AZ
Gobustan
Ancient rock art, bubbling mud volcanoes and eternal fires
Ancient rock art, bubbling mud volcanoes and eternal fires
The UNESCO-listed Gobustan carvings, some up to 40,000 years old, cover the boulders with scenes of hunting, dancing and reed boats, a remarkable prehistoric gallery on the hillside.
💡 Start at the excellent interactive museum to make sense of the carvings.
Nearby, a lunar field of miniature mud volcanoes bubbles and burps cold grey mud, one of the largest such clusters in the world and utterly mesmerising.
💡 A 4×4 or tour is needed for the rough track to the volcanoes.
A superb modern, interactive museum interprets the rock art, ancient climate and human history of the reserve, bringing the petroglyphs vividly to life.
💡 Well worth the entry before walking to the carvings.
The ‘Burning Mountain’ is a hillside where natural gas seeps keep a wall of flames blazing continuously along the ground, spectacular after dark and central to Azerbaijan’s fire heritage.
💡 Visit at dusk when the flames glow most dramatically.
A pentagonal fire temple on the Absheron peninsula, once a place of Zoroastrian and Hindu worship around a natural gas flame, now an atmospheric museum of the fire cult.
💡 Combine it with Yanar Dag on the same Absheron loop.
There is little to eat at the sites themselves beyond a cafe at the museum, so most visitors combine Gobustan with meals back in Baku or at roadside restaurants on the way. These serve hearty Azerbaijani fare, kebabs, plov, fresh bread and salads, often with tea and sweets to finish. Bring water and snacks for the walk among the petroglyphs and mud volcanoes, which are hot and exposed.
Drive from Baku to the Gobustan museum and petroglyphs, walking among the ancient carvings on the hillside.
Take a 4×4 out to the bubbling mud volcano field for the surreal grey landscape.
Loop back via the Ateshgah fire temple and the blazing hillside of Yanar Dag, best at dusk.
The sites are spread out with rough tracks; a tour or hired car and driver makes the day far easier.
Yanar Dag and Ateshgah are most atmospheric as the light fades and the flames stand out.
The petroglyph hill and mud volcanoes are hot and shadeless; carry water and a hat.
Bring cash for site entries and the 4×4 to the mud volcanoes.
Flame-Tower Baku, the rock art of Gobustan, Silk Road Sheki, mountain-resort Gabala and the high Caucasus of Quba — five sides of Azerbaijan.