Sumgait
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Sumgait

Sumgait

Caspian industrial city north of Baku, built around Soviet-era chemical and steel plants.

Sumgait is Azerbaijan's third-largest city, a Soviet-era industrial town on the Caspian coast about 30km north of Baku. Built largely in the 1950s as a planned city around chemical and steel plants, it's not a destination in its own right — but it's a natural stopping point on the drive north toward Quba and the Caucasus mountains. The promenade along the Caspian has been improved in recent years and gives a feel of everyday Azerbaijani life away from Baku's tourist circuits.