Baku, Shamakhi, Ismayilli and Gabala: 5-day sightseeing tour

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day 1

   The first introduction to Baku happens without a guide and without a schedule — just free time after the meeting at the airport. You can walk along the pedestrian Nizami Street, look into boutiques or sit on the Seaside Boulevard. A separate pleasure is Azerbaijani tea with pakhlava or white cherry jam. Among the entertainments — a boat ride on the Baku Bay, but you will only be able to ride in season. Another option is two shopping centers, "Deniz Mall" and "Crescent Mall", with unusual architecture and a musical fountain.

2. Day 2

   The most packed day of the trip, and almost all of it is on foot. First — the Heydar Aliyev Center: the smooth waves of the facade, which you want to examine from different points, and the "I love Baku" sign for a shot. Then — a panorama of the city from the Highland Park and the Alley of Martyrs, and below, by the boulevard, — the Mugham Center in the shape of a national instrument and the Carpet Museum, resembling a rolled-up carpet. Further — bridges and canals of a small town on the water, where you can ride a gondola. The finale of the day — Icherisheher: the Maiden Tower, the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, old baths and caravanserais, narrow streets and shops with scarves, dishes and carpets.

3. Day 3

   A day of travel: from Baku to the west, towards Shamakhi, with an overnight stay already in Ismayilli. The main impression — the blacksmith village of Demirchi, where this craft lived for centuries, and the Diri Baba mausoleum in the village of Maraza: a two-story building built into the rock so that it seems to hang in the air. At the entrance to Shamakhi, a view opens of the city and of the "Yeddi Gumbaz" mausoleum at the foot of the Gulistan fortress. In the city itself — the Juma Mosque, the largest in the Caucasus. To the south, in the village of Kalakhana, it is worth stopping for the field with the Kalakhana mausoleums — octagonal buildings, of which eight out of nine remain.

4. Day 4

   A day about crafts and history, and in rhythm it is the most packed after the Baku one. The first stop — the village of Basqal, the center of weaving: here at the Silk Center they show how kelaghai are made, silk scarves, by the color of which a woman's status was once read. Then — Gabala, which for several centuries was the capital of Caucasian Albania, with the ruins of an ancient city. In the village of Nij, it is worth looking into the restaurant-museum "Udi Ocaghi" with a garden and artifacts of the beginning of the last century; you can have lunch there if you wish, and it is worth the money — try "Goz dolmasi" and the sweet "Uchgulag". Then — two churches: Jotari of Saint Elisha, which in Soviet years served as a hazelnut warehouse, and the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God Mary, which passed to the Udi people. Return to Baku and check-in at the hotel.

5. Day 5

   The last day without excursions: breakfast at the hotel, check-out and transfer to the airport. There is enough time to pack without haste and mentally flip through the whole trip — from the Baku waves and fortress streets to the mountain villages and blacksmith traditions.