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Sheki

The Khan's Palace, a Silk Road Caravanserai and Halva

Plan this trip
2 daysIdeal stay₹2,520From / night₹1,120Food / day₹560Entry

A Silk Road town in the foothills of the Caucasus, five to six hours from Baku and a UNESCO site since 2019. The 18th-century Palace of the Sheki Khans is covered inside with painted walls and its windows with shebeke, coloured glass set in wooden lattice without a nail or glue. The Upper Caravanserai, where merchants once stayed round a two-storey courtyard, is still a hotel. Up the valley, the white Albanian church at Kish is one of the oldest in the Caucasus. Sheki is known for its halva, silk and piti (lamb and chickpea stew in a clay pot); vegetarians do best with qutab, salads and the halva shops.

Highlights

  • Painted halls and shebeke windows of the Khan's Palace
  • Night in the Upper Caravanserai
  • Kish Albanian church
  • Sheki halva and piti
  • Silk and craft workshops
  • Walks up the Kish valley

Things to do

  • Palace of the Sheki Khans & fortressMorning · 2h 30m
  • Upper Caravanserai & old town lanesAfternoon · 2h
  • Kish church and villageMorning · 2h
  • Halva workshop & shebeke craftAfternoon · 1h 30m

Tours & tickets

Tours & tickets in Shekivia GetYourGuideTours & tickets in Shekivia Klook

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When to go

Best time: April – June, September – October

Heads up

Stay Out of the Border Zones and Karabakh

Stay away from the Armenian and Iranian border areas, and do not go to Karabakh and the districts around it without an organised, permitted trip: there are landmines. The places in this plan are far from both.

Heads up

Novruz Holidays (around 20–21 March)

Novruz, the spring New Year, brings about five days of public holiday: bonfires, sweets and concerts, but offices and some museums close, and buses and hotels out of Baku fill with families heading to the regions. Book transport and hotels early for that week.

Heads up

Ramadan (expected 8 Feb – 9 Mar 2027)

Azerbaijan is secular and restaurants stay open by day; Ramadan changes little for visitors. Dress modestly and keep your voice down at mosques, and expect busy roads around the two-day Ramazan Bayrami holiday at its end.

  • Novruz — The spring New Year and the country's biggest holiday, around the equinox, with about five days off. Bonfires that people jump over, painted eggs, samani (sprouted wheat) on every table, shekerbura and pakhlava pastries, and concerts in Baku's Old City and on the Boulevard. Offices and some museums close, and Azerbaijani families head to Gabala, Quba and Shahdag, so book hotels and buses out of Baku early.
  • Ramadan — Expected from about 8 February to 9 March 2027. Azerbaijan is secular: restaurants, cafés and bars stay open and most people do not fast, so a visitor notices little beyond iftar menus. Be discreet near mosques.
  • Ramazan Bayrami (Eid al-Fitr) — Two days of public holiday at the end of Ramadan (expected about 9-10 March 2027), close to Novruz: some years the holidays run together into a long break, and the roads and resorts out of Baku are busy.
  • Qurban Bayrami (Eid al-Adha) — Two days of public holiday (expected about 16 May 2027); families travel to the regions.