Khinalig

One of the highest permanently inhabited villages in the Caucasus at approximately 2,200 meters, Khinalig occupies a bare mountain ridge in the Quba district of northern Azerbaijan. The community speaks the Khinalig language, classified as a language isolate distinct from all neighboring tongues, and the stone houses of the village step up the ridge in a compact cluster with flat roofs serving as terraces for those above. The surrounding landscape of open mountain steppe and the visual isolation of the village against the high Caucasus backdrop make it one of the most scenically remote settlements in Azerbaijan.