1. What are the roads like?
Generally the main roads are well enough surfaced for road bikes, although a hybrid or tourer is a better idea as you will no doubt find yourself on a dirt track or off-road, at least occasionally. If you want to go on side roads or up in the hills, you’ll definitely need a hybrid, tourer or mountain bike.
2. What about off-road riding?
Azerbaijan has some beautiful mountainous country and excellent mountain biking. There are few limits on where you can go, except for occasional military zones and the areas occupied by Armenia (roughly speaking, south of Ganja down to the borders with Armenia & Iran), so there is plenty of scope for wild excursions into the hills. Just be careful not to go too not flocks of sheep – the sheepdogs are trained to be aggressive and they will chase & attack cyclists!
3. What’s the weather like?
In the winter months temperatures will be around freezing in Baku and perhaps down to minus 10 ºC in Georgia, with snow on the mountains; in spring & autumn off-road cycling may be very muddy. Late April to September are the driest months, with pleasant temperatures in the hills and up to 40 ºC in Baku.
4. What about safety?
With increasing wealth in Azerbaijan comes increasing traffic, but it’s still fairly quiet on most roads. The busiest roads run northwards from Baku to Quba (Guba) and west from Baku via Gobustan to Ganja through the centre of the country; it’s best to avoid these if possible, although you can ride on dirt tracks alongside these roads for some of the way. There are very few cyclists on the roads here, so don’t expect drivers to be on the alert for you; wearing bright clothes and a helmet is strongly recommended, as medical care may not be available if you have an accident and it’s not much fun to lie in a ditch with a head injury!
5. Any tips for clothing?
Azerbaijan is a Muslim country but dress codes are fairly relaxed; in Baku, few women wear head scarves and a fully veiled woman is a rare sight. Out in the regions, dress is more traditional and you may see fully veiled women, especially down towards the Iran border. Azeri men do not wear shorts in public – there have even been instance of stones thrown at men wearing shorts in some villages – so it is best to bring long trousers.
6. Is there a good guidebook?
Mark Elliott’s guidebook to Azerbaijan & Georgia is the best, with a wealth of detail. There is also a Lonely Planet guidebook for Azerbaijan & Georgia.
7. Are maps available?
The old Soviet maps shown the most detail; the text is in Cyrillic and you can find them online at http://maps.poehali.org/en/ (Baku is around 50ºE and 40ºN) There is a map shop on the north side of Fountain square in central Baku with a very limited selection of maps, better to download them.
8. Can you recommend a route from Georgia through Azerbaijan?
Zaqatala (Zagatala) – should be a good place to stay, interesting town, choice of places to stay and an interesting 6km side trip to Car (Jar).
Qax (Gakh) also looks ok, fewer places to stay than Zaqatala.
Shaki (Seki) is definitely recommended as an overnight stop, as you'll probably want to explore the palace and nearby places such as Kish. Good choice of hotels, including the atmospheric & quite cheap Karavanserai.
Qabala (Gabala) has nice places to stay just a couple of km up the valley going north to Laza, either camping or in cabins in the woods.
Ismaili (Izmayilly) is nothing special; a better place to stay would be about 10km east, then north up the side valley on a rough road/track towards Lahic - there's a campsite maybe 10km up just before the road crosses the river and heads up the remaining 10km or so to Lahic, which is well worth a visit; the side valley up to Lahic is not suitable for road bikes.
From the Ismaili-Shamakha (Samaxi) road, you have three choices to get to Baku:
1. Keep going through Shamakha and Maraza into Baku. The guidebook doesn't list any places to stay in Maraza, plenty of wide open spaces to camp though. This will take you into Xirdalan and NW Baku, towards the velodrome. Very busy roads from Xirdalan into town. If you come this way, stop at the km41 distance marker from Baku and just a couple of minutes walk uphill from the road are some little mud volcanoes, worth a look if you can't visit Qobustan (see below)
2. 10km west of Shamakha, head south over the winding Agsu pass down into the plains, east to Haciqabul, then north via Gobustan to Baku. This would add a lot of distance but Agsu pass would be an interesting road to cycle and the mud volcanoes & stone paintings at Qobustan are a special sight. However, you could also visit Qobustan by bike or bus from Baku so this is probably not the best choice.
3. From Shamakha, head north uphill towards Pirguli (about 600m climbing but a much nicer place to stay than Shamakha), then east to Qizmeydan (also called Astrakhanka) on rough 4WD tracks and across fords through rivers to Alti Agach, Xizi and down a great road past the Candy Cane hills to the main Baku road at Gilazi. The Pirguli-Astrakhanka-Xizi tracks are not suitable for road bikes. The ride back to Baku is on a smooth road but pretty dangerous with lots of fast traffic; if you're on MTBs or fat tyred tourers you could ride beside the road on tracks.
9. What about travel from Azerbaijan further east?
There are ferries across the Caspian from the ferry terminal on Baku Boulevard or you can cycle down to the border and cross into Iran.
10. Can you recommend somewhere to stay in Baku?
There is a good choice of smart hotels like the Hyatt (NW of the city centre) or Park Inn (on the Boulevard) if you want to stay in luxury after a long ride. There is also a wide variety of cheaper places to stay. Two that are conveniently located for cyclists are the Hotel Absheron, on the boulevard next to the terminal for ferries across the Caspian, and the Velodrom hotel next to the old velodrome NW of the city centre, where you may meet local cyclists.
11. Can you recommend places to stay elsewhere in Azerbaijan?
Camping is probably the best way; although there are no organised camping sites, it’s usually easy to find a place to pitch a tent in the countryside. Kerosene & petrol are usually available but other camping stove fuels may be difficult to find. In villages, you may be able to stay in someone’s house if you ask around. Most towns have a Soviet-style hotel, relatively cheap and probably pretty basic. Hotels worth a visit include the Karavanserai in Sheki, Long Forest resort near Alpan W of Quba and Star Qusar on the south bank of the river through Qusar.
12. Are there bike shops in Baku?
There are a very few shops that sell children’s bicycles, but none that sell spares for mountain bikes, road bikes or tourers.
13. What spares do I need to bring?
Bring everything you think you might need – even in Baku, there are very few spares available and we usually have to rely on friends travelling from other countries to bring us parts. If you ask nicely and are very lucky, the Azerbaijani cyclists at the velodrome might just be able to help fix you up with old, used parts, but don’t expect anything new. The major international courier companies can deliver parts to Baku if necessary but this will not be easy to organise while you’re on the road. Recommended spares include spokes & nipples, tyres, tubes, puncture repair kits & a chain (plus chain rivet extractor) as a minimum.
14. What’s worth seeing near Baku?
The mud volcanoes at Gobustan are a unique sight and it’s also a great area for mountain biking. The beaches around Crescent Beach Hotel south of the city are OK but the beaches out on the Absheron peninsula are better. Baku centre is a pleasant place for a stroll and has a good choice of restaurants & bars.
15. Any recommended vaccinations?
Consult your doctor, but you should definitely get a vaccination against hepatitis A as it is widespread in some Asian countries. Typhoid is also recommended and you will be in remote places with a risk of dog bite so consider getting rabies vaccinations - the dogs here are trained to attack and if you do get bitten, you only have limited time to get to a doctor for treatment. There is an International SOS clinic in Baku if you are suitably insured but medical facilities elsewhere are very limited.
16. Are there embassies in Baku?
There are embassies for the US, UK and various EU countries in Baku. One that may be useful for cycle tours is the Iranian embassy, +994 492 8006 / 4407, fax +994 12 498 0733 / 497 1223, www.iranembassyaz.org
17. Anything else?
Have a look at these websites for information & inspiration:
Happy cycling! |
