What to do in Baku: 15 ideas for a first trip

Baku packs three cities into one: a walled medieval core, a 19th-century oil-boom boulevard and a skyline of glass towers. Two or three days are enough to see the best of it and add one trip out of town. Here is where to spend them.

In the Old City (Icherisheher)

1. Walk the walls and lanes. Icherisheher has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Get lost on purpose: the lanes are short and every one ends somewhere you recognise.
2. Maiden Tower. The Old City's symbol, a stone tower whose age and purpose historians still argue about. Climb it for the view over the sea.
3. Palace of the Shirvanshahs. The 15th-century residence of the rulers of Shirvan, with courtyards, a mausoleum and a bathhouse.
4. Baku Illusion Museum. Twenty rooms over three floors where nothing is what it looks like: an upside-down room, the Ames room, a mirror maze and a vortex tunnel. It sits one minute from the palace, with a rooftop café over the Old City. See tickets.
5. Caravanserais and the Museum of Miniature Books. Old trading inns now hold restaurants and carpet shops, and the miniature books museum is one of the city's oddest small collections.

By the sea

1. The Seaside Boulevard. Kilometres of promenade along the Caspian. Go before sunset, when the whole city seems to be out walking.
2. Little Venice. A small network of canals on the boulevard with short boat rides, good with children.
3. Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. The building is shaped like a rolled carpet, and inside is the best introduction to the country's weaving traditions.

Modern Baku

1. Funicular to Highland Park. The short ride up from the seafront ends at the best view of the bay. Come back after dark, when the Flame Towers are lit.
2. Heydar Aliyev Center. Zaha Hadid's flowing white building is worth seeing from the outside even if you skip the exhibitions.
3. Nizami Street and Fountain Square. The main pedestrian street, for shopping, cafés and people-watching.

Day trips

1. Gobustan. Thousands of prehistoric rock carvings about an hour south of the city, usually combined with the nearby mud volcanoes.
2. Yanar Dag. A hillside on the Absheron peninsula where natural gas has been burning for as long as anyone remembers. Best at dusk.
3. Ateshgah fire temple. A fortified temple in Surakhani built around a natural flame, once a stop for traders and pilgrims.

And eat

Try qutab (thin stuffed flatbreads), dushbara (tiny dumplings in broth) and a proper plov, then finish the way locals do: black tea with jam on the side.