Azerbaijan, Georgia & Armenia

Your Caucasus journey begins in Azerbaijan. On arrival at Heydar Aliyev International Airport you are met by our representative after passport control and transferred to the hotel in Baku.

The rest of the day is free to rest or take a first stroll along the Caspian seafront, where the Flame Towers light up after dark above the old walled city. Dinner at the hotel or a restaurant nearby.

A full day in the capital of contrasts, where medieval walls stand beside futuristic towers. A photo stop at the flowing Heydar Aliyev Center by Zaha Hadid, then Upland Park, the city’s finest viewpoint over Baku Bay. We walk through the Governor’s Garden past the Philharmonic Hall to Nizami Street, and into Icherisheher (UNESCO): the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, the Maiden Tower, caravanserais, the Museum of Miniature Books and old bathhouses.

In the afternoon the Ateshgah Fire Temple, a 17th–18th-century sanctuary built over a natural gas vent. Then we roll up our sleeves for a hands-on gutab masterclass, learning to make the thin Azerbaijani stuffed flatbread — and taste the results. Dinner in Baku.

We leave the capital along the Caspian shore, starting at the Bibi-Heybat Mosque, a reconstruction of the 13th-century shrine on the cliff above the sea. Gobustan National Park (UNESCO) protects more than 6,000 prehistoric rock carvings, some over 12,000 years old, with a modern museum explaining them.

After lunch the road climbs inland to the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus. Sheki is famous for its red-tiled roofs, silk and craftsmanship: we walk through the fortress walls to the Upper Caravanserai and visit the Sheki Khan’s Palace, whose façade glitters with shebeke stained glass assembled without a single nail. Dinner in Sheki.

This morning we cross into Georgia at the Lagodekhi border, where our Georgian guide and vehicle are waiting, and continue into Kakheti, the country’s oldest wine region.

Bodbe Monastery, among cypresses and rose gardens, is the resting place of St Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia in the 4th century. Nearby Sighnaghi sits on a ridge above the Alazani valley, enclosed by 18th-century walls with 23 towers; its cobbled lanes, pastel houses and carved balconies earned it the name “city of love”. Dinner in Sighnaghi.

We descend from the Kakheti hills to Tbilisi. Our tour includes Sameba Cathedral, Metekhi Church and the statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, Rike Park and the glass Bridge of Peace, the domed sulphur baths of Abanotubani and the Leghvtakhevi waterfall, the cable car to Narikala Fortress, Shardeni Street, Freedom Square and Rustaveli Avenue, the Dry Bridge market and the monumental Chronicles of Georgia.

We finish in Mtskheta, the ancient royal capital: Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, revered as the burial place of Christ’s robe, and Jvari Monastery above the confluence of two rivers — both UNESCO sites. Dinner in Tbilisi.

We drive south to the Sadakhlo border, where our Armenian guide and vehicle take over, and climb onto the Armenian plateau. Lake Sevan, at 1,900 m the largest lake in the Caucasus, changes colour with the weather from bright azure to deep blue.

A stairway leads up to Sevanavank, the monastery founded in 874 on what was once an island, with sweeping views over the water. We continue to Yerevan for dinner.

A day among Armenia’s most powerful sacred places. Geghard Monastery (UNESCO) is partly carved directly into the rock of the Azat gorge, with chapels of extraordinary natural acoustics. The Temple of Garni, dedicated to the sun god Mihr, is the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded temple in the former Soviet Union, perched above a basalt gorge.

In the afternoon Khor Virap, the fortified monastery where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for thirteen years; on a clear day it offers the most famous view of Mount Ararat. Return to Yerevan for dinner.

The morning is devoted to Echmiadzin, the spiritual heart of the Armenian Apostolic Church: the cathedral (UNESCO), considered the oldest in the world, and the residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians.

Back in Yerevan, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, a city tour takes in the Cascade, the Opera House and Republic Square, followed by free time at Dalma Garden Mall. Farewell dinner at a local restaurant. (In the 8-day version, transfer to Zvartnots airport after dinner for a night flight.)

Breakfast at the hotel and transfer to Zvartnots International Airport according to the flight schedule. End of the tour.