Baku Boulevard: A Guide to the Seaside National Park

Baku Boulevard is the park that runs along the Caspian shore in central Baku. Its official name is the Seaside National Park. A state body, the Seaside Boulevard Department, runs it. This page uses the Department’s figures and hours, and those of azerbaijan.travel and Baku Metro.

Our other Baku pages treat the Boulevard as the place to end a walk. This one covers the park itself: its sections, its rides and boats, and the buildings along it.

From a strip of trees to 16.7 km

The Boulevard began in 1909. On 7 April that year, the engineer Mammadhasan Hajinsky put the plan to the Baku City Duma. The first stretch ran from the Stone Wharf, now Azneft Square, to the building that is now the Puppet Theatre.

It grew in stages. By the 1970s it was 3.7 km long. On 29 December 1998 a presidential decree made it a National Park. In 2001 it joined the list of historical and cultural monuments of national importance. The Department itself was set up in 2008.

Today the Department gives these figures.

Part of the park	Where it runs	Length
Whole National Park	All sections together	16.7 km
New Boulevard	Baku Sports Palace to State Flag Square	1.8 km
Bayil Boulevard	State Flag Square to Bibi-Heybat	9.2 km
White City Boulevard	Sea Trade Port to Hotel Boulevard	2.7 km

The whole park covers 215.164 hectares. Baku Metro adds that it spans three city districts: Sabail, Nasimi and Khatai. So “the Boulevard” can mean a short evening stroll or a long day on foot or by bike. Pick the section first.

Getting there

Baku Metro names Sahil as the nearest station to the park. It also lists Freedom Square and the area near the Puppet Theatre as main ways in.

The park is long, so no single station serves all of it. For the Carpet Museum, Baku Metro lists Icherisheher as the nearest station. Use the station that matches the part you want to see.

Rides and boats: hours the Department publishes

The Department publishes hours for its main rides. We do not quote prices here, because they can change.

Ride	Hours	Length of ride
Baku Eye (Panorama)	Daily, 12:00 to 20:00	Not stated
Mirvari boat trip	Daily, 14:00 to 21:00	30 to 40 min
Train tour, summer	10:00 to 23:00	20 to 25 min
Train tour, winter	13:00 to 21:00	20 to 25 min

The Baku Eye is the big wheel. It stops in extreme cold and in strong wind, for safety. Children under 6 ride free.

The Mirvari boat seats 450. It leaves from the pier in front of the Sea Terminal. You cannot book ahead. You pay and pick a time on the spot. There is a café on board, and you may bring your own food. The boat is heated. It runs on holidays but not in bad weather. Children under 6 travel free.

The train tour follows the same path every day. The Department lists its route as Azneft Square to the Seaport.

Baku is windy. Both the wheel and the boat stop in bad weather, so keep a spare slot in your plan.

Bikes and scooters

The tourism board notes that bikes and electric scooters can be rented along the Boulevard. The Department runs five bike parks.

Bike park	Open daily
New Boulevard	08:00 to 23:00
White City	08:00 to 22:00
Flag Square	15:00 to 22:00
Boulevard Hotel	15:00 to 22:00
Aquatic Palace	15:00 to 22:00

Bring your passport or another ID. Without one, you must leave a deposit and sign a form.

Museums and halls on the Boulevard

Several cultural sites sit inside the park. The Department lists these.

• Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. The Department says it holds the world’s largest collection of Azerbaijani carpets. Baku Metro lists its hours as 10:00 to 18:00.
• Puppet Theatre. The building opened in 1910 as the Phenomen cinema.
• International Mugham Center. It opened on 27 December 2008. It has a 350-seat concert hall, and its shape recalls the tar, a national lute.
• Stone Chronicle Museum on State Flag Square. It opened on 8 June 2015, in a power station built in 1921.
• Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, founded in 2011, and the Painting Museum, opened in June 2015. Both are on State Flag Square.
• Crystal Hall, built for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.

The tourism board also mentions Deniz Mall nearby. At the Bayil end, past Flag Square, it lists the Surakhani ship museum, the world’s first oil tanker museum.

Old landmarks to look for

A few older features carry the park’s history.

• Mirvari Café, built in 1962. The Department says only three countries have a building of this kind.
• The Parachute Tower, from 1936. It is 75 m tall. People now call it the Clock Tower. It shows the time and the weather.
• The Swans fountain. It was replaced in 2007 and restored in its old form in 2018.
• The Seven Beauties Musical Fountain, opposite Government House. It has run since 24 December 2018.
• Little Venice, a small area of canals and bridges from the 1950s and 1960s.

There are also chess boards set into the ground, which the Department says people use all year.

Arranging it

The Boulevard is easy to do alone. RH Travel helps when you want more in one day. That could be the Old City in the morning, a driver to the far end of Bayil, and a pick-up after the boat trip. Tell us your dates and your hotel area, and we will plan the day around the parts of the park you want.