Baku at Night: Five Lit Stops in Two Hours, After Sunset

Baku after dark comes down to a few lit buildings and a seafront glowing from one end to the other, and the trick is seeing them in the right order and from the right height. This evening does it by car in about two hours: five stops, and you get out at every one. It leaves from Azerbaijan Avenue 1 once the sun has set, and a seat in the group costs ₼25.

What you see, stop by stop

Highland Park. The route starts high. From the terrace the bay lies below you, the waterfront shines along its whole length and the Flame Towers stand at your back: the view Baku is known by, and the one that makes sense of every stop that follows.

The Flame Towers. Three towers of about 190 metres whose facades are covered in LED panels, running a loop of flames, the national flag and a waving figure. You stand near enough to make out the panels, and for long enough to watch the whole loop once.

The boulevard and Mini Venice. Down at the water: the promenade at its liveliest hour, and the little canals of Mini Venice under warm light. This is the walking part — a few minutes, on level paving.

Government House. A short stop in front of the lit-up facade by the water, a building that only really comes into its own once it is dark.

The Heydar Aliyev Center. Zaha Hadid's white building, without a single straight line, lit in colours that shift while you watch. It is kept for last on purpose, for the photographs.

What time it leaves

There is no fixed clock time. The car goes once the light has gone, so the hour follows sunset through the year: about 18:00 in the middle of winter, nearer 21:00 in July. The exact time for your date is in your booking confirmation, and from there the evening runs for about two hours.

Where it starts

Group evenings meet at Azerbaijan Avenue 1, Baku, in the parking area. On a private evening the car can often come to your hotel instead; that is agreed with you beforehand and never taken for granted.

A seat in the group or a car of your own: the prices

In the group you pay ₼25 per person, with eighteen people at most. A private evening is one price for your whole party, set by how many of you there are:

• 1 person: ₼80
• 2 people: ₼120
• 3 people: ₼150
• 4 people: ₼180
• 5 people: ₼200
• 6 people: ₼220
• 7 to 18 people: from ₼250 for seven up to ₼440 for eighteen

For any party of up to seventeen, seats in the group add up to less than the private price; what the private price buys is the car to yourselves. Cancelling costs nothing as long as it is 24 hours or more before departure.

Before you go

The guide speaks English, Russian or Turkish. Most of the two hours is spent sitting down; the walking comes in short stretches of a few minutes on a level promenade, so children and older travellers manage it without trouble. If you own something that holds a camera still, pack it. Light rain is no reason to stay in, since wet paving throws the lights back at you, but if the weather turns truly bad we fix another evening with you instead.

Where else this road goes: Icherisheher on Foot: Baku's Old City in Two Hours, or Gobustan, Mud Volcanoes and the Fire Sites — Full Day from Baku. Everything we run is on the day trips page.

The Heydar Aliyev Center closes this route, lit and at its most photogenic. If you want the same building in daylight and the peninsula that stands behind it, the Absheron half day begins exactly there and carries on to Ramana, Balakhani and Yanardag.