbaijan and its historical roots covered, through Azerbaijan top attractions.

Before getting into this Dubai to Azerbaijan itineray, take a look at this post to know all about the visa, travel, airline and local travel to enable you to plan better. You can also take a look at this post to manage vegetarian food in Azerbaijan including Indian restaurants in Azerbaijan.

Day 1: Historical Baku (AM) and New Baku (PM)
This day you cover the key historical sites of old Baku – Icheri Seher (Old city) including the Maiden Tower, Shirvanshah’s Palace and Museum of minitature books, all in the morning. Maiden Tower and Shirvanshah’s palace are both UNESCO World Heritage Site. All these sites are located within a km radius and thus you can easily walk your way even with younger kids in strollers. Check out my post on 2 days in Baku to get all the details on planning this part of your trip.

Finding vegetarian food in Azerbaijan, for lunch, is not difficult. You can either look for an Indian restaurant in Azerbaijan or any pizza place that serves vegetarian. After lunch, head to the new Baku. Take a cab from wherever you are to Little Venice on Baku boulevard. As you stroll on the Baku boulevard, notice the Venice like canals in which you can do boating or just walk over the bridges. Its a nice walk and while Baku Boulevard is really long, I recommend this place as it is close to the Carpet Museum, your second stop for the afternoon. The carpet museum will take around 2 hrs of your time if you’re interested in the carpet weaving techniques and probably even buying one or two. As you step out of the Carpet museum you can see the flame towers on your other side, overlooking the Caspian Sea. At this point, you can either look at the Flame Towers from outside and even go to the Fairmont Hotel located within the Flame Towers for a coffee or meal. Fairmont is also one of the good options to stay in Baku. Whatever you choose, make sure to reach Highland Park by around 5:30pm so you will be able to see the Baku skyline both before dark and after dark. After soaking in these sights, call it a day and head over to your hotel or any of the restaurants around for a good Azeri Tea and dinner. Are you a vegetarian too? This post will help you with options for what and where to get vegetarian food in Baku.

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Day 2: Gobustan Petroglyphs, Mud Volcanoes, Yanar Dag and Ateshgah Temple

Azerbaijan is a small country and Baku and the surrounding areas are really close to eachother thus an Azerbaijan 3 day itinerary does it justice. The above can be easily done in a day’s time leaving enough time for meals, a morning or evening swim or visit to the gym and a hearty dinner.

Not sure how to reach these or what’s the best way to travel? Read this post to know more. I highly recommend taking a local cabbie who doubles up as a semi guide so you can just focus on enjoying the journey.

After the breakfast at your hotel, head directly to Gobustan Petroglyphs. These are amongst the famous places to visit in Azerbaijan. Found worldwide and usually associated with the carvings or paintings done by the prehistoric people. There is also a museum next to the actual site of petroglyphs. I highly recommend visiting this museum, especially if you are with kids as its a pretty good museum with a lot of activities that can be done by the kids to understand and appreciate these prehistoric paintings and carvings. Visit the museum before the actual site, to actually appreciate some of what you will see there. Don’t forget to create some music with the musical rock on your way back from the site

Its time for some interesting geological phenomenon after this amazing history. Head to the mud volcanoes, which again can be found in a lot of other places worldwide. The benefit here is they are abundantly found in Azerbaijan and very close to Gobustan so its not a significant detour. You may have to change vehicles depending on which vehicle you are going in. If its a 4X4, you wouldn’t need to. Make sure to carry an extra pair of footwear and bottles of water to clean off the mud from your shoes. The experience is amazing as in the dry season its almost like walking on the moon.

Move on the next amazing phenomenon – Yanar Dag. Literally meaning burning mountain, it is now just a small area on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula where when the gas seeps to the subsurface and comes in contact with the air, catches fire and continues to burn as the gas continues to seep. Its not more than a 5min view as there is not much fire or much to do beyond just looking at it and taking a picture or two. It is one of Azerbaijan top attractions due to this unique natural and geological phenomenon.

Last leg of the journey today is the Ateshgah Temple. Ateshgah of Surakhany, as it’s called, is a temple of fire worshippers. It is also one of the most distinguished and unique religious and historical monument considering the confluence of religions this place seems to have seen. It is supposed to be a hindu and sikh temple dedicated to Jwala Ji (goddess of fire) and also seems to also have some connection to the Zorastrian faith. An important place on the silk route and a place of worship for the Indian (Hindu, Parsee and Sikh) traders, this was probably even constructed and revived by the same trading community. An interesting place with a very interesting history

If you have more time and energy, you can do a quick trip to Haider Aliyev Center on your way back. There are only 3 things to see in the center: The architecture of this place (From outside), some very interesting sculptures by famous artists on the aisle along their seating area and their miniature and doll museum. If you are an art enthusiast, you will enjoy other exhibits too. With kids, we did not really have much of time or inclination for them. Some of the art exhibits were also adult only.

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Day 3: Gabala, The snow capital of Azerbaijan

To reach here, drive to Shamakhi and Gabala from Baku. Its a really beautiful 4hr drive where you will move from the land of fire to the land of ice and snow. The rolling green hills gently give way to the snow capped ones and its a lovely sight. In Baku, you will easily find options for renting a car with a chauffeur who will drive you up to Gabala and will have enough local knowledge as well.
Gabala can easily be done like a day trip if you start early at 7am from Baku and plan to leave back around 5pm from Gabala. While you can see mosques and waterfalls along the way and visit Nohur lake while you are there, the key attraction of Gabala is Tufandag Summer and Winter Resort. Its a snow resort with activities like snow sliding and skiing for the kids to do. You can take a look at this post dedicated to Gabala to know how best you can plan your day including finding vegetarian food in Azerbaijan in this part and a mention of Indian restaurants in Azerbaijan.

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This is the best itinerary for Azerbaijan in 3 days. If you have one more day in hand, stay over one night in Sheki and visit Sheki too. There is a lot of history and some interesting places (like the bottle house) to see in Sheki. if you just have one extra morning or afternoon, split the second day and keep Haider Aliyev center for that time. Also, walk around the Nizami Street which is a wonderful way to soak in some of local Baku and local Azerbaijan.

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As is true with all the places, you can extend your stay to even 7 days and still have lots to see in any country; and cut it down to a weekend and still have an amazing time.