Baku
Cute, quiet and quirky, the atmosphere here is like sitting in a friend's front room, albeit an intellectual friend who has covered the walls with trippy murals and squiggle portraiture. Female-run and couple-friendly, it's a relaxing place for earnest conversation over a pot of herbal tea (plus books most Anglo travellers won't be able to read).
Try the kəklikotu çayı (tea made from mountain thyme, cup/pot AZN2.50/4.30). A pot comes with a little dish of home-made strawberry jam.
2.79 MILES
Vast and jaw-droppingly original, this Zaha Hadid building is a majestic statement of fluid 21st-century architecture forming abstract waves and peaks…
0.18 MILES
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…
1.76 MILES
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…
0.56 MILES
Completed in 2012, this trio of sinuous blue-glass skyscrapers forms contemporary Baku's architectural signature. The three towers range from 28 to 33…
0.15 MILES
This splendid confection of sandstone walls and domes was the seat of northeastern Azerbaijan’s ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. Mostly 15th century…
0.46 MILES
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…
9.84 MILES
The unique Ateşgah is an 18th-century fire temple whose centrepiece is a flaming hearth. Arching above is a four-pillared stone dome with side flues which…
1.83 MILES
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…
0.07 MILES
Partly dating from at least 1079, this little mosque is considered the the oldest still standing in Baku. Its nickname, 'Sinıq Qala' (Broken Tower), was…
0.09 MILES
Though it appears relatively squat seen from outside, the interior of the Old City's carving-festooned 'Friday' mosque contains beautifully patterned…
0.15 MILES
This splendid confection of sandstone walls and domes was the seat of northeastern Azerbaijan’s ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. Mostly 15th century…
0.16 MILES
Tahir Salahov is probably Azerbaijan's greatest living painter, best known for bringing deep emotional intensity into Soviet Realism. The Baku house where…
0.17 MILES
An arched gateway in the Old City wall leads from İçerişəhər metro station to a pretty handkerchief of garden. It's dominated by the superbly imaginative…
0.17 MILES
Changing exhibitions are necessarily a little hit-and-miss at this experimental art space, which gives a platform to young or emerging new Azerbaijani…
0.18 MILES
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…
0.18 MILES
One of Baku's charming oddities, this small museum presents books that are so small you'd need a magnifying glass to read the print. The fact that so many…