4 independent reviews for Small group vacation in Azerbaijan
Reviews for Small group vacation in Azerbaijan
Edward McPhillips review 3 Oct 2019
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Probably visiting the highest village in europe, and the incredible scenery on the way.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Azerbaijan is a very interesting country, it is also well developed and travelers on a group tour should have no problems.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes in that we ate in local restaurants and obviously tourism employs a lot of peope4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
very good, very well organised, an excellent guideBarbara Hoffmann review 25 Sep 2018
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
The whole trip was memorable, but especially the visits to the three mountain villages...Kish, Lahic and Xinolic. It was very exciting to see seven Caucasian Golden Eagle soaring quite close to us.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Its not as cold in the mountains as you think!3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
On the whole yes. However we would like to have spent longer in Xinolic and used a local guide to show us their shrines and mosques etc.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
A lot packed in to six days, an extra day would have been good, but it was a brilliant trip and Elvin our guide was excellent.Olive O review 3 Jun 2018
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Azerbaijan is a great country and this trip definitely picked the highlights! I loved Baku, it is a great city with all the benefits of modern development including some stunning modern architecture, but also some beautiful historic buildings in the medieval walled city, and in the center of town which has some amazing early 20c mansions built by the first Russian oil barons. However my highlights were the villages that we visited as we travelled through the rest of the country, the best being Xinaliq, a largely unchanged mountain village set amongst beautiful Caucasian mountain scenery. The drive to get there was amazing as well. I also enjoyed Lahic - full of local tourists enjoying the beautiful local crafts and also reached by an impressive mountain drive.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Baku is very westernised with lots of great restaurants and English is widely spoken. However outside the city things are more unpredictable! Choice in restaurants was much more limited despite large menus, but the food was good and well cooked. It was much easier to use ATMs and change money than I expected. Hotels we stayed in were excellent. The weather was mixed, cooler than you might expect especially in the mountain villages.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
All the hotels we stayed in the restaurants were locally owned, and there were loads of lovely things to buy, clearly produced locally.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
On the whole the vacation was excellent, but, probably not very surprisingly, we did not have a wonderful guide and our initial driver was not so good either! Fortunately he was replaced by a much nicer, competent driver after the first 2 days. Our guide was young and inexperienced and tried hard but need a bit more training. Tourism is still new in Azerbaijan so that's to be expected. Personally I didn't mind as I prefer minimal guiding anyway, and can work most things out for myself. He led us around competently but imparted very little information!Read the operator's response here:
Azerbaijan is a great country and this trip definitely picked the highlights! I loved Baku, it is a great city with all the benefits of modern development including some stunning modern architecture, but also some beautiful historic buildings in the medieval walled city, and in the center of town which has some amazing early 20c mansions built by the first Russian oil barons.
Abs Ahmed review 26 Sep 2017
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
The entire trip was both memorable and exciting! Azerbaijan is a beautiful country and has a rich culture, I loved the capital city of Baku a cosmopolitan, vibrant place, where the old historic monuments sit alongside new modern landmarks. The genuine openness of the local people was clear to see who were more than happy to help with directions or places to see in the city. The other locations on route had picturesque scenery and showed an insight into everyday Azeri life and it was clear to see how the culture of the country today is intertwined with the many of the previous settlers that once were in Azerbaijan.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
A top tip would be to be prepared to walk a lot and have suitable footwear, other than that the guide will assist in places other than Baku, when staying in the city it's fairly easy to walk around with the majority of people speaking some degree of English.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes, whereever possible we stuck to routes already marked, and lunches or dinner were always in local restaurants, any other shopping was always done in local stores, as well as this we gave some additional Manat (local currency) to all the places we visited or tipped workers. This is not obligatory.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
The organisation was fantastic, the transport, hotels, locations etc. Our guide Kamilla was professional and polite throughout the trip, always on hand to answer any questions we had. Azerbaijan is a country that isn't brash and loud like some destinations. The appeal of it is in the heritage and history, quiet dainty streets, charming rural areas and the genuine hospitality of the local people. I hope I get to visit again soon.Holiday Reviews
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