7-Day Tour to Azerbaijan: Pore Over the Heritage & Wine the Dervish Way

Flame Towers

Shirvanshah Palace

Sheki Khan Palace

Shaki Khan Palace

Souvenier Shops

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Highlights

Explore the vibrant "Lights of Evening Baku" tour, including Mountain Park and Nizami Street

Visit the iconic Heydar Aliyev Center and Bibi Abyat Mosque in modern Baku

Discover Sheri's Summer Palace of Khan and the village of Kish

Taste exquisite wines during a tasting tour in Ganja

Tour the historical and architectural gems of Ganja, including the Sheikh Bahauddin ensemble

Savour various wines and spirits in Tovuz, including white, red, and fruit wines

Baku, Shaki, Ganja

winetour, cultural, historical

Group Tour

7 Days

Easy

English

Description

Learn the tradition and culture of wine, not only wine in Azerbaijan. The fact is that Azerbaijan has very ancient wine traditions dating back to the early medieval state of Caucasian Albania, which were forgotten with the Arab conquests. Discover Azerbaijan's rich wine heritage and cultural treasures on this comprehensive tour. Experience the vibrant city of Baku, explore historical sites in Sheki and Ganja, and enjoy wine tastings at renowned vineyards. This journey perfectly blends ancient traditions, modern attractions, and delightful culinary experiences.

Itinerary

Day 01: Baku
- Meet at the airport.
- 19:00. Excursion. "Lights of the Evening Baku".
- Begin the "Lights of Evening Baku" tour with a visit to Mountain Park. It is here that the "City of Winds", as Baku is often called, opens to you in all its glory. The observation platform located on the highest part of the city, near the "Burning Flame Tower" shows the city with all its bright lights bordering Baku Bay reflecting the measured pace of life in the evening Baku.
- Continue your excursion to one of the favourite places of the walk of the Baku guests of the city of all ages and social groups, a place where no one is in a hurry in the evening - "Baku Boulevard".
- End the excursion "Lights of Evening Baku" and go to the most lively and central street of the city of Nizami "Torgovaya street" as it is also called from the old times. Trading is the longest of Baku's streets (its length reaches 3.5 km). It is also called the most beautiful street in Baku - it has a large number of architectural monuments, beautiful houses, cinemas, parks, many modern boutiques and shops.
- Transfer to the hotel and enjoy free time.
Accommodation at the hotel 4 * in the city
Overnight at the hotel.
Day 02: Excursion
- 09:00 Breakfast at the hotel.
- Begin the tour with a visit to one of the modern and most recognizable places of the "Heydar Aliyev Center". The center of Heydar Aliyev is a cultural center, which is a complex building, which includes an auditorium (congress center), a museum, exhibition halls, administrative offices. The famous architect Zaha Hadid designed the project of the centre.
- See how Baku is a city that combines modern and ancient, traditional and unusual. This applies to the religions represented here and the next attraction is the church of the "Holy Wives of the Myrrhbearers".
- Make your way to Nagorny Park. It is here that the "City of Winds", as Baku is often called, opens to you in all its glory. The observation platform located on the highest part of the city, near the sleeping "The Languages of Flame" shows the city with all its beauties and greenery bordering Baku Bay.
- Go down the stairs and head towards the "Bibi Abyat Mosque".
- End the modern Baku tour by visiting the world's first oil well drilled in the Bibi-eibat oil-bearing region.
- Visit the old town of Icheri Sheher.
- Enjoy your free time.
Overnight at the hotel.
Day 03: Excursion: Sheki + Kish
- 08:00 Begin the day with breakfast at the hotel.
- Begin your tour to Sheki with a visit to the Summer Palace of Khan with magnificent frescoes and exquisite handmade window decorations.
- Visit the workshop, where you can get acquainted with the process of manufacturing "Shebeke" by local artisans.
- Next, you will visit the workshop for cooking the delicious "Sheki Pahlavas", famous throughout Azerbaijan.
- Continue your acquaintance with Sheki with a visit to the Albanian church, which is located in the village of Kish.
- Enjoy your free time.
Overnight in Sheki.
Day 04: Ganja
- 09:00 Start the day with breakfast at the hotel.
- Departure to Ganja.
- On the way, check-in for a wine tasting.
- After tasting, departure to Ganja and explore:
  - The old fortress.
  - The ensemble of Sheikh Bahauddin.The 17th century historical and architectural complex created by Sheikh Bahauddin includes the Juma Mosque (Shah Abbas Mosque), Chekyak-Khammam (medieval bathhouse) and the caravanserai.
  - Chokyak-Hamam
  - Caravan-Sarai
  - Dzhavadhan Mausoleum
  - Mausoleum of Nizami Ganjavi.
- Return to the hotel.
Overnight in Gandzha.
Day 05: Goygol
- 09:00 Get ready for the day with breakfast at the hotel.
- Excursion to Goygol Lake.
- Visiting a wine store and tasting the Khan company.
- Departure to Ganja.
Day 06: Tovuz
- 09:00 Eat breakfast at the hotel and depart to Tovuz for tasting
- Visit a wine store and tasting the company Tovuz-Baltia where the following will be brought to your attention:
  - White Wines
  - Red wines
  - Fruit Wines
  - Champagne
  - Vodka
  - Whiskey
  - Cognac
  - Juices
- After tasting, get lunch at a local restaurant in Ganja.
- Departure to Baku.
Day 07: Baku
- 09:00 Eat breakfast at the hotel.
- Enjoy free time to visit the eastern market, shops with sweets and souvenir shops.
- Transfer to the airport.

What's Included

Accommodation in hotel 4 * double room on the program based on breakfast & lunch

Transfers and transportation according to the program

Excursions on the program

Services of a Russian-speaking or English-speaking Azerbaijan tour guide

Entrance tickets to museums

What's Excluded

Dinner - from 20 USD (soft drinks are included)

Supplement for single accommodation: $199 per tour

The cost of a visa is 40 USD (if not citizens of the CIS)

Charges for photos and video shooting in museums

Know Before You Go

Azerbaijan is a country that preserves the ancient traditions of viticulture and winemaking. In the Tovuz region, located in the west of Azerbaijan, winemaking was developed in the 7th century. During the USSR, Azerbaijan was one of the largest wine-producing republics. On the territory of this country, more than three hundred thousand hectares of vineyards were cultivated. One of the main wineries in Azerbaijan today is the Tovuz cognac and wine factory. The company has reserves of high-quality cognac spirit aged in oak barrels of 100-year-old oak, in an amount of at least 10 thousand decalitres. There are cognac spirits, the age of which varies from 5 to 50 years. Stocks are constantly replenished by harvesting from their own vineyards, which are 25 thousand hectares. Cognac, pomegranate and quince wines produced here are successfully sold in 75 countries of the world. Visitors will have the opportunity to taste before purchasing products. The Tovuz Baltiya company presents the best names of cognacs from the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan, as well as pomegranate wines and quince wines. Cognacs are made by traditional technology from selected cognac spirits. Cognac spirits are aged in a new barrel, after which this oak packaging is no longer used. The company buys bottles for wine and cognac in the Czech Republic and France. The assortment of the company consists of cognac "Tovuz" V.S., aged at least 5 years, cognac "Tovuz" V.S.O.P. aged not less than 10 years, cognac “Tovuz” H.O. aged from 3 to 30 years. The real pearl of the product range of the enterprise is a unique pomegranate wine, quince wine, quince and pomegranate champagne. It is bottled under the name "Tovuz" variants - semi-dry and semi-sweet. This wine has a healing effect: it improves appetite, lowers blood pressure, increases haemoglobin level and reduces the harmful effects of radiation. The Tovuz Baltia company considers the continuation and development of the traditional technologies of viticulture and winemaking in Azerbaijan, existing for more than ten centuries, as the main goal of its activity. The company "Tovuz Wine" has repeatedly been awarded honorary diplomas for the quality of its products.

The LLC Vinagro company was legally registered in May 2006 and one of its divisions was OJSC Gökögel Winery, which is a wine-making industrial enterprise combining primary and secondary branches of production. Under the Soviet economic management system, the Khanlar Agro-Industrial Complex (the name of that period) was focused on the production of wine and brandy products and their sales throughout the Union. The volume share of brandy produced by this enterprise amounted to about 7% of the all-Union. After the devastation of this area in the "anti-alcohol period", the current "Goygol Winery" rose from the ruins. At present, it is a modern industrial enterprise combining the latest equipment and classic technology.

The road south from Xanlar winds up through the woodland picnic spots of Hacikand and onto a ridge with magnificent views of the dramatic Lesser Caucasus range, crowned by the distinctive cleft peak of Mt Kapaz. For now, the valley beyond is out of bounds. However, it contains one of Azerbaijan's most celebrated beauty spots, the gorgeous, forest-ringed Goy Gol (blue lake), which is slated to reopen to tourism as a new national park within the next few years. The distinctive rocky beak of Mt Kyapaz opened in the 1139 earthquake and disgorged such a mass of rock that it dammed the mountain streams in several places. The result was a string of seven idyllic mountain lakes known as the 'tears of Kyapaz'. Most famous are Goy Gol (Blue Lake) formerly a popular sanatorium, camping retreat, and the more secluded Maral Gol (Deer Lake). Lesser-known Zali Gol (Leech Lake) and Sara Gol (Yellow Lake) never sounded as appealing. The area is especially magnificent in autumn when green forests are burnished yellow, auburn and red like a pointillist painting rising from Goy Gol's still blue waters to Kyapaz's dramatic crown. The best views are part way to Maral Gol.

Mausoleum of Nizami Ganjavi: Nizami Ganjavi, born in 1141, was one of the most educated people of his time. World renown, he is received as the author of "Hamsa" (Pyateritsy), in which five poems were combined, reflecting not only the high skill of the poet's pen but also his ethical and philosophical views. Most of Nizami's lyrics are devoted to love. Other world-famous works by Nizami are the poems "Khosrov and Shirin", "Leyli and Majnun", "Iskender-nime". To this day, the mausoleum remains a place of pilgrimage and the worship of poets. It is located at the entrance to the city from the south-west side. The tomb is a modern monumental structure of a cylindrical form made of red granite, carved in the manner of semicircular facets. Just below is the entrance, which seems just tiny on the background of the grandeur of the whole building. The name Nizami is carved in gold right above the entrance.

Dzhavadhan Mausoleum: Not long ago, on the territory of the historical ensemble, in the courtyard of the mosque, on the site of the grave of the fearless ruler of Ganja - Javadkhan, who died on January 3, 1804, while protecting Ganja from foreign invaders, a tomb was built. In the 1990s, the remains of Javadhana were moved here from the ancient city cemetery. The construction started in 2004 lasted several months. When it was erected, the builders adhered to the requirements of the medieval architecture school. The monument was opened in 2005 and occupied a worthy place among other monuments of the 17th century.

The remains of the once high fortress can be seen at Khansky Garden in Ganja. From its former greatness, there were only formless brick blocks. The fortress wall stretched along the entire bank of the Ganjachay River. But over time, the water, which served as the faithful guard of the fortress, crept closer and undermined the already dilapidated walls. Once there were two powerful towers at a distance of about 600 meters from each other. The famous gates of ancient Ganja served as the gates of the fortress.

Caravan-Sarai is the third time building in the ensemble of Sheikh Bahauddin. Today, the building of the medieval caravanserai plays the role of the Temple of Knowledge. At the end of the 20th century, the Ganja Humanitarian College is conveniently located here. The caravanserai is a two-storey building, comprising 15 rooms and 54 rooms. The museum also houses the museum of the poetess Meskheti Ganjavi.

Chokyak-Hamam is a bathhouse consisting of two communicating rooms. In the center of the large hall are a swimming pool and a fountain (it is intended for relaxation), a small one is designed for swimming. Built from red brick, the bath has two large and five small domes. At the top of the large domes, there are half-domes that played the role of a fan: from them the ventilation pipes dispersed through the space inside the walls, in the winter it was hot there and in the summer it was cool. The sauna was heated with firewood. In the basement, there were two steam boilers. Steam was fed into the halls along ceramic pipes, which also pass through the walls and the floor of a bath. Steam evenly circulated and heated the entire room. This unique system of the 400-year-old bathhouse worked perfectly until 1963. And all these centuries the bath was very popular among the townspeople.

Ganja is a city of Khans and Poets".Ganja, as a fabulously beautiful city, could not appear just like that. According to legend, it was based on the place where the traveler Maazid found a huge treasure - these were pots filled with precious stones and gold. The city was named after this incredible find, and several centuries later became the second most important in Azerbaijan. By the way, the famous Great Silk Road passed through Ganja. But today, the city is participating in a project to restore this ancient trade route. Many sights of Ganja are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Azerbaijani wine producer “ASK Şəki Şərab” will present its brands “Bouquet Sheki” and “Askona”. Under the brands “Bouquet Sheki” and “Askona”, wines are made from grapes harvested in Azerbaijan, such as Rkatsiteli, Saperavi, Madras, Muscat, Chardonnay and Merlot. "These wines of very high quality are completely Azerbaijani products, they are made according to European technologies."

Albanian Church: According to the legend, this church is the first Christian church built not only in the territory of Caucasian Albania but in the whole of Transcaucasia. This place is also remarkable, as burial places of people were found on the territory of the temple, which in their structure are very different from the current inhabitants of this region. In the year of 2003, the church was restored to the money of the Norwegian government thanks to the personal efforts of Tour Heyerdahl. Here, next to the territory of the Church, you can find a memorial bust, in honour of a famous researcher set as a token of gratitude from local residents and the state.

Sheki is one of the most famous and ancient settlements of Azerbaijan. It is located 700 m above sea level and as an amphitheatre is surrounded by mountains. This ancient city has long been known as the center of silk and an important transit point on the Great Silk Road.

Very often Icheri Sheher is called a fortress, as a well-preserved fortress wall surrounds it. People in the territory of Icheri Sheher lived in the Bronze Age, and by the 8th-11th centuries, it was completely populated. Behind the walls, there are many unique monuments: the palace complex of the Shirvanshahs with a burial vault, a sofa, a mosque; "Gyz Galasy" ("The Maiden's Tower"); mosques and minarets, the remains of caravanserais, baths. Buildings of the old fortress are of a special nature. Because of the lack of the territory of the building, the wall to the wall was erected here from ancient times. There are no gardens, the yards are extremely small and separated by "threads" of narrow streets, lanes and dead ends. When the Shirvanshahs moved their capital from Shemakha to Baku in the 15th century, massive buildings began in Icheri Sheher. During this period the pearl of the fortress was built - the Palace of the Shirvanshahs. It should be noted that Baku's XVII-XIX centuries did not go beyond the boundaries of Icheri Sheher. Here were located the palaces of the rulers, and residential quarters. From 1747 to 1806, there was the capital of the Baku Khanate. Only after the beginning of the oil boom, the city began to expand and goes beyond the boundaries of Icheri Sheher. The fortress wall itself is of interest. Once Baku had two of them, and they were separated by moats, but at the beginning of the XIX century, the city grew so fast that it was necessary to demolish and build the outer wall. Remained only the inner wall. It has 25 towers and 5 gates. They say that back in the 30s. During the twentieth century in the fortress, there were more than 900 buildings, and by the beginning of the XXI century, only half remained.

Bibi-Heybat Mosque (Azerbaijan's Bibiheybət məscidi) is a mosque located on the shore of Baku Bay, in Azerbaijan. The existing structure, built in the 1990s, is a reconstruction of the mosque of the same name, built in the 13th century by Shirvanshah Abu-l-Fath Farrukhzad and destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1936 when a fierce struggle with religion was going on throughout the territory of the USSR. The Bibi-Eybat complex, in addition to the mosque, includes tombs and tombs of revered people (including the grave of Ukeima Khanum, the descendant of the Prophet Muhammad), as before destruction, and today is a spiritual center for Muslims of the East and one of the significant monuments of Islamic architecture of Azerbaijan. The mosque was once visited by Abaskuli-aga Bakikhanov, Alexander Dumas, Khurshudbanu Natavan. The local population in the past called it "the mosque of Fatima". Using the same name, described the mosque and visited it in the 40 years of the XIX century, Alexander Dumas.

Holy Wives of the Myrrhbearers": In the Soviet period, the temple was closed one of the first in 1920. First, there was a warehouse in it, and then a gym. In the days of the January events of 1990, two shells hit the bell tower of the temple, due to which it was partially destroyed, the floor sagged, the walls cracked, and the roof collapsed. In 1991, the dilapidated building of the church was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. On May 27, 2001, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia made a great consecration of the Holy Mother of God Church and conferred on him the status of a cathedral of the diocese.

Baku Boulevard: The national park sometimes called the "diamond necklace of Baku", stretches along Baku Bay for 16 km. At each time of the day, the boulevard has its charm: in the morning, you can walk in silence, feel unity with nature, go in for sports; during the day, especially on weekends, the boulevard is fully revived thanks to the small inhabitants of the capital, riding on attractions, rollerblades and bicycles; in the evening, it turns in the magical world of dreams for all lovers. Also, the original illumination and illumination of the park, fountains and other innovations give the boulevard a special charm.

Wine Tour in Azerbaijan - Walking and Wine - Dervish Way

Wine tours to Azerbaijan at first glance look a little unusual considering that if you hear the word wine, it’s heard more France, Italy, Spain or Georgia. However, this stereotype of Tovuz will disappear rapidly when you learn the tradition and culture of wine and not only wine in Azerbaijan. The fact is that Azerbaijan has very ancient wine traditions dating back to the early medieval state of Caucasian Albania, which were forgotten with the Arab conquests.

Visa upon arrival at international airports of Azerbaijan can be obtained only by citizens of Turkey, Israel, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. For citizens of Russia and the CIS (except for Turkmenistan), a visa is not required to Azerbaijan. Citizens of other countries must obtain a visa prior to arrival, through the consulates of Azerbaijan in their country or to issue an electronic visa through travel agencies. To apply for a visa, contact the managers at least 4 weeks before arriving in Azerbaijan.

Local currency: Manat

The recommended currency for the exchange is USD or Euro.

Where to exchange currency: Upon arrival at the airport, the guide will provide accurate information on where and how to exchange cash for local currency.

Availability of ATM: Only in large cities.

Accept credit cards: Only in large cities.

What To Bring

Positive Emotions

Passport

Money

Sunglasses

Meeting Point

Baku, Azerbaijan

Cancellation Policy

For cancellations upto 2 days before the tour -

Refund of 80% of the tour price.

Price

Persons
1 to 30	/person
This is a group tour

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Can't Find the Perfect Tour? Tailor Your Dream Trip!

7-Day Tour to Azerbaijan: Pore Over the Heritage & Wine the Dervish Way

Highlights

Description

Itinerary

Day 01: Baku

Day 02: Excursion

Day 03: Excursion: Sheki + Kish

Day 04: Ganja

Day 05: Goygol

Day 06: Tovuz

Day 07: Baku

What's Included

What's Excluded

Know Before You Go

What To Bring

Meeting Point

Cancellation Policy

Price

Check Availability Hide

Starting from

Can't Find the Perfect Tour? Tailor Your Dream Trip!

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7-Day Tour to Azerbaijan: Pore Over the Heritage & Wine the Dervish Way

Highlights

Description

Itinerary

Day 01: Baku

Day 02: Excursion

Day 03: Excursion: Sheki + Kish

Day 04: Ganja

Day 05: Goygol

Day 06: Tovuz

Day 07: Baku

What's Included

What's Excluded

Know Before You Go

What To Bring

Meeting Point

Cancellation Policy

Price

Check Availability Hide

Starting from

Can't Find the Perfect Tour? Tailor Your Dream Trip!

Create your own adventure!

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