Yanar Dag

“The Land of Fire” is Azerbaijan’s national motto, indicating how meaningful Yanar Dag is to the country’s culture and identity. Yanar Dag is a core part of most half-day and day trips from Baku, often paired with related attractions such as the Zoroastrian fire temple of Ateshgah and the Gobustan mud volcanoes. Tours usually allow under an hour to visit the fires at Yanar Dag, but you can do a more in-depth visit with a 2-hour guided tour of the reserve and its museum exhibitions.

• Tickets are required to visit the reserve, including the fires at Yanar Dag and its museum.

• Yanar Dag is designed to be family-friendly, with a playground and workshop to keep them entertained.

• Visitors can rent scooters at the reserve to get around more quickly.

• Wear comfortable walking shoes for your visit, as the terrain can be uneven.

Yanar Dag is located north of Baku, near the center of the Absheron Peninsula. You can drive or take a rideshare to Yanar Dag from the city in roughly 30 minutes or use one of the many combinations of metro and bus to reach it in 75 minutes by public transport.

Yanar Dag National Reserve is open daily from morning until the early evening. The flames of Yanar Dag are at their most impressive in low-light conditions, so try to visit in the evening around or after sunset. Because the national reserve is quite exposed to the elements, visiting from December to March during winter can get cold.

While Gobustan is best known for the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, it’s often combined with Yanar Dag because the area is littered with mud volcanoes. Subterranean gases also cause these curious natural phenomena, with hundreds found around Azerbaijan, but the most popular to visit are the ones near Dashgil outside of Gobustan.