Things to Do in Old City (Icherisheher)

Icherisheher hides behind 12th-century fortress walls in the middle of Baku. Walking through an arched gate drops you straight off a modern boulevard into a neighborhood thick with charcoal smoke and black tea. The lanes sit so narrow that you can brush both stone walls with your fingertips. Limestone underfoot shows centuries of smooth foot traffic.

Stray cats nap in doorways while laundry hangs from wrought-iron balconies above. A carved wooden screen somewhere nearby hides the low murmur of a tuning tar. This oldest inhabited quarter of Baku holds UNESCO World Heritage Site status. It wears the title lightly anyway. You will feel a living neighborhood rather than a museum piece.

Visitors usually fall into two groups. Some seek medieval architecture. The Maiden Tower and the 15th-century Palace of the Shirvanshahs lead that crowd. Others simply wander without maps until they find a courtyard cafe squeezing pomegranate juice to order. Everyone leaves happy here. Icherisheher moves at a slower pace than Baku's glass waterfront.

Shopkeepers perch on low stools outside carpet stalls. Nobody cares if you examine a hand-knotted Shirvan rug for twenty minutes. The Old City stays compact though. A slow afternoon covers most grounds. Evening brings a quieter mood. Lantern light catches the sandstone. Only footsteps echo off the walls.

Icherisheher is compact enough that walking is the only practical way to move through it, and honestly the only way you would want to. The lanes are too narrow and irregular for cars, most are pedestrian-only, and even the ones that technically allow vehicles tend to be blocked by a parked Lada or a carpet seller's display.

From the Shamakhi Gate on the west side to the Maiden Tower on the southeast takes about ten minutes at a comfortable pace, though you will likely triple that once you start ducking into courtyards and side alleys. The nearest metro station is Icherisheher on the green line, which drops you right at the western wall. Baku's purple-line buses also stop along the boulevard south of the walls.

A taxi from most parts of central Baku to the Old City gates is cheap by European standards and takes under fifteen minutes outside of rush hour. Once inside the walls, wear shoes with decent grip as the polished limestone gets slippery after rain.