Weekend from Baku to Quba and Shahdag in a Kia Rio
Weekend from Baku to Quba and Shahdag in a Kia Rio
My name is Anna Novak, I am from Prague, and I came to Azerbaijan for a short autumn holiday. I had four days and wanted to spend two of them in the north — in Quba and up in the mountains near Shahdag.
Getting there by public transport with a fixed schedule did not appeal to me, so I decided on car rental in Baku and took a Kia Rio from Karavan Rent A Car in Baku. For one person it is more than enough and the price is very reasonable.
The car was delivered to my apartment in the centre on Friday evening. Everything was explained clearly, including what to do if the weather turned in the mountains.
The road from Baku to Quba is around one hundred and seventy kilometres of good highway. The Rio is calm and predictable at speed, and the drive took me a little under three hours with a coffee stop.
In Quba I walked through the old streets and the Krasnaya Sloboda quarter across the river. The next morning I drove up towards Shahdag — the mountain road there is excellent and the views are worth every kilometre.
A small car turned out to be an advantage on the narrow village streets, where turning around in something bigger would have been a problem.
Fuel for the whole weekend cost very little, which for a solo traveller matters a lot. On the way back I stopped at the Afurja waterfall without any hurry.
On Sunday evening I returned the car in Baku. The inspection was quick and polite, the deposit came back at once. For a weekend outside the capital I can fully recommend car rental in Baku with this model.
