Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26
By Claude Salhani - Trend:
If you're shopping around for an inexpensive vacation by the beach this summer consider coming to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea.
Azerbaijan as a vacation destination? Seriously? Yes, come see for yourself.
Indeed, few Europeans and even fewer Americans would consider Azerbaijan as a vacation destination. Azerbaijan is located - in the South Caucasus between Russia to the north and Iran to the south. The country itself is peaceful, quiet and safe.
So take a moment and reconsider and give this ancient country known as the Land of Fire the benefit of the doubt, and try it out. You will be pleasantly surprised at what Azerbaijan has to offer.
Sandy beaches within five minutes of downtown - okay, make that 10 minutes with traffic, with luxury hotels that of various categories to accommodate any budget. London-like taxicabs to take you to and from the beaches for just a few dollars.
And perhaps one of the best parts of vacationing in Azerbaijan is the fact that it has yet to be discovered as one of the preferred tourist destinations, so it is very unlikely that you will stumble upon pale faced Europeans boozing it up by the shore.
Granted, the beaches of Azerbaijan is are not the French or Italian Riviera nor is it the Copacabana. But it but it does offer you nice sand beaches at reasonably priced first class accommodations in the safe environment.
Azerbaijan and its capital city Baku have come a long way
since it was part of the Soviet Union. The capital today is a mixture of modernity that partially resemble the skyscrapers that one can see in Dubai, and the ancient city with it's ancient fortress, narrow cobbled streets and picturesque restaurants.
How to get there:
Azerbaijan Airlines flies non-stop from JFK to Baku on newly acquired Airbus jets. Or fly into Istanbul and connect on one a several daily flights linking Istanbul to Baku.
The one setback that many Western tourists are likely to be put off by is the requirement for a visa to enter Azerbaijan. While those are easy to obtain it is still a mental block for many people and doing away with the required visa will go a long way in encouraging more tourism to this country.
The results given here are purely based on this author's assumptions. They do not reflect an official report or statistical finding.
Ten is the maximum positive number and zero is the minimum. The author compared the ten criteria based on his experience living in other major cities, including Paris, London, Brussels and New York.
Thus, Baku gets 10 out of 10 for safety, cost of living and entertainment. The rest of the services, such as transportation, housing, communication, health services, ecology and state of roads are also at a very high level.
This is the third of 10 articles and each one will be looking at one of the topics mentioned here and reflect on the positive and negative aspects.
The first article can be found here.
The second article can be found here.
The third article can be found here
The fourth article can be found here
The fifth article can be found here
Claude Salhani is senior editor at Trend Agency and a political analyst. You can follow Claude on Twitter @ClaudeSalhani