Old town
First-timersBy the palace and caravanserai.
Sheki town guide
Things To Do In Sheki
A Silk Road town in the foothills of the Caucasus, with a khan's palace of stained glass, a caravanserai you can sleep in and the best sweets in the country.
2
Hostels in the city
8.5
Average, from 83 reviews
2019
Joins UNESCO
1797
The khan's palace
0
Nails in the shebeke windows
The Silk Road in the mountains
Sheki sits in the green foothills of the Greater Caucasus, and for centuries it was a stop on the Silk Road and the capital of its own khanate. Its old town, with the Palace of the Shaki Khans, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The palace, built in the eighteenth century, is famous for its shebeke windows, stained glass set in wooden lattices made without a single nail or drop of glue. The Upper Caravanserai, where merchants once stayed, still takes guests.
Sheki is also known for silk, halva and piti, a lamb stew cooked in clay pots. Two days is right.
Where to stay
Stay in the old town, the upper part of Sheki near the palace and the Upper Caravanserai, where guesthouses fill traditional houses with gardens. The lower town, around the bazaar, has more shops and transport.
Lower town
TransportAround the bazaar.
Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 2 top-rated hostels. Map data from OpenStreetMap contributors.
Things to do
Things to do in Sheki
Sheki, at the foot of the Greater Caucasus, was a stop on the Silk Road and the seat of a khanate; its historic centre, with the Khan's palace, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
Visit the Palace of the Shaki Khans, completed in 1797, a two-storey summer palace whose walls are covered in paintings of flowers, hunting scenes and battles, and whose windows are made of shebeke, thousands of pieces of coloured glass set in a wooden lattice fixed without nails or glue. Photography is not allowed inside.
Stay a night, or have tea in the courtyard, at the Upper Caravanserai, an eighteenth-century merchants' inn built around a large courtyard.
Walk to Kish, a village a few kilometres up the valley, to see a small Caucasian Albanian church, one of the oldest in the region. Walk through the old town and the bazaar, and watch the shebeke craftsmen at work in their workshops.
Gabala, an hour away, has a cable car into the mountains, and Nohur Lake.
Free things
Free things to do in Sheki
Walking the old town and the bazaar is free, and so is watching the shebeke craftsmen in their workshops.
The walk to Kish through the valley is free, though the church charges a small fee. Having tea in the caravanserai's courtyard costs very little.
Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Sheki
Sheki is famous for piti, a stew of lamb, chickpeas and saffron cooked in an individual clay pot; you eat the broth first with bread, then the meat and chickpeas. Sheki halva, layers of rice-flour lattice filled with nuts and soaked in syrup, is sold all over town.
Tea with jam and sweets is served everywhere. A meal is €4 to €10.
Nightlife
Going out in Sheki
Sheki is quiet at night. Evenings are for dinner in a guesthouse garden or a tea house, and a few restaurants serve beer.
A beer is €1.50 to €3.
Getting around
Getting around Sheki
The old town is walkable. Shared taxis and buses reach Baku in five to six hours, and there is an overnight train.
Gabala and its cable car are about an hour away. The Georgian border is close, but Azerbaijan's land borders have been closed for entry since 2020, so plan to fly into Baku; the Tbilisi–Baku train, which resumed in May 2026, is the one overland exception.
Costs
What Sheki costs
Sheki is cheap. A careful day is €20 to €30.
The Khan's palace charges a few euros, and a night at the Upper Caravanserai is good value. A piti costs €4 to €6.
The currency is the manat (AZN), at roughly 1.9 manat to the euro; prices here are euro equivalents. Cards work widely in Baku; carry cash in the regions, where small guesthouses and taxis are cash only.
Safety
Staying safe in Sheki
Sheki is very safe.
Respect the no-photography rule inside the Khan's palace.
Emergency number is 112, or 102 police and 103 ambulance.
Day trips from Sheki
An ancient church, a mountain cable car and a lake.
Gabala
A cable car into the mountains.
Nohur Lake
A lake near Gabala.
What's on
What is on while you are there
The spring festival is the big one.
Around 21 March
Novruz
Sheki
The spring new year.
May to October
Silk Road season
Sheki
The best months to visit.
Hostels
Where to stay in Sheki
The top-rated places to stay in Sheki right now, live from Hostelworld.
When to go
May to October is best, with green hills and mild weather.
Jan
Cold
Feb
Quiet
Mar
Novruz
Apr
Spring
May
Green
Jun
Good
Jul
Hot
Aug
Hot
Sep
Good
Oct
Autumn
Nov
Quiet
Dec
Cold
Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets:
quiet
busy
peak
Average highs.
What your trip will cost
Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in euros.
Prices are in manat locally; these are euro equivalents.
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- Beds—
- Food and drink—
- Getting around—
- Doing things—
Sheki travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
What are shebeke windows?
Windows of thousands of pieces of coloured glass in a wooden lattice, fixed without nails or glue.
Can I sleep in the caravanserai?
Yes, the Upper Caravanserai is a hotel; you can also just have tea in the courtyard.
What is piti?
A lamb and chickpea stew in a clay pot; eat the broth with bread first.
How do I get there?
By shared taxi or bus from Baku, five to six hours, or the overnight train.
How many days do you need?
One or two.
When is the best time to visit?
May to October.
Can I cross to Georgia?
Land borders are closed for entry; the Tbilisi–Baku train is the one exception.
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