Travelling Here During Novruz

Novruz is the spring festival that marks the new year across a wide part of Asia. In Azerbaijan it is a five-day public holiday, listed in the Labour Code alongside the fixed calendar dates on the official holidays page.

It falls in the second half of March, around the equinox, and the exact days off are set each year. We will not print a date here, because that is announced annually and a stale figure would send somebody to a closed office.

Why it matters to a visitor

Because the country changes shape for a week. Offices close, many shops close, and a large part of the population travels to the region their family comes from.

None of that spoils a trip. It does mean that the version of Azerbaijan you meet is a domestic one rather than a working one.

What is wonderful about it

The street life. Bonfires, sweets, decorated windows, wheat sprouted in dishes on tables, and a genuine sense of a country doing the same thing at the same time.

The hospitality is at its most visible. If you are invited to something, go, and read our note on how things are done here first.

What is difficult about it

Improvising. A week when many people are off work is a week when the car you wanted is already promised.

Opening hours become unreliable in the ordinary sense. A museum that is normally open may not be, and we will not guarantee any particular place on any particular day.

The roads

They are busier than usual, in one clear direction. The routes out of Baku towards the regions carry the traffic of a whole city going home.

Plan for longer drive times rather than shorter ones. A day trip that normally leaves at nine is better leaving at eight during this period.

Book earlier than you would

This is the practical heart of the page. Cars, drivers and rooms all tighten, and they tighten for a reason that no amount of budget fixes.

Our page on how far ahead to book names this as one of the genuinely tight periods in the Azerbaijani year.

Money and small practicalities

Keep some cash with you. If a shop or a counter you were relying on is shut, you want options rather than a single card.

Fill the car before a regional trip rather than assuming. That is good advice all year and better advice during a holiday week.

Should you avoid it?

No, unless your trip depends on offices, banks or a fixed business schedule. For a leisure trip it is one of the best weeks of the year to be in the country.

The rule is simply that this is not the week for a loose plan. Decide early and the holiday becomes the reason to come rather than an obstacle.

What we can and cannot tell you

We can tell you what a driver’s availability looks like once you give us your dates. We cannot tell you the gazetted days for a future year, and we will not guess at them.

Check the official announcement, then send us the dates you have settled on.

Tell us your dates

Send the dates, the number of travellers and the routes you have in mind. If any of them fall in the holiday period, we will say so plainly and tell you what to lock in first.