Shahdag Tour from Baku – Guba & Shahdag Mountain Resort Day Trip

An hour north of Baku the highway passes Five Finger Mountain, a limestone outcrop whose five stone points gave it its name — Beshbarmag in Azerbaijani. It is a landmark for every driver on this road and a place of pilgrimage for local people, so there is usually activity around the base. We stop for photographs and a short walk; the view back across the flat coastal plain to the Caspian shows just how abruptly these mountains begin.

In the Khizi region the hills change colour completely. The Candy Cane Mountains are banded in red, white and cream — iron-rich sediments laid down in layers and then tilted, so the stripes run diagonally across whole hillsides. There is nothing else like them in Azerbaijan, and they photograph best in the low light of morning, which is exactly when the tour passes through.

The road then climbs into Guba, the apple-growing heart of Azerbaijan. Orchards line the valley, the air cools noticeably, and the landscape turns green and wooded — a complete change from the dry hills an hour behind. Your guide uses this stretch to explain the region: its fruit harvests, its mountain villages and the peoples who have lived in these valleys for centuries.

Shahdag Mountain Resort is the largest mountain resort in Azerbaijan and the highlight of the day. Built on the slopes below Shahdag peak in the Greater Caucasus, it operates year-round: skiing and snowboarding through the winter, hiking, zip-lines and cable-car sightseeing through the summer. You get free time here to choose your own activities — the cable car up to the higher station and the Shahdag roller coaster are the two most popular, and both are paid separately.

Even without buying an activity, the resort is worth the drive. The terraces look straight out across the range, and at this altitude the air and the quiet are the point.

For an extra 30 AZN per person you can add Laza, a small mountain village beyond the resort set beneath cliffs threaded with waterfalls. It is one of the most dramatic settings in the country and gives you a look at traditional highland life that the resort, by its nature, does not. Ask your guide on the day or let us know when you book.