Baku Walking Tours: Old City to Boulevard
Travel advice. The UK FCDO advises against all travel within 5 km of Azerbaijan’s border with Armenia and against all but essential travel to south-western districts that still hold mines and unexploded ordnance. The US lists Azerbaijan at Level 3, Reconsider Travel. All of these walks stay inside central Baku, which the UK advice does not name, and most visitors arrive by air. For current wording, see gov.uk and travel.state.gov .
Central Baku is small enough to cover on foot in a few routes. Streets are free to walk; museums and towers charge in manat (AZN), about 1.70 to the US dollar. Wear flat shoes, since Old City lanes are cobbled and sloped.
The Old City loop
Start at the Tourist Information Center on Boyuk Qala Street 55. From there the lanes lead to the Double Gates, the Bukhara and Multani caravanserais, the Juma and Mohammed mosques, the Shirvanshahs’ Palace, the Siratagli complex and the Maiden Tower. Walking costs nothing. Inside, the palace complex is 24 AZN and the tower 19 AZN for a foreign adult, both open from 10:00 to 19:00. The Siratagli complex is free. Allow half a day with stops, and see the Icherisheher reserve site for fees.
Fountains Square and Nizami Street
Leave the Old City by the gate and you reach Fountains Square, with Nizami Street running away from it, a pedestrian shopping street. The Nizami Museum of Azerbaijani Literature stands by the Old City gate. It was founded in 1939 and occupies a building from 1850 that started life as a one-storey caravanserai.
Oil-boom buildings
Baku’s money in the late 19th and early 20th centuries left a row of grand buildings within easy reach of the square. The Ismailiyya Palace, built between 1908 and 1913 for the Muslim Charity Society with money from Musa Naghiyev, is Venetian Gothic in style and modelled on the Doge’s Palace. It has housed the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences since 1945, so admire it from the street. The Taghiyev mansion, built from 1895 to 1901 at H. Z. Taghiyev Street 4, is now the National Museum of History of Azerbaijan, and third-party listings put a foreign adult ticket at about 10 AZN. The Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall was built from 1910 to 1912 as a summer club with Monte Carlo influence and stands in the Philharmonic Garden.
Seaside Boulevard promenade
The central promenade is about 3.7 km, part of a national park that runs some 16 km along the bay. Along the way are the Carpet Museum, Little Venice, whose canals and bridges date to the 1950s and 1960s, the Baku Eye and a string of cafes and playgrounds. It is a flat, easy walk.
Highland Park on foot
The funicular is not the only way to Highland Park. A long staircase climbs the slope, with one source counting about 500 steps. It is steep, so take water in summer. The hilltop adjoins the national cemetery described below, so read those rules before you climb.
Choosing a guided walk
If you want a guide for the Old City, compare Baku walking tours and check the group size, language and whether museum tickets are included.
Martyrs’ Lane
Martyrs’ Lane is the national cemetery above Baku and is not a leisure route. Those buried there include victims of the January 1990 Black January crackdown and soldiers killed in the Karabakh wars, and the Eternal Flame was inaugurated in 1998. Dress quietly, speak softly and ask before photographing. The FCDO warns that disrespectful behaviour can bring police action, and access can be restricted around 20 January.
Read more: sightseeing in Baku and Baku 2-day itinerary .