Baku one of world’s best party cities according to Lonely Planet

Baku has earned a stamp of approval from the well known travel company Lonely Planet as one of the world’s top 10 party cities. This list is part of Lonely Planet’s new guide, the “1000 Ultimate Experiences”.

"1000 Ultimate Experiences" organized into categories like "Top 10 places to go skinny-dipping" (including Formentera, Spain); "Dreamiest fairy-tale destinations" (Germany's Black Forest), "Ultimate party cities" (where they unexpectedly placed Baku, Azerbaijan on the 8th place), and "Essential experiences to make time stand still" (Petra, Jordan).

Baku has a reputation for offering a vibrant nightlife, and many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. Some of the most popular discotheques and night clubs include, "X-Site", "Le Chevalier" at Grand Hotel Europe, "Zagulba Disco Club" and "Le Mirage". Most of them are open till the early hours of the morning.
According to Lonely Planet, Baku is one of world's top 10 party cities for having ultimate experience:

1. Belgrade, Serbia -The long years of bad press that kept Serbia off the map have now passed, and foreigners are now realising what locals always knew - that Belgrade really rocks. With an exuberant population and its legacy as an intellectual hangout, Belgrade offers varied nightlife, ranging from eclectic watering holes for those in the know, to the busy restaurants and bars of the Skadarlija district and the summer clubs in barges on the Sava and Danube Rivers.

2. Montreal, Canada - Easygoing Montreal is increasingly popular with foreign travellers, who enjoy the joie de vivre of a place with bilingual ambience, good local beer and even skiing at nearby Mt Royal. Montreal's irrepressible student population and atmospheric old quarter give the city a light-hearted, Bohemian air. There are Old World cafes, cool jazz clubs, packed discos and late bars to choose from, plus a popular comedy festival each July.

3. Buenos Aires, Argentina - With its unique mix of European and South American cultures, and a native passion for dance, the Argentine capital provides fertile ground for lively nightlife. There's an emphasis on fashion and a diverse range of entertainment offerings in Buenos Aires' barrios. Relax at a swinging jazz club or dance all night by the waterfront; some clubs and cultural centers offer classes so you can learn to tango or salsa like a local. There's everything from Irish pubs and local folk to house parties.

4. Dubai, United Arab Emirates - For those who can afford it, the world capital of conspicuous consumption is unbeatable. Dubai's extravagance is way over the top, with ultraluxury hotels on artificial islands, slick modern malls and tonnes of precious metals glittering in shops. Yet Dubai is also a cosmopolitan place, so if you're not invited to party on board the private yacht of a celebrity, you can always mingle with people from around the world in the swank bars and clubs of the Middle East's most decadent desert getaway.

5. Thessaloniki, Greece - Greece's second city has style, with plenty of fashionable shops and salons. Thessaloniki boasts great nightlife during those long months when more famous Greek destinations are deep in hibernation, from arty cafes to Latin bars to discos pumping out house music to salacious bouzoukia (clubs featuring twangy, Eastern-flavoured Greek folk-pop). That's plenty to keep you occupied after you've traversed the sublime Byzantine churches, museums and ruins. It's not cheap, but no Greek city save Athens compares.

6. La Paz, Bolivia - Don't forget that liquor goes to the head quickly in the Bolivian capital, well over 3000 m above sea level. Get hot and sweaty in one of many slick nightclubs, which cater to chic locals and the foreign contingent. The natives are friendly and, with a steady stream of travellers, it's a town of many tongues. World-class bars, swank cafes and restaurants serenading with traditional music round out the offerings. Buy traditional Aymara herbs at the Witches' Market (Mercado de Brujas) to ward off hangovers and bothersome spirits.

7. Cape Town, South Africa - With the 2010 World Cup bringing a global audience to South Africa, the partying will only get harder as travellers converge on a city already well known for nightlife. Luxuriate on some of the world's best beaches by day and kick back under the moonlight at suave cocktail bars by night. Two hours east, in the Indian Ocean, lies the elegant beach village of Mossel Bay, with more great beaches and chic flair. Visitors must try some of the wines crafted by South Africa's world-renowned vintners, either at a Cape Town bar or at one of several wineries nearby.

8. Baku, Azerbaijan - Since the 1990s, when it started taking off as a hub for Caspian Sea oil and gas, Baku has been transformed and this newfound economic stimulation hasn't failed to influence urban nightlife. The cash injection from energy projects, enhanced by the presence of thousands of international oil workers and wealthy consultants, has turned Baku into an oasis of excess in an otherwise fairly traditional Muslim country.

9. Auckland, New Zealand - Myriad cafes, bars and dinner clubs cater to a hip young clientele. Try the glittering waterfront for smart bars, and hit the happening clubs (some stay open 24 hours). There are plenty of live shows on offer too, from folk in Devonport to louder sounds at Mt Eden. And you can always walk off the Sky Tower - the southern hemisphere's tallest structure - a 328m cable-controlled drop in which jumpers reaches a speed of 85kph.

10. Tel Aviv, Israel - Like elsewhere in the Mediterranean, Israel's capital gets going late. The endless bars, pubs and cocktail venues start to fill up by midnight, from which point the nightclubs get revved up with dancing till dawn. Nowadays an international crowd joins Israelis for a mixed bag of funk, pop, house and techno at the city's dozens of entertainment hotspots. Tel Aviv has a relaxed air, and prides itself on being gay-friendly and outgoing.

Baku Information from History Encyclopedia

Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan and a major port on the Caspian Sea. The city was first taken by Peter I in the 1710s and held for two decades. The entire region of Caucasia was conquered by Russian forces in a war against Iran in the 1800s and confirmed by the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan.

Baku has meant two things to Russia: oil and strikes. The former has had the more enduring significance. The Baku oil fields were the object of Russian desire since the occupation by Peter I. Significant output began only with drilling in the 1870s. The oil rush of the last third of the nineteenth century brought thousands of Russian peasants to the Baku region to work in the oil fields. By the imperial census of 1897, the Russians were nearly as numerous as the native Azerbaijani Turks (approximately 37,400 to 40,000). By the 1903 city census, the Russians outnumbered them (57,000 to 44,000). Other national groups came to Baku. Armenians were a small but economically powerful minority with long-established communities, mostly involved in trade. Iranian Azerbaijanis crossed the border in large numbers. They were part of the same ethnic and religious group, speaking the same language as did the local residents. There were also communities of Georgians, Jews, Germans, and peoples from the Caucasus Mountains. Europeans arrived as investors, engineers, and skilled technicians. By 1900, Baku had a telephone system, European-style buildings, and an active City Council (Duma). It had a relatively high crime rate and a reputation akin to that of the Wild West in North America.

In the dangerous conditions of the oil fields, a labor movement emerged around the turn of the century. The Russian Social Democrats regarded Baku's activity as an alarm bell for the strike movement across the southern part of the empire. Baku provided a training ground for such future luminaries as Grigory Ordzhonikidze and Josef Stalin. For a time under Menshevik leadership, the Baku Committee of the party permitted the formation of a special party only for the Muslim workers, the Hummet. Class solidarity usually broke down along national lines, however, and the violence occasionally led to arson in the oil fields. In 1918 a Bolshevik-led government, known as the Baku Commune, ran the city briefly before the city fell to the invading Turkish army. Baku was the capital of the independent Republic of Azerbaijan (1918 - 1920) and, from April 1920 to 1991, of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.

Although Baku's oil was largely depleted by the 1920s, the city was a target of Nazi advances in World War II. The Soviet Gosplan invested very little in the oil industry in Baku after the war and left its infrastructure to languish.

In the post-Soviet period, offshore drilling has taken the place of the old wells as a prize for foreign investors. Russia has tried, again, to maintain access to the oil and has fought proposals by Azerbaijan and foreign oil companies that seek to route the oil around Russian pipelines and Black Sea ports.

 

Tours Hotels in Baku Apartments in Baku Azerbaijan Visa Photo Gallery Cities Transport About Azerbaijan Payments