VIVANT2 Filming Locations & Azerbaijan Highlights: 4 Days
Baku, Shamakhi and Sheki in four days: three of the eight regions where VIVANT season two was filmed, a private vehicle and an English-speaking guide, from $353 per person.
4 days / 3 nights · Baku & Shamakhi & Sheki & Kish · from $353/pp
By Emin Abdulalimov · Pricing & itinerary last updated August 2026 · Operated by Birtour DMC since 2014
- Duration
- 4 days / 3 nights
- Cities
- Baku · Shamakhi · Sheki · Kish
- Group size
- 1–20 people
- Departures
- Year-roundDates on request
- From
- $353/ person
- Film locations
- UNESCO
- Culture
- History
Your 4-day route
Day
01
Heydar Aliyev International Airport to your hotelArrival in Baku
Your English-speaking driver meets the flight in the arrivals hall and takes you privately to the hotel. The rest of the day is yours: the Boulevard, a first dinner, or sleep off the connection. The Old City comes with a guide on day 4.
- Private arrival transfer, any flight, any time
- The rest of the day at leisure
- Arrival at Heydar Aliyev International Airport, welcomed by our English-speaking driver
- Private transfer to the hotel
- The remainder of the day is free. The Baku Boulevard along the Caspian is an easy first walk if you land with daylight left
- Overnight
- Baku (hotel by package tier)
Day
02
Baku to Sheki via Shamakhi, about 300 kmBaku to Shamakhi and Sheki
West out of Baku after breakfast, into the country the crew actually filmed in. Diri Baba on the way, the oldest mosque in Azerbaijan in Shamakhi, and the shebeke windows of the Khan's Summer Palace in Sheki by late afternoon.
- Diri Baba Mausoleum, a 15th-century tomb built into a cliff face
- Juma Mosque of Shamakhi, first built in 743 AD
- Yeddi Gunbaz, the Seven Domes, burial ground of the khans of Shamakhi
- Sheki Khan's Summer Palace (UNESCO, 2019)
- Sheki Caravanserai
- Departure by private vehicle with your English-speaking guide toward the ancient town of Shamakhi
- En route, a stop at the Diri Baba Mausoleum at Maraza, a 15th-century tomb carved into the cliff so it appears to grow out of the rock
- Shamakhi: the Juma Mosque, first built in 743 AD and the oldest mosque in Azerbaijan, rebuilt many times after earthquakes and standing today in its 2013 restoration
- Yeddi Gunbaz, the Seven Domes: the hillside burial ground of the khans of Shamakhi, where three of the domed tombs still stand
- On to Sheki, a UNESCO World Heritage town and a former Silk Road caravan stop below the Greater Caucasus
- Sheki Khan's Summer Palace: shebeke windows of hand-cut wood and coloured glass, fitted without a nail or a drop of glue
- The historic Sheki Caravanserai, one of the largest surviving caravanserais in the Caucasus
Places this day
Photo: Wikifex, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Photo: Sefer azeri, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Photo: Ludvig14, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Meals included
- B
- Overnight
- Sheki (hotel by package tier)
Day
03
Sheki to Baku via Kish, about 330 kmSheki, Kish and the road back to Baku
The local market and a handicraft centre in the morning, the traditional Sheki lunch and tea ceremony, then the village of Kish and its Albanian church before the drive back to Baku.
- Sheki market and a handicraft centre
- Traditional Sheki lunch and afternoon tea ceremony
- Kish Albanian Church, by legend founded in the 1st century AD
- Before departure, a visit to the local market and a handicraft centre in Sheki: silk, hats, and the halva the town is known for
- Traditional Sheki lunch and the afternoon tea ceremony, both included in the package
- The village of Kish above the town: the Kish Albanian Church, one of the oldest Christian churches in the Caucasus, which local legend traces to the 1st century AD
- Private transfer back to Baku with your English-speaking guide
Places this day
Photo: Azeri, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Photo: Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Meals included
- BL
- Overnight
- Baku (hotel by package tier)
Day
04
Baku, then the airport transferBaku city tour and departure
A guided morning in the capital: the walled Old City, a photostop at the Maiden Tower, the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the historic Baku Caravanserai. In the evening, your driver takes you privately to the airport.
- Icherisheher, the UNESCO-listed Old City
- Photostop at the Maiden Tower
- Palace of the Shirvanshahs
- The historic Baku Caravanserai
- After breakfast, a private guided city tour of Baku, starting inside Icherisheher, the walled Old City on the UNESCO list since 2000
- A photostop at the Maiden Tower, the ancient symbol of the city
- The Palace of the Shirvanshahs, the grandest monument of medieval Shirvan architecture
- The historic Baku Caravanserai in the Old City
- In the evening, private transfer to Heydar Aliyev International Airport for the onward international flight
Places this day
Photo: AlixSaz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Meals included
- B
Choose your comfort level
All packages cover the same itinerary, guide, transport, and entries. Only the hotels change. Prices are per person in USD.
Econom Package
Four-star properties in both cities. Same guide, same vehicle, same entries as every other tier.
Hotels
Baku
City Park Baku Hotel★★★★
Sheki
Sheki Park Hotel★★★★
Price per person (USD)
| Group | SNG | DBL | TRP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01-03 | $1,148 | $666 | $567 |
| 04-06 | $655 | $578 | $552 |
| 07-10 | $581 | $504 | $478 |
| 11-15 | $508 | $431 | $405 |
| 16-20 | $456 | $379 | $353 |
SNG = single · DBL = double · TRP = triple
Deluxe Package
Courtyard by Marriott in Baku and the Sheki Palace Hotel beside the Khan's Palace. A step up in room and location for a small difference in price.
Hotels
Baku
Courtyard by Marriott Baku Hotel★★★★
Sheki
Sheki Palace Hotel★★★★
Price per person (USD)
| Group | SNG | DBL | TRP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01-03 | $1,339 | $743 | $655 |
| 04-06 | $846 | $655 | $640 |
| 07-10 | $773 | $581 | $567 |
| 11-15 | $699 | $508 | $493 |
| 16-20 | $648 | $456 | $442 |
SNG = single · DBL = double · TRP = triple
Lux Package
★ premiumFive stars in both cities: the Hilton on the Baku waterfront and the Marxal Resort in the hills above Sheki.
Hotels
Baku
Hilton Baku Hotel★★★★★
Sheki
Marxal Resort Sheki Hotel★★★★★
Price per person (USD)
| Group | SNG | DBL | TRP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01-03 | $1,662 | $927 | $795 |
| 04-06 | $1,170 | $839 | $780 |
| 07-10 | $1,096 | $765 | $706 |
| 11-15 | $1,023 | $692 | $633 |
| 16-20 | $971 | $640 | $581 |
SNG = single · DBL = double · TRP = triple
- Rates are per person in US Dollars, for ground services in Azerbaijan. International airfare is not included.
- Every tier buys exactly the same programme. The guide, the vehicle, the entrance fees and the day-by-day itinerary are identical. Only the hotels change.
- SNG is single occupancy, DBL is double, TRP is triple. A triple room takes an extra bed or a sofa bed and is smaller than a double.
- Prices fall with group size. At 16 to 20 people the Econom triple rate is 353 USD per person for the four days, against 567 USD for the same room at 1 to 3 people.
- Departures run all year round on your dates. There is no fixed departure calendar to fit into.
- The rates are not valid for blackout dates such as the Formula 1 weekend, Eid, and Novruz.
- Meet and greet, plus all airport to hotel to airport transfers by air-conditioned vehicle
- 3 nights with breakfast: two in Baku, one in Sheki
- All-day transfers and excursions by comfortable air-conditioned transport
- English-speaking guide throughout the tour
- Entrance: Diri Baba Mausoleum
- Entrance: Juma Mosque of Shamakhi
- Entrance: Yeddi Gunbaz
- Entrance: Sheki Khan's Palace
- Entrance: Sheki Caravanserai
- Entrance: Kish Albanian Church
- Entrance: Maiden Tower
- Entrance: Palace of the Shirvanshahs
- Entrance: Baku Caravanserai
- Traditional Sheki lunch and afternoon tea ceremony
- 1 bottle of water per person per day
- International airfare
- Travel insurance
- Lunches and dinners, except where listed above
- Tips, telephone, laundry and other personal expenses
- Any service not listed as included
- 1-2 pax
- Sedan or jeep with professional driver; driver and guide are the same person
- 3-6 pax
- Minivan with professional driver; driver and guide are the same person
- 7-15 pax
- Mercedes Sprinter with driver
- 16-20 pax
- Isuzu coach with driver
- Under 2 yrs
- Free of charge by land.
- Under 6 yrs
- 50% of the full adult rate.
- 7-11 yrs
- 75% of the full adult rate.
- 12+ yrs
- Full adult rate.
- The hotel list and the per-person price for your dates and group size are confirmed on request.
- Any change to the programme is possible. We build the tailor-made version and re-price it.
- Prices are valid for the complete package only. We do not break it down or sell sectors separately.
- If a listed hotel is unavailable at the time of booking we arrange another of similar standard. A different category may carry a cost.
- We reserve the right to review agreed rates if the manat devalues against the contract currency by 5% or more.
- The guide may reorder sightseeing within a day according to the content of the tours and to changes in flight schedules.
- Panoramic city driving does not include museum and ceremonial entrance payments where these are not listed.
- Check-in is generally from 14:00 and check-out until 12:00.
- Birtour acts as an intermediary between guests and consulates and does not guarantee the issue of visas.
- Passports must be valid for at least 6 months beyond the end of travel.
Birtour is a destination management company in Baku, and this is our own short tour. It exists for one kind of traveller: you watched the season, you want to stand where it was filmed, and you have four days rather than ten.
When filming wrapped in November 2025, Baku Media Center, the production company that partnered on the shoot, named eight Azerbaijani regions where the crew had worked. This itinerary reaches three of them: Baku, Shamakhi and Sheki. They are the three that sit on one road, which is what makes them possible in four days without turning the trip into a driving endurance test.
Checked 10 August 2026. On this pass we re-verified the 2026 Grand Prix weekend against Formula 1's own race calendar, the opening hours and ticket band at the Sheki Khan's Palace on the state reserves' official ticketing channel, the Japanese visa-free window against the State Migration Service listing, and whether Sheki has an airport of its own. It does not. What we found is written into the sections below.
Why these three regions and not the other five
Baku, Shamakhi and Sheki sit on a single road west out of the capital, so four days reaches all three without a domestic flight or a doubled-back drive. The other five named regions do not line up: Nakhchivan is an exclave reachable only by air, Ganja is 360 km west, and Guba and Sumgayit sit north on a different axis.
The route is the classic western corridor. Baku on arrival, then the climb out of the semi-desert to Shamakhi, where the Juma Mosque has stood in one form or another since 743 AD, and on through the foothills to Sheki, the Silk Road town whose historic centre and Khan's Palace went onto the UNESCO list in 2019. Kish, the village above Sheki with its Albanian church, comes on the way back. The Shamakhi stop also takes in Yeddi Gunbaz, the hillside burial ground of the Shirvan Khanate rulers, where three of the seven domes survive and the oldest inscription is dated 1810.
The last morning belongs to Baku itself: a guided walk through Icherisheher, the walled Old City on the UNESCO list since 2000, with a photostop at the Maiden Tower, the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the historic Baku Caravanserai. That puts two UNESCO sites inside the four days, both with a guide, before the evening transfer to the airport.
These are the same three regions covered by the packaged six-day departure sold in Japan, and this tour covers them as a private trip from 353 US dollars per person for ground services. The difference is in how you buy it, and our cost guide sets the numbers side by side. Your vehicle, your guide, your dates, all year round. The price is per person and moves with your group size, so a couple pays a different rate than a party of twelve, and both can see the whole grid before asking us anything.
If you want all eight regions, that is a different trip and we run it: the ten-day Grand Tour with two domestic flights and a Japanese-speaking guide. The regions map shows why eight regions cannot fit in four days; Nakhchivan alone is an exclave you can only sensibly reach by air.
What the price covers
Every price on this page is per person in US dollars and buys ground services inside Azerbaijan: the guide, the private vehicle, three nights with breakfast, every entrance fee on the inclusion list, and the traditional Sheki lunch and tea ceremony. International airfare is not in it, and that is deliberate: you keep the airline, the routing and the dates.
Three hotel tiers buy exactly the same trip. Same guide, same vehicle, same entries, same days. The only difference is where you sleep: solid four-star properties in the Econom tier, the Courtyard by Marriott and the Sheki Palace in Deluxe, the Hilton and the Marxal Resort in Lux.
Read the group-size column before anything else. At 1 to 3 travellers the Econom double is 666 USD per person. At 16 to 20 sharing triples it is 353. A private car and guide divide much better by twelve than by two.
The entrance fees are the part buyers assume is a rounding error, so here is the shape of them. The Sheki Khan's Palace opens 09:00 to 19:00 and sits in a 1 to 15 manat band, the Kish church is separately ticketed from 1 manat, and the state reserves now sell dated, timed sessions with QR entry rather than tickets at the gate. All of that is inside the package price, along with the palace, the caravanserai, Diri Baba, Yeddi Gunbaz and the Juma Mosque. On currency: the Central Bank of Azerbaijan published 1 USD = 1.70 AZN on 10 August 2026, the same figure as the bulletins either side of it, so a dollar budget carries no drift inside a normal quote window.
When is the best time to drive this route?
Mid-April to early June and early September to late October. The road climbs from semi-desert at Baku to the Greater Caucasus foothills at Sheki, so it covers two climates in a day, and those two windows are when both ends are pleasant. October is the best month for photographs, because the foliage peaks around Sheki and the Ismayilli forests.
July and August still run. Baku sits at 32 to 38 degrees with a dry southerly wind, the foothills run 10 to 15 degrees cooler, and the Sheki night is the one people remember afterwards. Winter is genuinely fine on this corridor, which is worth saying plainly because it is not true of every Azerbaijan tour: nothing on these four days depends on a mountain pass, unlike the Khinalig leg of our ten-day route. The month-by-month version is in our best season guide.
The guide is English-speaking
This tour is priced with an English-speaking driver and guide, and for parties of one or two the driver and the guide are the same person. That single fact is a large part of why a private four-day tour can start under 400 dollars per person rather than at the figure a Japanese-guided programme reaches.
If you want Japanese-language guiding, two honest options. The ten-day Grand Tour includes a Japanese-speaking guide for the whole trip. Or we re-price this four-day programme with one as a tailor-made arrangement; how Japanese guiding works here, and why we confirm it booking by booking, is on our Japanese-speaking guide page.
Our sales desk corresponds in English. That is separate from the guiding question and we would rather write it here than have it land as a surprise at the quote stage.
When does this tour run, and when do the rates not apply?
All year round, on your dates. There is no departure calendar to fit into. The published rates do not apply across three blackout windows: the Formula 1 weekend, Eid and Novruz. In those weeks Baku hotel rates move by a multiple rather than a percentage, whoever you book through.
The 2026 Grand Prix is worth a date, because it moved. Formula 1's own calendar has the Azerbaijan round running Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 September 2026, with the race on the Saturday. It is the first Saturday race in the event's history, and the reason is that Sunday 27 September is Remembrance Day, a national day of mourning. Both Baku days of this itinerary, day 1 and day 4, sit inside the area affected by circuit road closures, and the 2026 closure schedule had still not been published when we checked on 10 August 2026. A 2025 Simon-Kucher study of 2,800 hotels across 24 Grand Prix host cities put Azerbaijan top of the list at 281 percent above the preceding weekend, which is why the blackout exists.
One further entry note. Azerbaijan's land borders remain closed to inbound passenger traffic, extended by government decree to 1 October 2026, so every leisure arrival is by air. Japanese passport holders travel visa-free for tourism from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2027, three entries of 30 days each, per the State Migration Service, and that is a one-year unilateral trial with a hard expiry rather than a permanent change. The detail is on our visa-free guide for Japanese travellers.
What we would not recommend
Four things about a four-day trip are worth arguing about before you book rather than after: a solo departure at the published rate, a late arrival paired with an early departure, treating three regions as eight, and a start in Grand Prix week. None of them is a rule; each is a cost you should see coming.
- A solo departure at the published rate. At 1 to 3 travellers the Econom single is 1,148 USD per person, because one person carries the whole cost of a private car and guide for four days. Two people sharing a double pay 666 each for the same trip.
- Landing late on day 1 and flying out early on day 4. Day 1 is a transfer and free time, day 4 is the guided Baku morning. Squeeze both ends and you have paid for a four-day tour and taken two.
- Treating this as the eight-region trip. It is three of the eight, we say so on the page, and anyone selling a four-day itinerary as full coverage is selling you a map you cannot drive.
- A Grand Prix week start. Both Baku days sit in the closure zone and the hotel premium lands on the two nights you spend in the city.
Disclosure
Birtour is not affiliated with TBS, with the VIVANT production committee, or with the travel companies selling packaged VIVANT departures. We are a destination management company based in Baku. We did not work on the production. The eight regions named on this page come from Baku Media Center's own statement at the completion of filming, reported by Report.az and Trend.az on 15 November 2025 and re-checked by us on 10 August 2026. This page describes our own four-day tour and its prices.
Questions travelers ask
- Which VIVANT filming regions does this four-day tour visit?
- Three of the eight: Baku, Shamakhi and Sheki. Baku Media Center, the production company that partnered on the season two shoot, named eight regions when filming wrapped: Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, Nakhchivan, Shamakhi, Gabala, Sheki and Guba. The statement was reported by Report.az and Trend.az on 15 November 2025. This itinerary covers the three that sit on the classic Baku to Sheki road. The other five, including the Nakhchivan exclave that needs two domestic flights, are on our ten-day Grand Tour.
- How much does the four-day VIVANT tour cost?
- From 353 USD per person for ground services, at 16 to 20 travellers sharing triple rooms in the Econom tier. A couple sharing an Econom double pays 666 USD per person; a solo traveller pays 1,148 USD. The full grid for all three hotel tiers, five group-size bands and three room types is published on this page. Prices cover the guide, the private vehicle, three nights with breakfast, all listed entrance fees, and the Sheki lunch and tea ceremony. International airfare is separate.
- Is the guide Japanese-speaking?
- No. This tour is priced with an English-speaking driver and guide, which is a large part of why it costs what it does. If you want Japanese-language guiding, our ten-day Grand Tour includes it, or we can re-price this four-day programme with a Japanese-speaking guide as a tailor-made arrangement. The pool of Japanese-speaking guides in Azerbaijan is small, so ask before you fix dates.
- How is this different from the packaged six-day VIVANT tour sold in Japan?
- It covers the same three regions, Baku, Shamakhi and Sheki, but the structure is different. This is a private tour with a dedicated vehicle and guide, and it runs all year round on your dates, not on a fixed departure list. The price is per person by group size instead of one blended figure, and you buy the ground arrangement directly from the company that operates it in Baku. You keep your own airline, routing and dates.
- Is it four days or six days?
- Four days of ground services in Azerbaijan, with three hotel nights: two in Baku and one in Sheki. If you are flying from Japan or anywhere else without a direct connection, the trip is six days door to door, because the first and last days go to international flights. The price on this page covers the four ground days only, so it works with any airline and any routing.
- Can days be added to this itinerary?
- Yes. Any change to the programme is re-priced rather than surcharged, and we tell you what each change costs before you commit. The natural extensions are Gabala between Shamakhi and Sheki, a Gobustan and Absheron day around Baku, or the full ten-day Grand Tour if you want all eight filming regions including Nakhchivan.
- When is the best time to drive the Baku to Sheki road?
- Mid-April to early June and early September to late October. The route climbs from semi-desert at Baku to the Greater Caucasus foothills at Sheki, so it is really two climates in one day, and those two windows are when both ends are comfortable. October is the best of the four days for photographs: foliage peaks around Sheki and the Ismayilli forests. July and August work but Baku runs 32 to 38 degrees, which is why the Sheki night is the one people remember. Winter is fine on this corridor because nothing on it depends on a mountain pass, unlike the Khinalig leg of our ten-day tour.
- Can I fly to Sheki instead of driving?
- There is no airport at Sheki. The nearest is Zaqatala, roughly 90 km away, which AZAL lists as a domestic destination from Baku. In practice the road is the product: the 300 km run from Baku takes in the Diri Baba mausoleum at Maraza, the Juma Mosque of Shamakhi and Yeddi Gunbaz, none of which you would see from the air. A rail service runs on the corridor too, but the Sheki station is not in Sheki town and the schedule does not fit a four-day trip.
- Does the Formula 1 weekend affect this tour?
- Yes, on price and on movement in Baku. The 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix runs Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 September, with the race on the Saturday, and that weekend is one of three rate blackouts on this page alongside Eid and Novruz. Streets inside the circuit perimeter close for several days either side, which affects days 1 and 4 of this itinerary because both are Baku days. Sunday 27 September is Remembrance Day, a national day of mourning, so expect a subdued city. Move the start by a week and none of this applies.
tour package
VIVANT Azerbaijan Grand Tour: 10 Days, All Eight Filming Regions
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What a VIVANT trip to Azerbaijan costs
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The eight VIVANT filming regions: distances, drive times and how they connect
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Sheki Khan's Palace: shebeke glass, frescoes, and how to visit
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Yeddi Gunbaz, Shamakhi: the Seven Domes of the Shirvan khans
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Azerbaijan visa rules for Japanese travellers: visa-free until 1 July 2027
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Japanese-speaking guides in Azerbaijan: what Birtour can and cannot promise