Not to miss

Baku

About a fifth of Azerbaijan's population lives in the capital, the biggest metropolis in Transcaucasia. This handsome city is built around a perfect harbour, Baku Bay, a notch in the underside of the Apsheron Peninsula. The heart of the historic city is Ichari Shahar (the Inner City, or Old Town).

The Inner City is one of the oldest continuously inhabited spots in the country - and in the Middle East. Archaeological digs have revealed Bronze Age burial chambers. This is the most popular area of the city, a maze of alleys, dead ends and caravanserais sometimes called the 'Acropolis of Baku.'

The Maiden's Tower, which dates to the 12th century, is an impressive sight. This key-shaped building has some exhibits inside and allows you to climb eight stories to the top for a view of the city and the bay. Another outstanding site in the Inner City is the Palace of the Shirvan Shahs. The domes and arches, mosaics and stonework are in beautiful shape.

The Museum of Carpets & Applied Art in the old Lenin Museum has a brilliant display of woven and knotted Azerbaijani carpets, jewellery and other crafts. The Azerbaijani History Museum, a few blocks northeast of the Inner City, features an archaeology section with Stone Age petroglyphs and other relics from the site at Gobustan.

Apsheron Peninsula

On the Apsheron Peninsula there are several fine medieval castles - one each at Ramana and Nardaran and two at Mardakyany. At Ramana you can also see the remains of ancient oil fields. Mardakyany has a botanic garden and a 15th century mosque with an exhibit on the castles.

Qobustan Museum

Qobustan is an open-air museum littered with neolithic rock drawings. It has some 4000 inscriptions that go back 12,000 years (along with some 2000-year-old Latin graffiti to boot). Tours are guided by helpful staff and are worth paying for, as the details of the petroglyphs and what they portray are largely incomprehensible to the casual visitor.

Stone Age stick men hunt and boogie down in the petroglyphs. Their dances are thought to have been accompanied by the Qaval-Daş (Tambourine Stone) - a rock that has a deep, resonating tone when struck. While at Qobustan, don't miss the 10km (6mi) detour to giggle at the quaint flatulence of a 'family' of mud-volcanoes.

Şəki Khan's Palace

The two-storey Khan's Palace (Xan Sarayı) was built between 1761 and 1762, and is surprisingly small. The exterior is decorated with dark-blue, turquoise and ochre tiles in geometric patterns, and intricately carved, wood-framed, stained-glass windows known as şəbəkə. The shady rose garden in front contains two huge plane trees said to be 470 years old.

Ateşgah Fire Temple

You are unlikely to see anything else like this majestic temple outside of India. The temple is built on the site of a natural gas vent believed to have been sacred to the Zoroastrians since the 6th century AD. To get a sense of how the worshippers lived you can visit the inside museum and discover the ritual required to have your wishes granted.

The site of the Ateşgah Temple, also known as the Temple of the Fireworshippers, has been a centre of worship for thousands of years. The area was once so saturated with natural gas and oil that flames spontaneously erupted from the ground - hence the country's other name, Odlar Yourdu, or 'Land of Fires', and the name of the temple, which means 'home of fire'. Much of the existing structure was built after the 17th century by Indian Shivaite pilgrims. Flames still burn from flues at each corner of the roof, though the natural gas is nowadays piped from the mains!

Among the most interesting things to see at the temple are the ancient Sanskrit and Hindi inscriptions and the onion dome toped with the trident of Hindu god Shiva. The temple is surrounded by pilgrim cell-rooms, now used as a rather half-hearted museum.