Gobustan
Boulder hills south-west of Baku carved with more than six thousand figures of boats, hunters and dancers, a stone that rings like a drum, and mud volcanoes bubbling on the plain below.
- Arrival
- Heydar Aliyev International · GYD
- To the reserve
- About 65 km south-west of Baku
- Private jets
- ASG Business Aviation terminal at GYD
- Best time
- May to October
The city
A gallery cut into the rock.
On three outcrops of the plateau, Boyukdash, Kichikdash and Jinghirdag with the Yazylytepe hill, people left more than six thousand engravings: hunters, animals, boats and dancers, drawn when this dry country was wetter and full of game. Protected since 1966, the landscape was inscribed by UNESCO in 2007, and a museum at the reserve has told its story since 2011.
Near Boyukdash a Roman centurion of the Twelfth Legion carved his name under the emperor Domitian, the farthest east any Latin inscription has been found. Gobustan and the nearby Caspian shore hold some three hundred of the world’s seven hundred mud volcanoes; a visitor complex with therapeutic baths opened among them in 2024.
Arriving
Through Baku’s airport, then south along the Caspian.
Heydar Aliyev International, on the far side of Baku, is the gateway; the reserve lies about sixty-five kilometres south-west of the capital, so the drive passes through or around the city.
- Kuwait City 1 h 55
- Beirut 2 h 10
- Muscat 2 h 55
- Geneva 4 h 55
- Marrakech 7 h 00 long-range jet
When to go
May to October.
The figures are Baku’s, about sixty-five kilometres away. Rain is scarce in every month, and almost absent in July. May, June, September and October are mild; July and August reach thirty degrees on the open plateau.
- 7° J 23
- 6° F 23
- 10° M 25
- 17° A 26
- 22° M 13
- 27° J 9
- 30° J 2
- 30° A 7
- 26° S 17
- 19° O 31
- 14° N 31
- 9° D 26
What to see and do
Days in and around Gobustan.
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Landmark
The petroglyphs
Boats, hunting scenes and lines of dancers carved into the boulders, with caves and burial sites among them.
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Landmark
Gaval Dash
A slab about two metres long at the entrance that rings like a tambourine when struck with a pebble.
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Landmark
The mud volcanoes
Some of the three hundred mud cones of the Caspian shore, a twenty-kilometre road away from the rock art, with a visitor complex since 2024.
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Culture
Gobustan Petroglyph Museum
Opened in December 2011 inside the reserve, its twelve rooms use touchscreens, a 3D cinema and archaeological finds to explain the carvings outside.
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Wildlife
Shirvan National Park
Created in 2003 to save the goitered gazelle, the steppe park now holds about 7,000 of them, seen from off road vehicles and an observation deck.
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Culture
Bibi-Heybat Mosque
Blown up in 1936 and rebuilt from 1998, the shrine on Baku Bay keeps the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum, a daughter of the seventh Shia Imam.
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Culture
Icherisheher, the Old City of Baku
Within the walled town stand the fifteenth century Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the 28 metre Maiden Tower, inscribed together by UNESCO in 2000.
Official site -
Culture
Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum
Founded in 1967, the collection of more than 6,000 Azerbaijani carpets moved in 2014 into Franz Janz's building shaped like a rolled carpet on the seafront boulevard.
Where to stay
In Baku, about an hour’s drive away.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
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Four Seasons Hotel Baku A beaux-arts palace of 171 rooms by the Old City walls, with suites tucked into its corner turrets, and Forbes Five-Star.
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Fairmont Baku, Flame Towers Two hundred and ninety-nine rooms and suites, and nineteen serviced apartments, in the glass towers above the Old City and the sea.
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JW Marriott Absheron Baku Facing the capital’s great square, with OroNero for Italian cooking.
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Hilton Baku Set in the business district, within a walk of the city centre.
Where to dine
Where to book in Baku.
No MICHELIN Guide covers Azerbaijan and there is no high-end table near the rock art. This is the Italian restaurant of the Four Seasons in Baku, which the hotel presents as fine dining.
- Zafferano Signature restaurant, Four Seasons Hotel Baku Italian Four Seasons, Baku seafront, about 65 km away
Elsewhere in Azerbaijan
More reasons to come.
Flying to Gobustan?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.