Shahdag Mountain Resort and Laza

Shahdag Tourism Center, Azerbaijan'S Main Ski Resort, Opened In 2012, With A Cable Car Based Ski Area Up To About 3,000 M And The 3,700 M Peak Of Shahdag Above. The Nearby Village Of Laza Sits Under Waterfalls, With The Shahdag National Park (2006). · Qusar, Qusar

Shahdag is Azerbaijan's purpose-built mountain resort in the Greater Caucasus, near the town of Qusar in the far north, roughly three to three and a half hours from Baku by road. The Shahdag Tourism Center sits at about 1,500 m, with a gondola and chairlifts that climb to roughly 2,300 to 3,000 m (confirm current heights). It is a modern, tidy resort with hotels, rental shops and ski schools, set inside the Shahdag National Park, created in 2006, where chamois, brown bear and other wildlife live in the high forest and rock. Winter brings skiing and snowboarding, helped by snow-making; summer brings the cable car, a ropes park, a zip line (confirm what runs), hiking and cool air after Baku's heat. Below the resort, the village of Laza sits under waterfalls and offers a quieter, older Azerbaijan. Be honest with yourself: the resort is a polished bubble, comfortable and pricey, not a village. Allow a night or two, book hotels early for winter weekends, and expect cold, thin air at the top stations, even on a sunny day in the valley below.

Ski and summer mountain resort in the Greater Caucasus about 180 km north-west of Baku near Qusar, with the village of Laza and its waterfalls below, Qusar, Qusar, Azerbaijan

The resort runs all year, but the lifts follow the season. Ski lifts usually run from morning to mid-afternoon between roughly December and March, weather and snow permitting. In summer the cable car and activities run on a shorter, weather-led timetable, often weekends and holidays only. Laza village and the waterfall paths are open at all hours and free. Confirm lift days before you drive.

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