Many of us are celebrating the new year in the traditional home atmosphere with our families and friends, but more often people decide to spend this holiday in a new original place where unusual scenarios are born by themselves.

Azerbaijan, with its unique culture and history, is the best choice for those who want to spend unforgettable New Year holidays.

Analytical agency TurStat compiled the rating of the best cities of the CIS for winter trips of Russian tourists.

Top 10 cities of the CIS popular among Russian tourists for New Year holidays are Minsk, Almaty, Baku, Astana, Tashkent, Brest, Bishkek, Chisinau and Ganja.

Baku, the beautiful capital of Azerbaijan, is included in the first three winter trips to the CIS countries in the New Year.

With the advent of the New Year holidays, Baku is turning into one of the largest New Year venues in Europe – bright and radiant, with many options to celebrate the holiday in the capital, both for the guests of the city and for the local residents.

Travelers can explore the famed medieval Old City, hailed as a “must-visit”, which houses the UNESCO-listed Shirvanshah’s Palace, and Maiden Tower.

The visitors can admire the city’s contemporary buildings such as the Heydar Aliyev Center, designed by Zaha Hadid, and the Flame Towers – a trio of skyscrapers covered with LEDs and displaying the mesmerizing movement of a flame.

On the eve of the New Year, the capital of Azerbaijan is transformed into the capital of fairs: the city’s squares are filled with tents with festive illumination, selling all kinds of fragrant snacks, hot drinks and of, of course, traditional souvenirs.

For the New Year holidays, tourists will visit Baku on average for four days and spend on living $85 per day, according to Turstat.

The rating list of the best destinations for Russians also includes Ganja, the “second capital” of Azerbaijan, especially for those looking for budget holidays. Without any doubt, the “second capital of Azerbaijan”, as a place of tourist pilgrimage, is beautiful at any time of the year. The fact that the local infrastructure allows you to combine active winter holidays with a busy excursion trip.

Founded more than 4,000 years ago and called the Cultural Capital of the CIS in 2017, the city of Ganja, is visited by over 400,000 tourists annually, and most of them are from Russia. Some 50 km from Ganja there is a unique city called Naftalan, which is considered the most popular health resort in the CIS.

The region is famous for its nature, namely Goygol Lake and reserve. A large mountain lake surrounded by the mountains of the Lesser Caucasus was formed as a result of a devastating earthquake that destroyed the mountain Kapaz in the 12th century.

One of the main advantages of Azerbaijan, besides the captivating beauty of the country and hospitable population, is the fact that many people here know Russian and English.

Russian tourists do not need visa to travel to Azerbaijan, which makes the country more attractive. Tourists from neighboring Russia were always frequent guests in Azerbaijan and the recent developments made more Russians to think about Baku when planning their vacations.

As of September, as many as 1.81 million tourists visited Azerbaijan, according to the Ministry.

With approximately 1 million tourists Russia, surpasses the number of tourists from neighboring Georgia and Iran.

Source: azernews.az