Yanar Dag (Eternal Flame Hill): visitor guide

What to expect at Yanar Dag

Yanar Dag ('Burning Mountain') is a natural gas seep on the slopes of the Absheron Peninsula 25km north of Baku where natural gas leaking from the ground has burned continuously for centuries, a hillside where a 10-metre section of slope is permanently on fire, the flames reaching 3 metres in height and burning steadily in all weather conditions, including rain. In addition, the phenomenon gave Azerbaijan its ancient Persian name (Azar Bayjan, 'Land of Fire') and was documented by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the Absheron Peninsula's natural fires with astonishment in his accounts of his travels toward China.

Geological explanation

Besides, the geological explanation is straightforward: the Absheron Peninsula sits above one of the world's most productive petroleum-bearing geological formations, and natural gas seeps have been occurring at the surface for millennia wherever fractures in the rock allow gas to migrate upward. The site's fire is fed by shallow gas deposits directly below the surface. Also, the flow is sufficient to sustain continuous combustion. Also, the site has been documented as continuously burning for at least several centuries. Industrial oil extraction beginning in the 1870s reduced the pressure in many of the peninsula's gas-bearing formations, extinguishing most of the natural fires that once burned across the Absheron, making the site's survival as a continuously burning site increasingly rare.

Experience at night

The experience at night is dramatically different from a daytime visit, after dark, the flames illuminate the surrounding landscape in amber and the heat is palpable from 10–15 metres. In addition, the sound of the continuously burning gas (a low steady roar) and the smell of combustion add to the sensory intensity of the experience. This site is most atmospheric between sunset and midnight, when the surrounding landscape is dark and the flames appear at their most dramatic. Besides, the site is accessible at any hour and has no entry fee.

Ateshgah Fire Temple

The Ateshgah Fire Temple, 15km south of the site at Surakhani (entry about 5 AZN), is the most important companion site, a 17th-18th century temple built by Zoroastrian and Hindu merchants and pilgrims from India over a natural gas seep that kept its central eternal flame burning continuously until industrial oil drilling in the 1880s reduced the gas pressure and extinguished it. Besides, the temple is now lit by a piped gas supply to recreate the original effect. Together, the site and Ateshgah document the ancient relationship between Azerbaijan's natural gas fires and the Zoroastrian and Hindu fire worship traditions that gave them religious significance across centuries of trade and pilgrimage.

Both sites are most efficiently visited as a half-day trip from Baku combined with the Gobustan rock art site (south of Baku) or the Absheron oil fields (the nodding-donkey oil pump landscape of the late 19th-century oil boom). Moreover, a private taxi from central Baku covering the site and Ateshgah takes about 3–4 hours and costs around 40–60 AZN for the car. Marshrutka (shared minibus) service to the site departs from the Koroğlu metro station, taking about 30 minutes.

Worth knowing

The small visitor centre adjacent to the site has a cafe and gift shop, and a trained guide (available in Azerbaijani and Russian, with some English) can provide additional historical and geological context. In fact, the best photograph is taken from the official viewing terrace about 20 metres from the flames, using a wide-angle lens to capture both the fire and the night sky above the Absheron landscape. In winter (December–February), the flames are particularly striking against the cold dark air and any frost or snow on the surrounding ground.