Why Azerbaijan?

Azerbaijan is likely to amaze you. And for all the right reasons: quality, value, style, reliability and an exciting element of the exotic.

• At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, access is easy with direct flights from many cities in the EU, Central Asia, Russia and the Gulf.
• The country is a model of stability that has reinvested much of its recently gained oil wealth on developing a sparkling, 21st-century infrastructure including sleek new roads, magnificent hotels and state-of-the-art congress and sports facilities.
• The alluring capital, Baku, has been gaining a wider audience since 2016 as Formula 1audiences glimpse its charms: the thrilling Grand Prix of Europe buzzes around the city streets passing grand, century-old Parisian-style apartments, a walled medieval core and a range of dazzling modernist architecture.
• Baku’s parkland promenade sweeps around a limpid bay on the fabled the Caspian Sea.
• At dusk look up to see a trio of 30-storey flame shaped skyscrapers apparently burning. Don’t panic – it’s only a light show.
• Across town is one of the world’s great 21^st-century landmarks, the Heydar Aliyev Centre, a crowning achievement in the stellar career of late, great architect Zaha Hadid.

Beyond Baku, there’s so much more to discover in this country of grand surprises.

• A three-hour drive can take you from semi-desert to patchworked agricultural idylls, and pretty oak-woods to dramatic canyons and the soaring Caucasus Mountains.
• Here you’ll find foothill villages that are some of Europe’s highest and several peaks that top 4000m.
• Shahdag, Azerbaijan’s splendid ski resort, has a trio of lavish, conference-ready hotelswhich combine impeccable style and design flair with an unparalleled setting nestled amid the lower slopes of the dramatic Great Caucasus mountains.
• Qabala, also a ski centre, has an international standard congress centre built for a heads-of-state summit meeting. And there’s a magnificent hotel-events complex near Quba fronting the national golf course.
• A decade of experience has radically improved the service sector in the country’s invitingrestaurants, Baku sports ever more quirky cafes and there’s a wide range of lively city pubs.
• Visa rules have been radically simplified since 2017 and a repositioning of the currency means that prices in $ or Euro terms are barely half of what you’d have paid back in 2014.

With a hospitable, highly educated population, stunning new facilities and outstanding value for money, there’s never been a better time to consider Azerbaijan.