Baku Old City (Icheri Sheher)

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Walled City Of Baku With The Shirvanshah'S Palace And Maiden Tower (2000, Listed In Danger 2003 2009). A Walled Medieval Quarter Of Narrow Lanes, Caravanserais And Mosques, With The 12th Century Maiden Tower And The 15th Century Palace Of The Shirvanshahs. · Baku, Baku

Icheri Sheher, the Inner City, is the walled medieval core of Baku, set on a slope above the Caspian Sea and listed by UNESCO since 2000. Its limestone lanes are narrow, steep and cobbled, and people still live behind the walls, so you will pass laundry, cats and schoolchildren between the monuments. The two anchors are the Maiden Tower (Qiz Qalasi), a 12th century cylindrical tower with a viewing deck, and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, a 15th century complex of courts, a mausoleum and a mosque. Between them sit the Juma Mosque, two old caravanserais now used as restaurants, small museums, carpet shops and a modest antique market. It is compact and easy to cover in half a day, but it rewards slow walking. Summers are hot, winters are windy and raw (Baku means wind), and the restaurants closest to the gates are the most expensive and the least good. Most visitors need an e-visa, arranged online before travel, and a few museums charge foreigners more than residents.

Walled medieval core of Baku above the Caspian waterfront, entered through the Gosha Gala gates near Fountain Square, with the Maiden Tower at the seaward edge, Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan

The lanes and gates are open at all hours and cost nothing to enter. The Maiden Tower and the Shirvanshah Palace have their own tickets and open roughly from morning to early evening, with the palace often shut on some weekday (check locally, Monday is common). Shops and cafes open late morning and run into the evening. Early morning is quiet, and the walls look best at dusk. Confirm every museum day before you go.

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