• Watch the flames dance at Yanar Dag (fire mountain), a short distance from Baku, where a 10m (33ft) wall of fire blazes day and night thanks to underground natural gas. Pull up a chair at the nearby chaikhana at sunset.

• Shop for exquisite copper products in the Persian mountain town of Lahic, where great hiking, charming architecture and natural beauty combine for the ultimate mountain escape.

• Uncover glimpses of Zoroastrianism at the Ateshgah Fire Temple in Surakhany. The temple was established by Parsee fire-worshippers living in Baku in the 18th century and Zoroastrians still occasionally stage ritual dances here.

• Discover the remote mountain village of Xinaliq, where you can find a unique ethnic group of 1,000 Tats, who have preserved the original language, customs and traditions of this ancient and threatened Iranian ethnic group from the Caucasus.

• Tour the desolate Absheron Peninsula beyond Baku and explore the 14th-century defensive fortresses built by the Shirvanshahs. The best-preserved of these are those at Ramana, Nardaran and Mardakan.
 
See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.