Gabala — Sheki — Gakh: A 3-Day Journey Through Northern Azerbaijan

The morning starts slowly, with breakfast right at the hotel — no early departures, no rush. After breakfast, guests have free time until lunch: you can rest in your room, walk around the city on your own, or simply sleep in after a full first day. The tour continues around 12:30, when the group visits the region's main landmark — Sheki Khans' Palace, an 18th-century masterpiece known for its shebeke windows, made entirely without nails or glue. Inside, detailed wall paintings capture the atmosphere of the khanate era — something photos never quite manage to show.

From there, the route leads to the old caravanserai, once a resting place for merchants on the Silk Road, which still carries the feel of that time today. Nearby are old craft shops selling silk, ceramics, and the famous sweets of Sheki, made using recipes passed down through generations.

From a hill above the city, you get a wide view over Sheki and the mountains around it — a good spot to rest and take photos before lunch in Kish village. Here, the local specialty is Sheki piti, a rich stew slow-cooked and served in a clay pot. After lunch comes the Caucasian Albania church in Kish, one of the oldest religious sites in the country, with a quiet, almost untouched atmosphere.

Staying the night in Sheki means the evening isn't rushed — you can walk around the old town or simply relax at the hotel. The group returns for the night before day three, which continues this overnight tour Azerbaijan experience toward Gakh.

After breakfast at Sheki Palace hotel, the group drives with the guide into the neighboring Gakh region — the road crosses the Shin river on a bridge over a kilometer long, the longest in Azerbaijan. The first stop is Mamirli waterfall, hidden in a subtropical forest near Lekit village. Over hundreds of years, water flowing over the rocks has covered them in thick green moss (the word "mamır" means "moss" in Azerbaijani) — the mix of green and brown tones, a small cave nearby, and sunlight sparkling on the spray make this one of the most atmospheric stops on the whole trip.

From there, the route leads into Gakh town itself, to the working Georgian Orthodox Church of St. George — built in the mid-19th century, though it stood closed for decades during the Soviet period before religious life returned there in 1997. The church sits in a quiet garden among old oak and magnolia trees, with a bell tower and small historic cemetery nearby. Around lunchtime, the group stops at "Yeni Baki" restaurant on the bank of the Kurmuk river, known for dishes unique to this region: a thick soup called "surkhullu" made with dumplings and dried lamb, and "girz," a meat dish somewhat similar to dumplings (a vegetarian version, with red lentil soup and a herb or cheese filling, is also available).

After lunch, the road leads to the historic 18th-century Ulu bridge over the same Kurmuk river, near Ilisu village, in the gorge of the Ulu Dagh mountain range — worth a longer stop just for the photos of the forest and river below. Not far away stands Juma Mosque, built in the 17th-18th centuries, located not in the city center but in Ilisu itself, a tidy Caucasus village with clean streets. Right next to it is Sumug Gala tower, built as a watchtower on the order of the Sultan of Ilisu, Sumu Khan — fans of classic Soviet cinema may recognize it from a well-known film shot here, with key martial arts scenes filmed at this very spot.

The day's last stop, on the way back, is a 4th-century Caucasian Albania church known as the Kurmukh Church of St. George, set on a high rocky cliff. The path up runs through a natural forest tunnel, with tree branches closing overhead, and from the cliff itself you get a striking view over the Alazani Valley — a spot local Christians have long considered sacred. After this stop, the group heads back to Baku, closing out three days of travel through northern Azerbaijan.

Three days, two nights, and three very different regions — from the mountain views of Gabala, through the khanate heritage of Sheki, to the corners of Gakh that most tourists never see. This route doesn't try to cover everything at once; it gives each place room to show its own character, whether that's a moss-covered waterfall, the carved windows of a royal palace, or simply the view from a cliff over the Alazani Valley. For travelers who have already seen Baku and want to go further, this is one of the richest routes among tours around the regions of Azerbaijan.