Baku — The City That Shouldn't Work (But Absolutely Does)

Day 1 | April 25, 2026 | Baku, Azerbaijan 🇦🇿

Nobody warned me about Baku.

That's the thing. You look it up online, you get a few images of those three flame-shaped skyscrapers and maybe a mention of oil money. And then you land, you drive in from the airport, and the city just — opens up. And it's not what you expected. At all.

Baku sits on the western coast of the Caspian Sea. It's the capital of Azerbaijan, a country most people couldn't find on a map. And it looks like someone took Dubai, Istanbul, Paris, and Soviet-era Moscow and blended them into a single skyline. It should feel confused. Instead it feels completely, weirdly, fully itself.

The View That Sets the Tone

We started the day at the Turkish Martyrs Cemetery — a hilltop memorial overlooking the city. It's a sombre place. But the view from up there gives you your first real sense of where you are. The Caspian stretching out to the east. The old city walls below. The Flame Towers rising out of the modern skyline behind everything.

Three giant buildings shaped like flames. Built to honour the fire that Azerbaijan has worshipped — literally and metaphorically — for thousands of years. We'll get to that on Day 2. But standing up there on Day 1, looking at the whole city laid out below us, the trip started to feel real.

The Old City — İçərişəhər

Inside Baku's modern shell is something much older.

İçərişəhər — the Inner City — is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's the original walled city of Baku, and it feels like a completely different world from the wide boulevards and luxury hotels just outside its walls. Narrow stone streets. Carved wooden doors. Cats everywhere. Tea glasses clinking inside tiny restaurants.

We wandered in with no real plan. Which, honestly, is the right way to do it.

The Maiden Tower is the centerpiece — a mysterious cylindrical tower rising out of the Old City that nobody fully understands. It was built in the 12th century, possibly earlier. Some say it was a Zoroastrian fire temple. Some say a lighthouse. Some say it was a place for women to leap from in times of siege. Nobody agrees. It just stands there, ancient and silent, surrounded by people taking selfies.

I hear the views from the top are worth every step.

Lunch: Fisincan Café

We ate at Fisincan Café inside the Old City. This is the move. Traditional Azerbaijani food in a setting that feels like you've stepped inside someone's 19th century home — because you basically have.

If you're wondering what Azerbaijani food actually is: think slow-cooked lamb, saffron rice, pomegranate, walnuts, dried fruit, and flatbreads. It's somewhere between Persian and Turkish, but with its own identity. Rich. Warming. The kind of food that makes you slow down.

The first experience of the food just came in waves. No time for photos just a time to enjoy!

The Beer Stop — Because This Is JustoHops

Look. We had to.

Beer Point is a craft beer bar in the heart of Baku. And yes — Azerbaijan is a Muslim-majority country. But it's also a secular one, and alcohol has been openly available here for a long time. Nobody bats an eye. The craft beer scene is small but growing, and Beer Point is ground zero for it.

We tried a few local pours and had one of those conversations that only happens on the first day of a trip — the one where you're still figuring out where you are and everything feels slightly electric. That feeling.

We followed it up with a stop at Fine Wine Bar, which does exactly what it says. Good local wines in a relaxed setting. We were easing in.

Quick Facts — Baku, Azerbaijan

Currency: Azerbaijani Manat (AZN). 1 EUR ≈ 1.85 AZN. Cash is king outside the city centre.
Language: Azerbaijani. Russian is widely understood. English in tourist areas.
Religion: Muslim-majority but secular. Alcohol is legal and widely available.
Old City entry: Free to walk around. Maiden Tower has a small entry fee — worth it.
Getting around Baku: Taxis via Bolt app. Metro is cheap and works well.
Best time to visit: April–June or September–October. Summers get hot.
Beer Point: Craft beer bar, Old City area. Ask the bar staff what's local.
Fisincan Café: Traditional Azerbaijani food. Book ahead if you can — it fills up.
Where we stayed: Midtown Hotel. Rooftop breakfast with views. Solid base for the Old City.

📍 JustoHops Recommends: Walk into the Old City with no plan. Pick a direction. Get lost. The best thing about İçərişəhər is that there's no wrong turn — every alley has something in it.

That's how Day 1 ended. Drinks, old stones, a city that made no sense and perfect sense at the same time. We walked back to the hotel slow. No rush. Nowhere else to be.

Next up: Day 2 — mud volcanoes, 40,000-year-old rock carvings, the edge of the Caspian Sea, and yes — the Flame Towers after dark.

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