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Quba

Apple Orchards, Carpets and the Gate to Khinalug

Plan this trip
1 dayIdeal stay₹2,800From / night₹1,120Food / dayFreeEntry

A market town three hours north of Baku, among apple orchards at the foot of the Caucasus, and the base for Khinalug and the mountain villages. Across the river is Qirmizi Qasaba (the Red Settlement), one of the few all-Jewish towns left outside Israel and the United States, with its synagogues. Quba is known for its carpets, its apples and the Tengi canyon and Afurja waterfall on the way to Khinalug. In summer Baku families fill the forest resorts around it.

Highlights

  • Qirmizi Qasaba and its synagogues
  • Quba carpets
  • Apple orchards in autumn
  • Tengi canyon
  • Afurja waterfall

Things to do

  • Qirmizi Qasaba (Red Settlement) walkMorning · 2h
  • Tengi canyon & Afurja waterfallAfternoon · 3h
  • Carpet workshop visitAny time · 1h

Tours & tickets

Tours & tickets in Qubavia GetYourGuideTours & tickets in Qubavia Klook

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When to go

Best time: May – October

Heads up

Stay Out of the Border Zones and Karabakh

Stay away from the Armenian and Iranian border areas, and do not go to Karabakh and the districts around it without an organised, permitted trip: there are landmines. The places in this plan are far from both.

Heads up

Novruz Holidays (around 20–21 March)

Novruz, the spring New Year, brings about five days of public holiday: bonfires, sweets and concerts, but offices and some museums close, and buses and hotels out of Baku fill with families heading to the regions. Book transport and hotels early for that week.

Heads up

Ramadan (expected 8 Feb – 9 Mar 2027)

Azerbaijan is secular and restaurants stay open by day; Ramadan changes little for visitors. Dress modestly and keep your voice down at mosques, and expect busy roads around the two-day Ramazan Bayrami holiday at its end.

  • Novruz — The spring New Year and the country's biggest holiday, around the equinox, with about five days off. Bonfires that people jump over, painted eggs, samani (sprouted wheat) on every table, shekerbura and pakhlava pastries, and concerts in Baku's Old City and on the Boulevard. Offices and some museums close, and Azerbaijani families head to Gabala, Quba and Shahdag, so book hotels and buses out of Baku early.
  • Ramadan — Expected from about 8 February to 9 March 2027. Azerbaijan is secular: restaurants, cafés and bars stay open and most people do not fast, so a visitor notices little beyond iftar menus. Be discreet near mosques.
  • Ramazan Bayrami (Eid al-Fitr) — Two days of public holiday at the end of Ramadan (expected about 9-10 March 2027), close to Novruz: some years the holidays run together into a long break, and the roads and resorts out of Baku are busy.
  • Qurban Bayrami (Eid al-Adha) — Two days of public holiday (expected about 16 May 2027); families travel to the regions.
  • Quba apple harvest — Autumn is apple season in Quba's orchards, with roadside stalls along the Baku road and, in some years, an apple festival in town. A good time for the north before the cold sets in at Khinalug.