Lenkoran, more often written Lankaran, is the main city of Azerbaijan's far south: a humid Caspian port backed by the green Talysh Mountains and tea-growing lowlands. It feels different from dry, windswept Baku. The air is softer, the landscape is greener, and the Iranian border is close enough to shape the food, language, and trade.
The city was once the centre of the Lankaran Khanate, and fragments of that older importance still survive around the centre. The Zindan Fortress, Boyuk Bazar Mosque, and Kichik Bazar Mosque are not polished showpieces, but they give the town a deeper texture than the modern road traffic first suggests.
Lenkoran is also the natural base for Azerbaijan's subtropical south. Travellers come through on the way to Astara, the Talysh foothills, and forested protected areas inland. Stay long enough for tea, a walk by the Caspian seafront, and a look at the red-brick civic architecture before moving on.