Candy Cane Mountains

The Candy Cane Mountains have no welcome sign, no designated car park and no ticket booth. What they have are sandstone hills with horizontal stripes of red, orange, white and terracotta that, in the low morning light or just before sunset, take on a colour intensity that is difficult to describe without having seen it. The English name — candy canes — was given by social media travellers less than a decade ago and has stuck; in Azerbaijani the place is known as Xızı rəngli dağları, the coloured hills of Khizi.

The drive from Baku takes about 90 minutes: north on the M1 motorway, then a secondary road into the Khizi area. The terrain is arid, with low shrubs and red dust accumulated on the verges. There is no public transport that gets close, so you need your own vehicle or a hired taxi. Once there, the land is open without fencing and you can walk freely among the hills. The smell is of hot dry earth; on windless days, the silence is almost complete.

The visit works well but it pays to manage expectations: in flat light or fog, the Khizi hills lose much of their appeal. In summer the shade-free heat is considerable, so it is worth leaving Baku before seven in the morning. It is a half-day destination that combines well with the village of Khizi or Nohur Lake, both a short distance away.

The formations of the Candy Cane Mountains are the result of millions of years of sedimentary deposit and wind erosion in the Khizi region. The different colour layers correspond to distinct minerals in the sandstone: iron oxides for the reds and oranges, kaolinite for the whites and cream tones. The area was historically a transit corridor between Baku and northern Azerbaijan, with little industrial development, which has allowed the landscape to reach the present day without significant alteration. The current English tourist name became popular around 2015–2018 thanks to Instagram photographs.

• Main Khizi hills The core of the area concentrates the most intense colour bands. Climbing to the ridge of the first hill from the access point lets you get your bearings and decide which direction to walk; from the top you can see the contrast between the red rock and the blue sky on a good day.
• Golden hour over the hills Not a physical place but a moment: the light at sunrise or the last forty minutes before sunset multiplies the saturation of the reds and oranges. Planning your arrival around that window completely changes the photographic result and the visual experience.
• Valley between the formations The floor of the valleys between the hills is covered in fine reddish sand. Walking through the interior gives a different perspective from the ridges: the sandstone walls on either side create a corridor effect and the silence intensifies.
• Village of Khizi A few kilometres from the area, the village of Khizi has a small shop where you can buy water and simple food before or after the walk. It is also a useful GPS reference point.
• Nohur Lake Just over twenty kilometres away, Nohur Lake offers water and shade after the hills; many travellers combine both spots in a single day leaving early from Baku.

Photo gallery

The Candy Cane Mountains are in the Khizi district, about 130 km northwest of Baku. There is no direct public transport. The usual option is to rent a car in Baku or hire a taxi for the day (approximately 40–60 manat return with waiting time). Take the M1 motorway north to the turn-off for Khizi; from there the secondary road can be in poor condition depending on the season. Google Maps locates the area well.

The best time is spring (March–May): winter rains saturate the rock colours and the temperature makes walking comfortable. Autumn (September–October) also works well. In summer the shade-free heat is intense; if visiting then, aim to arrive before eight in the morning. In winter it is cold and windy, though the sandstone colours remain visible when there is no fog.