 At the Aras confluence it makes a large arc to the north and then flows almost due south for about , passing the west side of Shirvan National Park, before turning east and emptying into the Caspian Sea at Neftçala.Most of the Kura River runs in the broad and deep valley between the Greater Caucasus and Lesser Caucasus mountains, and the major tributary, the Aras, drains most of the southern Caucasus and the mountain ranges of the extreme northern Middle East.The entirety of Armenia and most of Azerbaijan are drained by the Kura River, but the Kura does not pass through Armenia at all.