Gobustan & Mud Volcanoes tour from Baku: Stone Age rock art

Six thousand rock carvings span 40,000 years of human presence in one UNESCO site.

This nine-hour guided tour from Baku explores Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape—a UNESCO World Heritage site holding over 6,000 rock engravings—plus the mud volcanoes of the Gobustan region and the Ateshgah Fire Temple on the Absheron Peninsula. A professional guide in English or Russian leads the day, and you travel in an air-conditioned vehicle; special off-road transport takes you close to the active mud volcanoes. Lunch at a traditional restaurant and entry fees to Gobustan, the mud volcano site, and the Ateshgah-Yanardag combo ticket are separate costs.

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Gobustan and Absheron Peninsula

• Meet at the starting point
• Visit Bibi-Heybat Mosque
• See mud volcanoes up close
• Tour Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape
• Have lunch at traditional restaurant
• Visit Yanar Dag (Burning Mountain)
• Explore Ateshgah Fire Temple
• Return to starting point

The Experience

The tour starts around 8:30 AM from Baku Old City. Your first stop is the Bibi-Heybat Mosque, built between 1267 and 1300 and rebuilt in the 1990s to its original design. The mosque holds the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum, a descendant of Muhammad, and stands as one of Azerbaijan's major monuments of Islamic architecture. From there, the route heads toward Gobustan.

Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape is the centerpiece—a UNESCO site covering an outstanding collection of more than 6,000 rock engravings created over 40,000 years. The engravings document hunting, fauna, flora and the lifestyles of people who lived there from the Upper Paleolithic through the Middle Ages. You'll visit both the indoor and open-air museum to see exhibits that have survived millennia. The rock art shows cultural continuity from prehistoric times into the medieval period, making it rare for the density and quality of what it preserves.

Next comes the mud volcanoes. Azerbaijan holds 350 of the world's 800 known mud volcanoes, most concentrated in the Gobustan region. Local names for them—"Yanardagh" (burning mountain), "gaynacha" (boiling water) and "bozdag" (grey mountain)—reflect what they do. Because road conditions are rough, you'll travel in a special off-road vehicle to get close enough to witness eruptions. The tour then moves to the Absheron Peninsula to see Yanardag, the iconic Burning Mountain about 23 kilometers north of the Old Town. Natural gas leaks from rocks beneath the surface, creating a wall of flames at the foot of the hill. Marco Polo documented these fires during his travels centuries ago; they have likely burned far longer. The area was declared a historical, cultural and natural reserve in 2007. Your final stop is the Ateshgah Fire Temple, once a sacred site for Zoroastrians and fire-worshippers, where pilgrims and merchants gathered for centuries drawn by the eternal flames. The tour returns you to the starting point by late afternoon.

What’s included

• Professional guide service in English or Russian.
• air-conditioned vehicle for the main route and special off-road transport to the mud volcanoes.
• access to Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape museum and exhibits.
• visits to the Bibi-Heybat Mosque, Yanardag Burning Mountain and Ateshgah Fire Temple.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Azerbaijan Travel

Is this one for you?Book the group tour if you're comfortable meeting other travelers and want the standard rate; choose the private option with pickup and drop-off if you prefer a dedicated guide and flexible timing around your hotel location.

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Top questions

What exactly are the mud volcanoes and will I actually see them erupt?

Mud volcanoes are natural phenomena where natural gas and mud are expelled from the earth due to tectonic shifts and volcanic material below the surface. Azerbaijan has 350 of the world's 800 known mud volcanoes, most in the Gobustan region. On this tour you travel by special off-road vehicle to get close enough to witness eruptions firsthand, which depend on weather conditions.

How old are the rock carvings at Gobustan and what do they show?

Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape holds over 6,000 rock engravings spanning 40,000 years of human history, from the Upper Paleolithic through the Middle Ages. The carvings document hunting, animals, plants and the daily lives of the people who lived there, showing cultural continuity from prehistoric times into the medieval period.

Is the Ateshgah Fire Temple the same as Yanardag, or are they different places?

They are two different sites. Yanardag is the Burning Mountain, a hillside about 23 kilometers north of Baku where natural gas creates a wall of flames at the foot of the summit. The Ateshgah Fire Temple is a separate sacred site on the Absheron Peninsula that once served Zoroastrians and fire-worshippers; both are visited on this tour.

What's included in the tour price and what costs extra?

The tour includes a professional guide in English or Russian and an air-conditioned vehicle for the main route. Lunch at a traditional restaurant, entry to Gobustan Rock Art, the 15 AZN per-person fee for off-road transport to the mud volcanoes, and the 15 AZN combo ticket for Ateshgah and Yanardag are paid separately at the time of the tour.

Can I book this as a private tour or does it run as a group?

You can choose between a group tour or a private tour with pickup and drop-off at your hotel when you book. Both options follow the same nine-hour itinerary and include the same guide service and vehicle.