Baku on Foot: Three Self-Guided Routes
Advice before you travel. The UK FCDO advises against all travel within 5 km of Azerbaijan’s border with Armenia and against all but essential travel to the Karabakh-area districts, where mines and unexploded ordnance remain, and the US State Department rates Azerbaijan Level 3, Reconsider Travel. These routes stay inside central Baku, which the UK advice does not name, and visitors normally arrive by air. See gov.uk and travel.state.gov for the current wording.
You can see most of central Baku on foot with three self-guided routes. Streets cost nothing, while museums and towers charge in manat (AZN), at about 1.70 AZN to the US dollar. Wear flat shoes, because Old City lanes are cobbled and slope in places.
Route one: inside the Old City walls
Begin at the Tourist Information Center at Boyuk Qala Street 55. The lanes from there pass the Double Gates, the Bukhara and Multani caravanserais, the Juma and Mohammed mosques, the Shirvanshahs’ Palace, the Siratagli complex and the Maiden Tower. The walk itself is free, and the Siratagli complex is free to enter. A foreign adult pays 24 AZN for the palace complex and 19 AZN for the tower, both open from 10:00 to 19:00. Plan on a morning if you go inside the museums, and consult the reserve’s tariff table .
Route two: Fountains Square to the oil-boom streets
Leave through the Old City gate to reach Fountains Square, where Nizami Street, a pedestrian shopping street, begins. By the gate stands the Nizami Museum of Azerbaijani Literature, founded in 1939. Its building dates from 1850 and began as a one-storey caravanserai.
Nearby are grand buildings from the oil-boom years. The Ismailiyya Palace was built from 1908 to 1913 for the Muslim Charity Society, funded by Musa Naghiyev, in a Venetian Gothic style modelled on the Doge’s Palace. The Presidium of the Academy of Sciences has used it since 1945, so look from the pavement. The Taghiyev mansion at H. Z. Taghiyev Street 4, built from 1895 to 1901, is now the National Museum of History of Azerbaijan, with foreign adult tickets listed at about 10 AZN by third parties. The State Philharmonic Hall, built from 1910 to 1912 as a summer club with Monte Carlo influence, sits in the Philharmonic Garden.
Route three: the bay
The central promenade of the Seaside National Park is about 3.7 km, part of a park that runs some 16 km along the shore. It is flat and easy. On the way you pass the Carpet Museum, Little Venice with its canals and bridges from the 1950s and 1960s, the Baku Eye and a string of cafes and playgrounds. This route works well in the evening, once the lights come on.
Up to Highland Park on foot
A long staircase climbs to Highland Park, with one source counting about 500 steps. It is steep, so carry water. The hilltop adjoins the national cemetery described below, so read those notes before you start the climb. The funicular is the other way up, and it leaves from Neftchilar Avenue near the Boulevard.
Taking a guide
A guide adds most inside the Old City, where the lanes are narrow and the history is dense. Compare group size, language and whether museum tickets are included when you browse Baku walking tours on GetYourGuide .
Martyrs’ Lane
Martyrs’ Lane, or the Alley of Martyrs, is a national cemetery above the city and is not a place for a stroll. People killed in the Black January crackdown of January 1990 lie there, along with soldiers who died in the Karabakh wars, and the Eternal Flame was inaugurated in 1998. Dress modestly, keep your voice low and ask before photographing anyone. The FCDO warns that disrespectful conduct can lead to police action, and access can be restricted around 20 January.
Read more: sightseeing in Baku and the 7 day Baku itinerary .