Yanardag: Visiting the Burning Mountain

Yanardag means “burning mountain” in Azerbaijani. It is a low hill in the village of Mammadli, on the Absheron Peninsula, where gas leaks out of the rock and burns without a break. The reserve that protects it puts the distance from Baku at around 27 km.

This page uses the reserve’s own website, yanardag.az, and the Azerbaijan Tourism Board’s site, azerbaijan.travel. We read both on 30 September 2026.

Yanardag at a glance

• What it is: a wall of natural gas flame at the foot of a hill, plus a museum and an open-air stone exhibition.
• Where: Mammadli village, Absheron Peninsula, around 27 km from Baku.
• Status: a State Historical, Cultural and Natural Reserve since a presidential decree of 2 May 2007.
• Size: 64.55 hectares.
• Hours: every day, 10:00 to 19:00, according to the reserve’s site.
• Who runs it: the State Tourism Agency, since a Cabinet of Ministers resolution of 7 June 2018.

Why does the hill burn?

The reserve gives a plain answer. Tectonic shifts and volcanic material under the ground let natural gas escape through the rock. Where the gas meets the air, it burns.

The Tourism Board adds two details. The flames sometimes reach 10 metres. And Marco Polo described them in his memoirs in the 13th century. The reserve thinks the fire is probably older than that.

The hill that went out

Across from the flame is a second hill. The reserve says it burned for thousands of years with three separate flames. Then the gas moved, as the ground shifted, and those fires died a few hundred years ago.

The reserve links those three flames to the symbol of Baku, which shows three flames and the sea. It presents this as a belief, not a proven fact, and so do we.

Fires like this once burned in more places on Absheron. According to the reserve, Zoroastrians used them as sacred sites in ancient times.

What you see inside the reserve

The flame is the reason people come. But the reserve is built so that you can spend more than ten minutes here.

The site map lists a ticket office with information and toilets, a museum, a café and souvenir shop, a workshop and a children’s playground. There is also an open-air Cromlech stone exhibition and an amphitheatre. The burning hill sits beside them.

The museum uses 3D models and video, not only glass cases. Its exhibition page lists a light-and-shadow room and a modern installation by the Azerbaijani artist Huseyn Hagverdiyev. The stone exhibition shows old household tools cut from stone.

The outer points need a guide

The reserve is bigger than the area around the flame. Five points on its map can only be visited with one of its guides:

Point	What it is
Qirmaki Valley	An observation point over the valley
Mud volcano	An active cone, named Kirmaki by the Tourism Board
Ottoman trenches	Dug in 1918 by Ottoman troops who came to Baku
Sulphur springs	Natural springs on the reserve’s land
Kurgan tomb	An ancient burial mound

The Tourism Board also names a cave called the Wolf’s Den and a sacred spot, Alidashi Pir. The reserve’s guided tour lasts two hours. It is offered in Azerbaijani and in other languages.

The Tourism Board also describes guided tours of the reserve on off-road electric scooters. Riders get a briefing and a helmet before they start.

How long should you stay?

For the flame, the museum and the stone exhibition, plan on about an hour. That is our estimate, not a figure from the reserve.

With the guided tour to the outer points, add the two hours the reserve gives for it. Then you have a half day, not a quick stop.

Day or dark?

The fire burns all day. It looks strongest against a dark sky. But the reserve closes at 19:00, so a visit in real darkness only works in the months when the sun sets before that.

In summer you will see the flame in daylight. It is still worth the trip. You simply see the heat and the shape of the flame more than the glow.

Getting there by car

The reserve gives the same road for the city centre and for Heydar Aliyev Airport. Take Heydar Aliyev Avenue, then the Zabrat highway towards the village of Zabrat. At the big roundabout, turn left for Mammadli. A sign shows the way. The reserve is 5 km further on.

Most visitors come by car with a driver. We know of no official public-transport route to Yanardag, and the reserve does not publish one.

Tickets without numbers

We do not print ticket prices on this page. The reserve publishes its own, and they change. What matters for planning is the structure.

• Foreign and local visitors pay different rates.
• A combined ticket covers Yanardag and the Ateshgah fire temple.
• A second combined ticket adds the Mud Volcanoes Tourism Complex.
• Combined tickets are for one person and stay valid for 72 hours after the first entry.
• Groups of 10 or more get a discount, according to the reserve.

Rules worth knowing

Children must stay with an adult at all times. Smoking is only allowed in marked areas. Professional photo and video work needs the administration’s permission.

The reserve also asks visitors to keep their voices down. A quiet evening by the flame is part of what you come for.

Pairing Yanardag with other sites

Ateshgah, the fire temple at Surakhani, is the natural partner. Both are about fire, and one combined ticket covers them. See the temple in daylight, then come to Yanardag later.

The Mud Volcanoes Tourism Complex is in the other direction, south-west of Baku, past Gobustan. The three-site ticket lasts 72 hours, so you can split them over two days.

Arranging it

Send us your date, the number of travellers and whether you want the reserve’s guided tour. We will plan the timing around the closing hour and your other stops.