Astara is a small Caspian port town on Azerbaijan's southern border with Iran, 240 km south of Baku. It sits near the Talysh mountains with rice fields stretching in every direction, and its sandy beaches offer cleaner water than the polluted shores around the Absheron peninsula.
The town is an important transit point — lorries queue at the border crossing, and the pipeline from Abadan enters Azerbaijan here. You can cross into Iran at the Iran Border Crossing, walking over the Astara river to the Iranian half of the town (also called Astara). The Baku–Tehran bus stops here. Expect delays at the crossing, though entering Iran has become significantly easier than it once was.
The area is home to a large Talysh population, an Indo-European people who are mostly Shia Muslim and whose territory spans both sides of the border along the western Caspian shore. The surrounding Talysh Mountains are green and lush compared to the arid landscapes of central Azerbaijan.