Azerbaijan with children

None of that requires a child to stand quietly in front of a display case.

The constraint is the driving, and everything we change about a family route follows from that.

What works, and why

The mud volcanoes at Gobustan. Cold grey mud bubbling out of the ground, reached over a rough track in a vehicle that bounces. It is strange, it is slightly disgusting, and it is the thing children describe first when they get home. Pair it with the petroglyph reserve next door, where thousands of rock carvings of hunters, boats and animals turn out to be much easier to explain to an eight year old than to an adult.

Yanar Dag and the fire temple. A hillside burning in the open, and at Surakhani a walled temple built around a natural gas vent, used by Zoroastrian and Hindu ascetics. Two short stops on one afternoon on the Absheron peninsula, and the whole geology of the country makes sense afterwards.

The copper workshops in Lahic. Open-fronted workshops on a cobbled street where the work is loud and visible. Some smiths will let a child hold the hammer. This is the best hour in the country for a curious ten year old.

The Tufandag ropeway at Qabala. A cable car up a forested mountain, with a comfortable resort town at the bottom and walking at the top. Qabala has the best family hotels outside Baku and a lake and waterfall walk at Yeddi Gozel to fill an afternoon.

Baku itself. The seafront boulevard, the funicular up to the park above the city, the walled old city with the Maiden Tower to climb, and the Carpet Museum, where a weaver working at a loom holds attention far better than the carpets do.

Laza. Waterfalls at the head of a valley under Shahdag, an hour or two of easy walking, and space to run. The best short walk in the country and the one that works at any age above about five.

The food. Bread, grilled meat, rice, dumplings and yoghurt covers most children without negotiation, and qutab, a folded flatbread with cheese or greens cooked on a hot plate, is a snack at $2 to $4 that almost everyone eats. What to eat in Azerbaijan has the rest.

The reception children get. Azerbaijan is a country where children are welcome in restaurants, spoken to by strangers and given things. Families are consistently surprised by how much easier this makes the practical side of a trip.

What does not work

Long drives, which is the real constraint. Baku to Sheki is about 200 miles (320 km) and four and a half to five hours if you drive it straight. On an adult trip we break it with Shamakhi, the Diri Baba mausoleum at Maraza and a wine estate. On a family trip we break it more and we start earlier.

Xinaliq with young children. The road up from Quba is about two hours each way on a narrow, exposed mountain road. For a family with teenagers who like mountains, it is a good day and a good night. For a family with a six year old, it is four hours of car for a village they will look at for twenty minutes. We usually put Laza in instead and say why. The road to Xinaliq describes it properly so you can judge.

Baku in July and August afternoons. Around 90°F (32°C) with heavy humidity off the Caspian, on stone, with little shade. Not sightseeing weather for anyone and particularly not for a child. The mountains are ten to twenty degrees cooler and are the answer.

The Caspian beaches. The beaches on the Absheron peninsula are functional at best. If a family holiday needs a beach in it, this is not the country and we will say so.

Three museums in a day. True everywhere. Two things per day, one of which is outdoors, is the ceiling that works.

Formal restaurants in the evening. Azerbaijani dinner runs late. We book earlier tables, use tea houses and garden restaurants, and let the guesthouses cook, which they do better anyway.

What we change on a family route

Fewer bases, longer stays. Three bases in eight days, not five. Baku, Qabala or Sheki, and one more. Every hotel change costs a packing morning, and with children it costs two.

Shorter legs, and never two long ones in a row. Our rule on family routes is no more than three hours of driving in a day and a real stop in the middle of anything over two.

A pool where we can get one. Qabala and, in season, some of the Baku hotels. This is the single most effective thing we do to make afternoons work in summer.

Guiding chosen for the guide, not the site. We ask our Baku partner for the guides who are good with children specifically. There are two or three, they are not always the most senior, and they are the difference between a good day and a long one.

Family rooms, with a warning. Baku and Qabala have hotels with family rooms and connecting rooms. Sheki has a few. In Lahic, Laza and the northern villages there is a family room only in the sense that a village house has rooms and a family lives in it, which many families love and some do not expect.

A rest day that is actually a rest day. Usually in Qabala, usually the fifth day.

Our eight-day family route is built on all of the above, and the classic seven days is what we would adapt for a family with teenagers.

Ages, honestly

Under five. Possible but not what we would recommend. The drives are the problem and the sights that make this country work for children need a bit of age on them.

Five to nine. A very good week. Mud volcanoes, fire, cable cars, waterfalls and workshops, with the northern mountains left out.

Ten to fifteen. The best age band for this country. Everything above plus Sheki properly, the copper workshops, and Xinaliq or the Laza walking if the family walks.

Teenagers who resist. The mud volcanoes and the burning hillside do more work than any amount of history. So does letting them order in a tea house.

Practical notes for families

• Car seats. We ask our Baku partner to fit them and they normally can, and the range is limited. Families travelling with small children often bring their own, which we would support.
• Cash. Cards work in Baku and larger towns. In the villages, carry manat.
• Altitude. Nothing on a family route is high enough to cause problems.
• Shepherd dogs. In the northern pastures these are working animals guarding flocks. Children should not approach a flock or run near one, and the guides route around them.
• Medical. Baku has good private clinics. The provinces have basic facilities, which is a reason we keep families within reach of a main road.
• Timing. May, June and September are the best months for families. Azerbaijan month by month has the detail, including the Formula 1 week and Novruz, both of which we plan around.

What it costs

A family of four generally prices out slightly below two adults travelling at the same tier per person, because the vehicle and the guide are shared across four rather than two and because children eat less. Against our anchors of $115 to $530 per person per day, most families we book land between the careful and comfortable tiers. What a trip to Azerbaijan really costs has the full breakdown.

How we build it

Your itinerary is written by a named person: our Head of Consulting Mai Est, or our Caucasus and Central Asia specialists Osnat Angerman and Paz Prosianoy. On the ground we work through a Baku partner we have used for years rather than an office of our own. GO EAST staffs its own offices in Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines, and we say so rather than letting families assume otherwise. That partner’s drivers and guides meet you, briefed by us, with your consultant on the same WhatsApp thread from take-off to landing.

Plan this trip

Tell us your children’s ages and how long they last in a car, and we will build a week that respects both. Free first outline, no obligation.

Start planning

Keep reading

• Azerbaijan: the complete guide to planning your trip
• Azerbaijan month by month
• What to eat in Azerbaijan, and how the tea works
• What a trip to Azerbaijan really costs
• Azerbaijan with children, 8 days
• All our Azerbaijan trips

Frequently asked questions