Baku, Gobustan, Shamakhi and Kish: 6-day sightseeing tour

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day 1

   Arrival in Baku, meeting at the airport — and free time, which can be spent as you like. You can walk along Nizami pedestrian street, where shops neighbor old trading buildings, or go out to the Seaside Boulevard and ride a boat around the bay — this is seasonal, for a separate fee. If you want warmth and bustle, look in at the New Year fair on Fountain Square: there are houses with gifts and street food.

2. Day 2

   The day begins with breakfast at the hotel, and then — a walking tour of Baku. First the mansions of the oil barons, the building with blue majolica, the Ismailiyya Palace and other houses of the beginning of the last century. Then the Philharmonic Garden, from where it is literally one step — and you are already in the Old City, among narrow streets, caravanserais and souvenir shops. Here too are the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs — museum tickets are optional. Lunch at a restaurant in the Old City is also optional. At the end — free time, and again you can return to the fair.

3. Day 3

   After breakfast — departure to Gobustan: a reserve with rock carvings, a museum with interactive screens and mud volcanoes, which are compared to Martian hills. Then a journey to the “Land of Fires” — but this part of the program is for an additional fee. If you take it, the Ateshgah fire temple and the Yanar Dagh reserve, where the flame burns continuously, await you. Without the surcharge, the day ends earlier. The pace of the day is fast: many stops and journeys. Return to the hotel.

4. Day 4

   A day of journeys: you leave Baku and go toward Shamakhi. The first stop is the Diri Baba mausoleum, built into the rock. Then the city itself: the “Yeddi Gumbaz” mausoleum, the Juma Mosque, the Kalakhana mausoleums. Then the village of Nij, where the Udis live, with the museum-restaurant “Udi Ocaghi” — lunch there is optional. A few more stops in villages: the Albanian-Udi Church of Jotari Saint Elisha and the Church of the Most Holy Virgin Mary. Overnight at a hotel in Sheki.

5. Day 5

   Sheki is crafts and silk. You go into workshops where shebeke, Sheki pakhlava and tekelduz are made, and to the Sheki Silk Factory, where they show how kelaghai appear. Then the Summer Palace of the Sheki Khans with frescoes and window mosaics and the “Yukhari” and “Ashaghi” caravanserais. A separate stop is the ancient Albanian Church in the village of Kish. Then, optionally — the “Az Abrau” winery with a museum and tasting. Return to Baku and check-in at the hotel.

6. Day 6

   Breakfast at the hotel, departure and transfer to the airport. If time remains, you can spend it at “Yashil Bazar” — the Green Bazaar, where fruits, dried fruits, honey, homemade cheeses, jams and local delicacies are sold.