A Sheki tour from Baku is the fastest way to see one of the Silk Road's great towns without committing to an overnight stay, and this Sheki day trip from Baku does it in a single run. Sheki sits in the forested foothills of the Greater Caucasus, roughly 300 km north-west of the capital, and this trip covers it in one unhurried run: the UNESCO-listed Palace of the Sheki Khans, the 18th-century caravanserai, a panoramic viewpoint over the valley, and the ancient church in the nearby village of Kish — with a village breakfast on the way north and a traditional piti lunch at the end.

The Day at a Glance

  • Breakfast in Savalan — a village stop in the Shamakhi District, on the way north.
  • Palace of the Sheki Khans — UNESCO World Heritage, famous for its shebeke stained glass.
  • Upper Caravanserai — an 18th-century Silk Road merchants' inn.
  • Panoramic park — the wide view over Sheki and the surrounding foothills.
  • Church at Kish — one of the oldest Christian sites in the Caucasus.
  • Piti lunch in Kish — the clay-pot dish Sheki is known for.

The Palace of the Sheki Khans

The palace was the summer residence of the Sheki khans and is the reason most people make the journey. Its facade is covered in painted patterns, but the detail everyone remembers is the shebeke: latticed stained-glass windows assembled from thousands of hand-cut pieces of wood and coloured glass, fitted together without nails or glue. In 2019 UNESCO inscribed the historic centre of Sheki, together with the palace, on the World Heritage List.

The Caravanserai and the Old Town

Sheki sat on the trade route between the Caspian and the Black Sea, and its caravanserais were built to house merchants and their goods behind heavy stone walls. The Upper Caravanserai still stands around its courtyard, and part of it works as a hotel today. The surrounding streets are where Sheki's craft workshops sit, and where you'll find the town's other well-known speciality — the layered, syrup-soaked Sheki halva.

Kish and Its Church

Kish is a village a few kilometres north of Sheki, set higher into the hills. Its round-towered church is one of the oldest Christian sites in the Caucasus and is associated with Caucasian Albania, the ancient state that once covered this region. The site was excavated and restored in a project that the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl took a personal interest in; the small museum inside covers what those excavations found.

What Is Piti?

Piti is a slow-cooked soup of mutton, chickpeas, potato and saffron, baked and served in its own individual clay pot. In Sheki it is eaten in two stages: first the broth is poured over torn flatbread and eaten as a soup, then the meat and chickpeas are mashed and eaten as a second course. It is the dish the town is best known for, and lunch in Kish is built around it.

Is One Day in Sheki Enough?

One day is enough to see the palace, the caravanserai and Kish without rushing, which is what this trip is built around. It is a long day, though — Sheki is around four hours from Baku in each direction, so the drive is a real part of it. If you would rather stay overnight and add Gabala's lakes and waterfalls to the same region, the 4-day Sheki & Gabala tour covers it at a slower pace, and the 5-day Azerbaijan tour adds Guba and Shamakhi.

Planning a Sheki Day Trip from Baku