Where to Stay in Lankaran, Lankaran Rayon

What is Lankaran known for?

On the coast near the Iranian border, in a warm wet corner unlike the dry rest of the land, it grows tea and rice in the mild air, and it keeps an old prison tower and a khan's palace in the town, the tea and citrus gardens of the coast, the ancient Hirkan forest on the hills behind, and the villages of the Talysh people in the mountains. The green hills run wet and warm. The Caspian lies to the east.

What are the main landmarks in Lankaran?

The old prison tower stands at the heart of Lankaran. The round brick tower, a relic of the fortress that the Russians once stormed, rises among the streets of the town, the emblem of the city, in the centre. A khan's palace lies nearby.

The old palace of the Talysh khans keeps its carved rooms in the town, while the tea gardens, the bazaar mosques, and the green Hirkan forest mark the country around Lankaran.

What is the history of Lankaran?

Lankaran was the seat of a Talysh khan. In the days before Russia came, the town was the capital of a small khanate on the Caspian shore, ruled by the Talysh khans in a palace by the sea. Russia took the coast.

In the early nineteenth century Russia seized Lankaran after a hard siege of its fortress, and the town passed under the tsars, its old prison tower still standing from those days. Tea and gardens made the modern town. In the warm wet climate of the coast, tea, rice, and citrus were planted, and Lankaran grew as the garden town of the Azerbaijani south, its tea prized across the land.

The forest kept its wildness. Behind the town the ancient Hirkan forest, a relic of a world before the ice ages, climbed the Talysh hills full of rare trees and beasts, and Lankaran kept its tea, its forest, and its Talysh ways. The green hills still climb behind.

Lankaran keeps its gardens and its forest on the Caspian.

Where is Lankaran?

Lankaran lies in the far south of Azerbaijan, on the Caspian coast near Iran. The city sits on a narrow humid plain between the sea and the Talysh mountains, where warm damp air off the Caspian keeps the coast green, with tea gardens and paddy fields around and thick forest climbing the hills. Green lowland runs unbroken down to the Caspian.

Wooded mountains rise inland.

What is the climate of Lankaran?

Warmth and moisture define Lankaran's subtropical climate. Warm wet weather holds much of the year on the coast, softer and greener than the rest of the land, with heavy rain in autumn and mild damp winters. The rain keeps the hills green.

Mist hangs in the forest.

How do you get to Lankaran?

Lankaran lies in the far south, on the coast road down to the Iranian border. Roads and buses run to it along the Caspian from Baku and up from the border, and a small airport serves the town. Lanes run out to the tea gardens.

Baku lies north up the coast.