Azerbaijan in 7 days: Baku, fire country and Sheki

Day 2 — Baku: medieval morning, Zaha Hadid afternoon

• 9:30 — Palace of the Shirvanshahs (~9:00–18:00; ~15 AZN) — the 15th-century royal complex at the Old City’s crown: courtyards, the shah’s mosque, carved portals.
• 11:00 — Maiden Tower (~15 AZN) — climb the enigmatic 12th-century tower for rooftops-and-Caspian views; nobody agrees what it was for, which is half the charm.
• 12:30 — Lunch off Nizami Street — the pedestrian shopping spine; qutab (stuffed flatbreads) make the perfect quick plate.
• 14:30 — Bolt to the Heydar Aliyev Center (~11:00–19:00, check Mondays; ~15–25 AZN) — Zaha Hadid’s wave of white, the building that rebranded Baku. The exterior lawns alone justify it; inside are galleries and the classic-car collection.
• 17:30 — Funicular up to Highland Park (runs ~10:00–22:00, pennies) — the panorama: Flame Towers overhead, crescent bay below, at golden hour.
• 19:30 — Descend to the Baku Boulevard — the Caspian seafront promenade — and dinner nearby; end at the Mini-Venice canals or the Ferris wheel if the kids are still going.

Day 3 — Fire country: Gobustan, mud volcanoes and eternal flames

The signature Azerbaijan day — four sites, one loop south and north of the city. Organised day tour ~45–55 AZN/person + entries, or private car ~USD 80–90.

• 9:00 — Depart south along the Caspian.
• 10:00 — Gobustan National Park (9:00–17:00; ~10 AZN including the reserve guide) — 6,000+ petroglyphs up to 40,000 years old: dancing figures, reed boats, aurochs. The modern museum first makes the rocks come alive.
• 12:00 — The mud volcanoes — 4x4s shuttle you from the paved road up to a lunar field of gurgling, cold, grey cones (small per-jeep fee, cash). Absurd, wonderful, and the kids’ favourite thing in Azerbaijan. Don’t wear white.
• 13:30 — Late lunch back toward the city.
• 15:00 — Ateshgah Fire Temple, Surakhani (~9:00–18:00, ~9 AZN) — the pentagonal temple where Zoroastrian and Hindu fire worshippers tended natural gas flames for centuries; the central altar still burns.
• 16:30 — Yanar Dag, the Burning Mountain (~9 AZN) — a hillside that has been on fire for decades, fed by seeping gas. Most dramatic as the light fades — time it last, stand close, feel the heat.
• 19:00 — Back in Baku; easy dinner. You have now seen why they call it the Land of Fire.

Day 4 — Baku your way: bazaars, carpets, hammam, jazz

• 9:30 — Taza Bazar — the green market: pomegranate pyramids, saffron, mountains of herbs, cheese sellers who insist you taste.
• 11:00 — Carpet Museum (closed Mon; ~10 AZN) — the rolled-carpet building on the Boulevard; Azerbaijan’s weaving tradition is UNESCO-listed and the collection shows why.
• 13:00 — Lunch: dushbara (tiny dumpling soup) or plov — Azerbaijan’s saffron-crowned version.
• 15:00 — Choose your afternoon: a proper hammam (the historic Old City baths take walk-ins; scrub ~20–40 AZN), the Museum of Miniature Books (free, charming, ten minutes), or Boulevard idling with a Baku Eye spin.
• 19:30 — Dinner then live jazz — Baku’s jazz pedigree is real (mugham-jazz fusion was born here); the clubs around downtown run sets most nights. Pack for the mountains; cash out at an ATM tonight.

Day 5 — The mountain road to Sheki

The best road day in Azerbaijan — private transfer with stops (~150–180 AZN/car, ~6–7 h door to door).

• 8:30 — Leave Baku west across the semi-desert.
• 10:00 — Diri Baba Mausoleum, Maraza — a two-storey 15th-century shrine grown out of a cliff face; ten minutes of stairs, one great photograph.
• 11:00 — Shamakhi Juma Mosque — one of the Caucasus’s oldest mosque sites (founded 743), serenely rebuilt; free, modest dress.
• 12:30 — Detour up the Girdimanchay gorge to Lahij — a cobbled mountain village that has hammered copper for centuries: workshops ringing, tinned pots gleaming, lunch in a family courtyard (~15–25 AZN for two). The 40-minute canyon road up is its own attraction.
• 16:00 — On through hazelnut country to Sheki; check in.
• 18:30 — First taste of Sheki halva — the town’s saffron-and-hazelnut baklava-like signature, sold everywhere and argued about locally; then dinner of piti, the clay-pot saffron lamb stew Sheki does best (~20–30 AZN for two).

Where to stay in Sheki (two nights)

• Comfort: Sheki Saray Hotel — the town’s main full-service hotel, walkable to everything.
• Modern mid-range: Macara Sheki City Hotel — quiet and well-reviewed near the centre.
• The experience: Yukari Karvansaray — sleep in a genuine 18th-century Silk Road caravanserai’s vaulted brick cells: basic, atmospheric, impossible to book online (call ahead or ask on arrival) — choose it for romance, not luxury.

Day 6 — Sheki: the palace, the crafts, the church on the hill

• 9:30 — Walk up through the fortress walls to the Khan’s Summer Palace (10:00–18:00; ~5 AZN, interior visits guided, no photos inside) — two storeys built without a single nail, every surface painted, and the famous shebeke windows: thousands of hand-cut glass pieces set in wood, no glue. Small, perfect, worth the whole drive.
• 11:00 — The shebeke workshop by the palace — watch the craft done, buy a small panel; then the Winter Palace (~5 AZN, photos allowed) for the quieter twin.
• 13:00 — Lunch in the bazaar quarter; tea at the Karvansaray courtyard even if you’re not sleeping there.
• 15:00 — Kish village (15 min by taxi/marshrutka) — the round-towered Albanian church, over eight centuries old, in a walnut-shaded hamlet — the relic of Caucasian Albania, Azerbaijan’s pre-Islamic Christian past.
• 17:30 — Golden hour on the fortress lawns; halva shopping for the flight home.
• 19:30 — Farewell dinner — piti round two, or saj by the fireplace; Sheki evenings are mountain-cool all year.

Day 7 — Back to Baku, fly home

• 9:00 — Direct return drive (~4.5–5 h without stops; or the overnight-train option the night before for budget romantics).
• 15:00 — Reach Baku with buffer for an evening flight — Gulf departures run late enough to make this comfortable; if yours is early, swap this for a sixth Baku night and do Sheki’s return the previous evening.