About us
We have run group tours from Baku since 2012. Our guides know the roads, our groups are small and the prices are written down in advance.
How we started
Elshan Bagirov had guided on the Sheki and Quba roads since 1998. In 2012 he founded Səmt in a two-room office on Nizami Street; the first year was Sheki weekends only.
Quba and Khinalug, Gabala and Nakhchivan followed, and since 2016 we also go abroad. With the land borders closed we flew to Georgia; when the night train came back in May 2026 we moved those tours onto it.
In 2025
- 312
- departures: 214 within Azerbaijan, 98 abroad
- 4,860
- travellers; the largest group 20, the smallest 4
- 41%
- of travellers had been with us before
How we work
- We travel the road first
- Before a group goes, a guide tries every new route: the road, the hotel, the lunch stop and the rest stops.
- Small groups
- Up to 18 in a minibus, 16 on mountain tours, 20 on long trips. The guide knows everyone by name.
- The price is written in advance
- Each tour page says what is included and what is not. There are no “extra payments” on the road.
- A duty line
- While a group is on the road, the duty manager answers the phone every day until 22:00, even when the office is closed.
The team
14 people work at the office; we have six guides and work with licensed local guides abroad.
Elshan Bagirov
Founder and director
A guide since 1998, first on the Sheki and Quba roads, then in Georgia. He founded Səmt in 2012 and still travels every new route himself before a group does.
With us since 2012 · Languages: Azerbaijani, Russian, English
Nargiz Safarli
Head of sales
Runs bookings, payments and visa papers, and answers the chat. She also handles the groups’ hotel lists and flight tickets.
With us since 2016 · Languages: Azerbaijani, Russian, English, Turkish
Leyla Hasanova
Guide: Georgia and Türkiye
A former history teacher. She leads the Tbilisi train trips and the Istanbul–Cappadocia groups, and guides visitors from abroad in English at Gobustan.
With us since 2017 · Languages: Azerbaijani, Russian, English, Turkish
Ramil Gasimov
Mountain guide: Quba, Gabala, Shahdag
He grew up in Qusar and knows the Khinalug road in winter too. He renews his first-aid course every year and walks at the back of the group on mountain tours.
With us since 2015 · Languages: Azerbaijani, Russian
Tural Rzayev
Tour leader: Uzbekistan, Jordan, Italy
He leads the long tours: connections, hotels and the local guides. He has been to Petra more than ten times and takes the climbers up to the Monastery.
With us since 2019 · Languages: Azerbaijani, Russian, English
Official details
- Legal name
- Səmt Travel LLC
- Tax ID (VÖEN)
- 1505283741
- Tourism Register
- Tour operator in the State Tourism Agency’s register, No. TR-0412
- Insurance
- The tour operator’s civil liability is insured
Reviews
The balloon flight moved a day because of the wind, but they reshuffled the programme so we lost nothing. Two nights in the cave hotel were a treat.
Narmin H., GanjaIstanbul and Cappadocia, May 2026 The Afrosiyob trains run on time, so the cities never tired us out. The boutique hotel in Bukhara was right in the old town. Do take the plov lesson.
Sabina and Tofig, BakuTashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, October 2025 Giving Petra a whole day was right: we climbed to the Monastery without rushing. The night in the Wadi Rum tent was cold, and they brought blankets. With the Jordan Pass we paid nothing at the border.
Tamerlan G., BakuJordan: Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea, March 2026 I had one day left after a work trip to Baku. An English-speaking guide, a small group, and the volcanoes were stranger than I expected. We reached Yanardag at sunset.
Anna K., WarsawGobustan, mud volcanoes and the fires of Absheron, June 2026