The best time to visit Azerbaijan is between April and October when it’s warm and dry in much of the country. July and August are the best months for reaching mountain villages like Xinaliq, but can be scorching (up to 38°C/100°F) and unbearably humid in Baku. It’s much colder and wetter in the winter and snow, while rare in Baku, is common in the mountains. The biggest national festival (Novruz) climaxes on March 21st with much merriment and even fire-jumping.

Baku (Azerbaijani: Bakı), sometimes known as Baky or Baki, is the capital, the largest city, and the largest port of Azerbaijan. Located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, the city consists of two principal parts: the downtown and the old Inner City (21,5 ha). As of January 1, 2005 the population was 2,036,000 of which 153,400 were internally displaced persons and 93,400 refugees.^[2] Baku is a member of Organization of World Heritage Cities and Sister Cities International.^[3] The city is also bidding for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Baku is divided into eleven administrative districts, or raions (Azizbayov, Binagadi, Garadagh, Narimanov, Nasimi, Nizami, Sabail, Sabunchu, Khatai, Surakhany and Yasamal) and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on islands in the Baku Bay and the town of Oil Rocks built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, 60 km away from Baku.

Azerbaijan (IPA: /ˌæzəbaɪˈʤɑːn/ (UK), /ˌɑzɚbaɪˈʤɑːn/ (US); Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası), is the largest and most populous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan is bordered by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the northwest. Nagorno-Karabakh, along with 7 other districts in Azerbaijan’s southwest, have been controlled by Armenia since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994.^[1] Four United Nations Security Council Resolutions (822, 853, 874, and 884) called for “the withdrawal of occupying forces from occupied areas of the Azerbaijani Republic”^[2] The country’s territory also encompasses several islands in the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan, a nation with an ethnic Azeri and Shi‘ite Muslim majority population,^[3][4] is a secular and unitary republic. The country has been a co-founder of GUAM and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and has been a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States since September 1993.^[5] The country has a Permanent Mission to the European Union, hosts a Special Envoy of the European Commission and is a member of the United Nations, OSCE, Council of Europe, and the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program.