Tbilisi to Baku by night train
About this Adventure
Fact File:
Duration: 8 hours
Price: 40 GBP
Travel from crumbling grandeur to booming modernity
Here at Big Earth we can’t resist the romance of travelling by sleeper train. Whether it’s as the setting for Murder on the Orient Express or as a plot point in the adventures of James Bond they, to this day, add an extra layer of excitement and fun to a trip, and that’s without considering they also act as your hotel for the night.
One of our favourite such journeys is the trip between Tbilisi in Georgia and Baku in Azerbaijan, not for the train itself, but for the scenery, the two amazing cities, the minimal number of other tourists and the enforced idleness that goes with any long train journey.
Travelling from the grand old buildings of Tbilisi with its narrow cobbled streets, restaurants and the fading remnants of Stalinist blocks (now being replaced by hotels) to Baku a vibrant and expanding city built on the revenues from the booming oil profits you cross empty grassland, and suddenly after the very European feeling Tbilisi you find yourself in the midst of Central Asia. It’s a fantastic train journey.
The experience itself it improved greatly by the train, the view is better, the comfort greater and there is nothing to do but immerse yourself in a book, write up your travel stories or just take in the views. Train travel is still a heavenly way to travel long distances in relative comfort.
The train runs three times a week and tickets can be bought at the stations in Tbilisi and Baku. For more information visit Info Tbilisi.
