From the Caspian to the Tien Shan: Baku, Gobustan, Almaty and Shymbulak, 6 Nights

You are met at Heydar Aliyev International Airport and driven along the coast road into Baku. The afternoon and evening are free. The seafront boulevard is the city’s favourite promenade, and after dark the three Flame Towers above the bay light up in shifting colours.

A guided day that starts within the walls of Icherisheher, Baku’s UNESCO-listed Old City, with the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs. You walk along busy Nizami Street, ride the funicular to Highland Park for the panorama of the bay, and stop at the white, wave-like Heydar Aliyev Centre, with entry included if time allows.

The morning goes south-west, about an hour’s drive, to Gobustan, where thousands of rock carvings of hunters, boats and animals cover the boulders above the Caspian, with a museum to explain them. After lunch you head north-east onto the Absheron peninsula for the Ateshgah fire temple at Surakhani and the flames of Yanar Dag, best seen as the light fades.

A morning transfer to Baku airport for the flight east across the Caspian and Central Asia to Almaty, about three hours in the air, with the clock moving forward an hour. The flight is not part of the land package and is booked with your trip. You are met in Almaty in the afternoon or evening and driven to your hotel.

A short drive up the Medeu valley brings you to Shymbulak, where the gondola climbs in stages to the upper station at more than 3,000 metres, with glaciers and peaks of the Zailiysky Alatau all around. Back in the city in the afternoon, you walk the tree-lined Panfilov promenade and the pedestrian Arbat, with its street artists and cafés.

A guided look at Almaty, from the First President Park and Republic Square to the Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Academy of Sciences and Abay Square. In Panfilov Park stands the pastel-painted Zenkov Cathedral, built entirely of wood. As evening comes you ride the cable car up Kok Tobe hill for the city spread out below the mountains.

Flights home from Almaty often leave in the early hours, so your driver collects you from the hotel before dawn, around half past four, with a packed breakfast for the journey. The transfer to Almaty International Airport takes about half an hour at that time of day.