Day Tour to Gobustan Reserve, Mud Volcanoes, Fire Temple and Mardakan Castle
20 EUR
Discover the best sights of Azerbaijan on this fun-filled day trip. See ancient rock carvings at Gobustan Reserve, witness the phenomenon of the Mud Volcanoes, visit Mardakan Castle and hear the stories behind the sights from your local guide.
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Available in
- English
I love Baku - its windy weather, magnificent architecture, mystical history and welcoming people. This city inspires me. I was born in Baku and have studied tourism and hospitality management.
Read moreHighlights
- Get to know the history of Baku’s Maiden Tower
- Visit the Gobustan Museum and historical site
- Admire the incredible landscape of the mud volcanoes
- Dive deep into the history of Zoroastrianism
- See the Ateshgah Fire Temple
- Step back into the Middle Ages at the Mardakan Castle
Description
The tour starts at the Maiden Tower, the symbol of Baku, with an overview of how the building was used throughout the centuries.
From the UNESCO-listed heart of the city, we’ll move to another UNESCO site - Gobustan Reserve, which is home to more than 6,000 rock engravings dating back 40,000 years. You'll be able to see settlements of ancient people and evidence of the culture of the Stone Age.
The next destination is one of the world’s natural wonders, the Gobustan Mud Volcanoes. We will need to take separate transport to this location (not included).
Azerbaijan has the most mud volcanoes of any country in the world and locals use the clay to treat a range of diseases from skin rashes to rheumatism. You'll be amazed by this sight!
We will then stop for a short lunch break.
During the tour, we’ll also visit a holy place for Zoroastrians - the Ateshgah Fire Temple where fire worshippers have gathered for several centuries.
Our final stop will be the Mardakan Castle, which has withstood several attacks. Here, you’ll feel as if you’ve stepped into the Middle Ages.
Read moreWhat’s included & not included
- Private English-speaking guide
- Private transportation (except from Gobustan to the mud volcanoes)
- Admission to the Gobustan Museum and historical site (petroglyphs)
- Admission to the Ateshgah Fire Temple
- Admission to the Mardakan Castle
- Lunch
- Transport from Gobustan to Mud Volcanoes
Meeting point
Maiden tower, hotel where the guest stays at, etc.
Reviews from travellers (14)
Our guide Nijat was friendly, funny and knowledgeable. There were only two of us on the tour but we felt at ease straight away. The car picked us up where we were staying and we headed to Qobustan which included petroglyphs, fantastic Azeri landscape and the mud volcanoes! The drive to the mud volcanoes was fantastic. We travelled in a local soviet era taxi and it was off road. Very bumpy fun. I was smiling the whole time. The mud volcanoes themselves were unreal. Felt like we were on a different planet.
After that we headed to the Fire Temple. Very interesting history!
Our final stop was a small 'castle' which was more like a tower but it was so cool. It's looked after by a local man who was very friendly (we also got to see the super cute kittens in his garden).
Overall it was a great day out. We couldn't recommend this tour enough. Baku is well worth visiting and we would go on this tour again!
Nijat is a superb tour guide who will go great lengths to ensure that his guests leave with good memories of their trip to Azerbaijan. I’ve taken a lot of tours in a lot of places, but this one truly stood out because of Nijat - his guide style is really engaging (evidence of his previous training as a teacher!) and he genuinely wants to share his home country with visitors.
Definitely glad I ended up booking with Nijat! Was a great experience and the highlight of my Baku weekend.

With plenty of useful tips we were sure to get the best of Baku in the next couple of days.


This operator has 13 reviews for other tours

- Full refund if you cancel up to 72 hours before the tour
- No booking fees
- Pay by credit card or PayPal