Best time to visit Azerbaijan

Cultural, architectural and archaeological tours are what visiting Azerbaijan is all about. So it is well worth doing some background reading to get your head around the influences of Persians, Zoroastrians, Mongols, the Khanates, Russians and, of a different ilk altogether, the Nobel Brothers’ oil company. What can we say? It’s complicated.

Leave some room in your luggage and some money in the non-oil based economy by buying some local crafts. It’s a land of traditional artisans, from silk artists to silversmiths, carpet weavers to coppersmiths. If you are really organised, bring measurements for a space back home that is just waiting for a rug, and then choose from the fine work on offer and have it shipped.

Include your trip to Azerbaijan as part of a longer overland Silk Road tour. There are many options for exploring this extraordinary ancient trade route that linked China with Central Asia and Europe, and then into India, Persia and the Mediterranean. You could do the mega four-month Istanbul to Ulaanbaatar odyssey, or a more manageable couple of weeks around the Caspian Sea, starting in Azerbaijan, heading into Iran and finishing in Turkmenistan.

Don’t expect a top human rights record. International events such as Eurovision Song Contest and the European Games held in Baku put the country on the map. It also heightened awareness of human rights abuses, with activists, anti government protestors or journalists speaking out against such abuses arrested and human rights NGO’s s shut down. In 2015, an Amnesty International representative was refused entry. Keep an eye on Amnesty International’s website for updates.

Travelling to the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a disputed territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with a history of violence between military forces on both sides, is not recommended. Although there was a ceasefire in 1994, violent scenarios still occur.

Be prepared for homophobia. Although decriminalised in 2001, little has been done to progress LGBT rights and homophobia is still rife. For example, in 2011, the Azerbaijani gay artist, Babi Badalov, was given asylum in France because he was under threat of an ‘honour killing’.