Azerbaijan · Shaki city
Where to Stay in Sheki, Shaki city
Sheki is a historic town in the Caucasus foothills of northwestern Azerbaijan, famed for its khans' palace and its silk.
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Where to stay in Sheki
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Where you stay in Sheki turns on the old upper town. The cobbled streets around the Palace of the Sheki Khans keep the caravanserais, the museums, and the mosques within a walk, and staying in the old quarter suits anyone here for the historic town. The lanes hush under the trees at dusk.
Rooms fill the old caravanserais and stone houses. Down in the newer town and along the river, the streets run wider and plainer. A room below the old quarter trades the palace lanes for space, parking, and an easy road out toward Baku.
The wooded slopes rise past the town. If you want the palace and the museums, stay in the upper town; if you want space and the road, take a room below. Whichever you choose, Sheki's upper town stays within easy reach.
About Sheki
Sheki is known for the palace of its khans.
What is Sheki known for?
The Palace of the Sheki Khans glows with painted walls and delicate stained-glass windows set without a single nail, high in the wooded Caucasus foothills, and cobbled streets and old caravanserais climb the slopes around it. Silk once made the town rich. Craft and mountains mark the place.
What are the main landmarks in Sheki?
The Palace of the Sheki Khans is the town's glory. Its painted walls and shimmering stained-glass windows, set without nail or glue, are the great sight of the city, high in the old upper town. Caravanserais climb the cobbled streets.
The old stone inns and the House of Shakikhanovs stand among the lanes, while the Sheki Historical Museum keeps the story of the silk town.
What is the history of Sheki?
Sheki grew rich on silk and the mountain roads. For centuries the town stood on the caravan routes through the Caucasus, and its weavers spun a famous silk that was sold across Asia and Europe. Trade filled its caravanserais.
Great stone inns rose to shelter the merchants and their camels, and some still stand among the cobbled streets. The khans made the town their capital. In the eighteenth century the rulers of Sheki built their summer palace on the hill, a marvel of painted walls and stained glass, and gathered their court in the mountain town.
Empires came and went around it. Persia and then Russia took the khanate in turn, but Sheki kept its palace, its silk, and its old quarters through every change. The Palace of the Sheki Khans was later named a treasure of the world.
Sheki still glows with painted glass beneath the Caucasus.
Where is Sheki?
Sheki lies in the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus. The town climbs a green mountainside in the far northwest of Azerbaijan, where fast rivers rush down through wooded gorges from the high peaks. Forests and orchards cover the slopes.
Snowy mountains rise close to the north.
What is the climate of Sheki?
Sheki has a mild, humid mountain climate. Warm, wet summers bring frequent rain to the wooded hills, and the winters turn cold and snowy in the foothills, wetter than the lowlands below. Rivers run high with the mountain rains.
The green hills stay damp much of the year.
How do you get to Sheki?
Sheki lies in the mountains of northwestern Azerbaijan. Roads climb up to the town from the plains along the road between Baku and Georgia, and buses run in from the capital and the valley towns. The nearest rail lies down on the plain.
Most arrive by road up into the wooded foothills.
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Updated August 2026