Southern Route: Astara

Population of the district - 88500 people; district center, the town of Astara - 14800 people.

ASTARA DISTRICT lies on the border with Iran, in the southeast of Azerbaijan. Part of the district is taken up by the Talysh Mountains, the other part by lowland, which gives this region its distinctive climate.

Forests cover 37000 ha, and the rivers ASTARACHAY and TANGARUD rise high in the Talysh Mountains and flow into the Caspian Sea. The flora is rich and diverse - wild quince, medlar, hawthorn, blackberry, silk acacia, butcher's broom, and members of the liana family. The famous ironwood tree (DAMIR AGACH), which sinks in water, also grows here. Since ancient times local people made weaving looms from it, and in modern times - parts for textile industry looms.

The fauna is no less diverse than the flora: porcupines, roe deer, wolves, lynxes, deer and other animals roam freely in the local forests. The Caspian coast abounds in sandy beaches with clean, clear water.

Part of the Hirkan National Park lies within the district, which makes this area attractive for ecotourism. In Astara District, near the Iranian border, at a place called ISTISU, healing mineral springs gush forth. Tea growing and vegetable farming are developed in the district, and citrus fruits are grown.

There are a great many historical and architectural monuments in the district (about 400). Almost every village holds traces showing that people have lived here since time immemorial. For example, the TOWER in the village of SHINDAN, which locals call BABEK'S TOWER; the TOWER in the village of NUDIS; the bathhouse of MASHADI ABUTALIB, the mosques of HAJI TEYMUR and HAJI JAHAN BAKHISH in the village of PENSAR; the mausoleum in the village of SHAHAGACH; the bathhouse of KARBALAI HAMID ABDULLA in the village of ARCHIVAN, where there is also a famous sulfur spring whose water flares up if you bring a lit match to it; the ruins of a fortress, a mausoleum, a 7th-century caravanserai, and stone statues from the Stone and Bronze Ages in the village of GAPICHIMAHALLA. 13th-century BRIDGES in the villages of SINIYAPERT, LOMIN, PILAKAN.

THE TOWN OF ASTARA is the administrative center of Astara District. Distance from Baku - 322 km. The town is an important transit point on the Baku-Tehran highway.

Astara is a border town, bounded by the sea on one side and by the Talysh Mountains on the other. The town is surrounded by rice fields, and fishing is well developed - which could not help but shape the local cuisine.

Astara has a local history museum with a fairly rich collection. The real pride of the museum is not only its old coins from various periods, testifying to well-developed trade in ancient times, but also a stone statue of a man more than 2000 years old.

You can stay in rooms rented from local residents.