Azerbaijan
The region's most glamorous resort is a huge new affair with particularly impressive expanses of lounge, indoor and outdoor pools, games rooms, activities and a memorable spa accessed by tram or a psychedelically colourful tunnel-way.
It's 6km north of central Şəki set in vast, forest-edged grounds across the river from Kiş and with glorious mountain peaks on the horizon. Being over 300m higher, the air is noticeably cooler here than in Şəki.
2.77 MILES
This ornate 1762 palace building features vivid murals and dazzling coloured light streaming through şəbəkə (stained-glass windows), making it Şəki’s…
0.6 MILES
The brilliantly renovated round-towered 'temple' in pretty Kiş village has been lovingly converted into a very well-presented trilingual museum. It’s the…
17.27 MILES
Two beautiful high-altitude valleys meet at charming little İlisu. Amazingly this diminutive village of photogenic old homes was once the capital of a…
1.32 MILES
High above the city, a plateau of summer pastures known as Xan Yaylağı offers truly superb viewpoints back over the valley and northwards towards high…
14.8 MILES
This remarkable rural site comprises over a dozen close-packed grave excavations from the 2nd to 7th centuries BC, presented underground in the states…
2.97 MILES
The Şəki Khans' little-publicised 'other' palace is a slightly smaller, older version of the Xan Sarayı set in its own rose garden. While five of the six…
3.03 MILES
Even if you don’t stay here, do peep inside this historic caravanserai whose twin-level arcade of sturdy arches enclose a sizeable central courtyard…
2.8 MILES
The şəbəkə (stained-glass windows) featured at Xan Sarayı are laboriously made by slotting together hundreds of hand-carved wooden pieces to create…
0.6 MILES
The brilliantly renovated round-towered 'temple' in pretty Kiş village has been lovingly converted into a very well-presented trilingual museum. It’s the…
1.32 MILES
High above the city, a plateau of summer pastures known as Xan Yaylağı offers truly superb viewpoints back over the valley and northwards towards high…
2.77 MILES
This ornate 1762 palace building features vivid murals and dazzling coloured light streaming through şəbəkə (stained-glass windows), making it Şəki’s…
2.8 MILES
The şəbəkə (stained-glass windows) featured at Xan Sarayı are laboriously made by slotting together hundreds of hand-carved wooden pieces to create…
2.84 MILES
A coven of museum ladies beckon unsuspecting tourists into this unusual building, a circular former church. A sign claims it dates from the 7th century or…
2.97 MILES
The Şəki Khans' little-publicised 'other' palace is a slightly smaller, older version of the Xan Sarayı set in its own rose garden. While five of the six…
3.03 MILES
Even if you don’t stay here, do peep inside this historic caravanserai whose twin-level arcade of sturdy arches enclose a sizeable central courtyard…
3.1 MILES
Şәki's foremost mosque dates from the 18th century and sports a standalone 28m brick minaret with a metal tulip-shaped point.