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Travel and Tourism in Azerbaijan
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Azerbaijan.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
- Time Difference
- UTC+4 (9 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- 1.526
- Climate
- The climate generally follows the topography, temperatures falling and precipitation rising with increasing elevation, although the southeastern corner of Azerbaijan, including its lowlands, is the wettest part of the country. The mean July temperature in the lowlands is 77°-81°F, with temperatures sometimes exceeding 100°F in Baku. The average January temperature in the lowlands is 32°-37°F. Highland temperatures average around 40°F in July and below 14°F in January. Annual precipitation averages less than 11 inches along most of the coast and in most of the Kura Depression; 12-35 inches in the foothills and mid-altitude highlands; 39-51 inches along the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus, and 47-71 inches in the southeastern Lenkoran Region. These climatic variations produce wet subtropical conditions in the Lenkoran lowlands where citrus fruits are grown; temperate semidesert on the Apsheron Peninsula and Kura lowlands; temperate moist conditions at middle elevations; and subalpine and alpine environments at the highest. Baku is marked by mild winters and hot summers. Rain can be fairly frequent, though usually light, in fall and winter, but is infrequent in the summer. In winter, the city is subject to severe north or northwest winds, but snow is infrequent.
- Language(s) Spoken
- Azerbaijani (Azeri) (official) 92.5%, Russian 1.4%, Armenian 1.4%, other 4.7%
- Ethnic Groups
- Azerbaijani 91.6%, Lezghin 2%, Russian 1.3%, Armenian 1.3%, Talysh 1.3%, other 2.4%
- National Holiday
- Republic Day (founding of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan), 28 May (1918)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 40 30 N, 47 30 E
- Location
- Southwestern Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia, with a small European portion north of the Caucasus range
- Airports
- 67
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
Nagorno-Karabakh and the Western Regions
The western regions of Azerbaijan, including the historically and politically fraught territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, are undergoing a profound transformation that makes travel there a complex and emotionally layered experience. This is territory where the recent past is physically present in destroyed buildings, overgrown towns, displaced populations, and ongoing reconstruction, and any traveler who comes here must engage honestly with that reality rather than treating it as mere backdrop.
Following the Second Karabakh War of 2020 and the subsequent 2023 military operation that ended the self-declared Armenian republic in the region, Azerbaijan reestablished control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts for the first time since the early 1990s. The ethnic Armenian population of the region, roughly 100,000 to 120,000 people, departed almost entirely to Armenia in September and October 2023.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
There is one Western-type medical clinic operating in Baku, run by International SOS, which provides 24-hour care of quality comparable to that in Western countries. It is adequate for urgent care and minor acute medical problems only. Surgeries, unless urgent for life-saving problems, are not advisable here. There is often a shortage of basic medical supplies, including disposable needles and vaccines.