For a surreal slice of transplanted Teutonic history, drive around half an hour south of Gəncə to this agreeable small town founded as Helenendorf by German winemakers in the 1830s. Stalin bundled the Germans’ descendants off to permanent exile in Kazakhstan during WWII, but the tree-lined town centre still retains dozens of older German houses. A very ill-conceived 'restoration' campaign in 2015 added inauthentic-looking varnished wooden fronts to many buildings, but the overall scene retains a quaintly timeless feel.
From Göygöl's little bus station, walk up Heydar Əliyev küç past a museum house (No. 22) and particularly fine frontages at No. 36 and No. 38, then turn left through the small park to find the spired, red-stone Lutheran Church. Outside it, there's a map of further sites. Printed information is in German and Azerbaijani, but with a QR code reader this and other signboards offer background in English and Russian, too.
A taxi from Göygöl (the town) to Göy Göl (the lake) costs between AZN30 and 40 return (around an hour each way) depending how long you stay and whether you continue on to arguably lovelier Maral Göl, a smaller, higher lake that's around 7km further.
