A Hostel Jazzes up Old Ganja

When in 2011 two friends Elvin Aliyev, 23 and Seymur Valiyev, 26 thought about opening an hostel in Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second largest city lying 300km west of the capital Baku, they faced an immediate problem: people did not understand what an hostel is. There was nothing the like in Ganja. Fast forward to summer 2016, the two young entrepreneurs inaugurated “Old Ganja”, their dream business.



It was not an easy ride. Like many other entrepreneurs, the two friends faced ups and downs, and the business was taken back also by regular complaints about the noise from neighbors. But they held on and Old Ganja is today a colorful spot in the heart of the town’s charming historic centre.