Private Gabala – Ismayilli Tour from Baku | Nohur Lake & Tufandag Mountain

Your driver collects you from your hotel in the morning. The route runs north-west out of the capital and climbs steadily into the Ismayilli district, where the landscape changes completely — dense beech and oak forest, fast mountain streams and villages tucked into the hillsides. Photo stops are made wherever the road opens onto a view, and the air is noticeably cooler and fresher than in Baku.

Nohur Lake sits a few kilometres from the town of Gabala, held in a bowl of forested ridges that give the water its distinctive deep green colour. It is the most photographed spot in the region, and with good reason — the tree line runs straight down to the shore and reflects across the surface on still mornings. You have free time here to walk the lakeside path; in the warmer months you can also take a catamaran or boat out on the water, ride horses along the shore, or try the zip line and ATV tracks nearby. Small cafés at the edge of Nohur Lake in Gabala serve tea and grilled food if you want a break.

Back on the Ismayilli side of the range, Basqal is a village of narrow stone lanes, carved wooden doors and an old bathhouse, laid out on a slope with the mountains behind. Its reputation rests on kelaghayi — the fine silk headscarves dyed here by hand using carved wooden blocks and natural pigments, a craft recognised by UNESCO on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Workshops in the village still produce them, and it is one of the few places in the country where you can watch the process and buy directly from the makers.

The final stop is Tufandag Mountain Resort, built on the slopes above Gabala. The cable car climbs from the base station to roughly 1,900 metres, opening a wide panorama over the forested valleys and the higher peaks of the Greater Caucasus. In winter the resort is the country's main ski area; in summer the same lifts serve walkers and sightseers. The mountain roller coaster — a gravity-driven track that runs down through the trees — is the other popular option here. Both are paid separately on site.

You set off back in the late afternoon and are dropped off directly at your hotel in Baku in the evening.