🇦🇿Azerbaijan

The past trip that can stop you at the door

• Anyone who has previously visited certain areas of south-western Azerbaijan - including Khankendi - without the permission of the Azerbaijani authorities can be refused entry.
• In practice this means anyone who has been to Nagorno-Karabakh from the Armenian side. Azerbaijan treats that as an illegal entry into its own territory.
• An Armenian stamp on its own is not the problem. Travelling from Armenia to Azerbaijan is routine, via Georgia. It is the Karabakh visit specifically.
• If that describes you, contact an Azerbaijani embassy before booking, which is the FCDO's own advice. Do not find out at Baku airport.

The eVisa

• Apply through ASAN Visa, Azerbaijan's own portal. It is quick and it is the only official channel.
• The eVisa is normally single entry, and allows a 30-day visit within a 90-day validity window. Those are two different numbers: 90 days is how long the visa is usable for, 30 days is how long you may stay.
• Apply at least 3 days before travelling. There is a paid 3-hour urgent option if you have left it late.
• Single entry matters if you plan a side trip. Going to Georgia and coming back needs a second visa.

After you arrive: register

• Stay longer than 15 days and you must register with the State Migration Service, online or in person.
• Failure to register is fined before you are allowed to leave.
• Hotels usually handle this for guests. If you are in an apartment or staying with friends, it is on you - and that is exactly who gets caught.

At the border

• Passport valid at least 6 months after arrival, with 2 blank pages.
• The land border with Armenia is closed and there is no crossing. Arrive by air, from Georgia, from Russia or from Iran.
• Nakhchivan is an Azerbaijani exclave separated from the rest of the country by Armenian territory, and is reached by air from Baku or through Iran or Turkey.

• Religious literature is restricted. Importing it requires clearance from the State Committee, and books carried for personal use have been confiscated at the airport.
• Cash equivalent to USD 10,000 or more must be declared on entry and on exit.
• Evidence of travel to Nagorno-Karabakh causes refusal of entry. It is an immigration matter rather than a customs one, but the search of your phone and papers happens at the same desk.
• The allowance is a carton of cigarettes and a small quantity of spirits per adult, with the usual duty on anything beyond it.
• Carpets need an export certificate. Anything old or handmade requires paperwork from the Ministry of Culture, and the carpet shops in Baku will arrange it - buying without it means losing the carpet at the airport.

Care

• Baku has adequate private facilities for most things.
• Medical facilities outside Baku are severely limited. That is the FCDO's phrasing and it is the constraint on a trip into the mountains or the regions.
• Serious illness or injury may require evacuation to Turkey or western Europe. Take insurance that covers evacuation, not just treatment, and carry the assistance number offline.
• Carry a proper first aid kit when travelling outside Baku - the FCDO advises it, which it does not for most countries.

Altitude

• Shahdag and Tufandag are the ski resorts and altitude sickness is a risk at both, as it is in the northern mountains generally.

Everyday

• Tap water is not reliably drinkable. Bottled water is cheap and everywhere.
• Food is excellent and hygiene in Baku restaurants is good.
• Summer in Baku is hot and humid with the Caspian doing nothing to help; the wind the city is named for is at least a mercy.
• Winter is cold and very windy.

Medicines

• Pharmacies in Baku are good. Bring anything specific you rely on, in original packaging with the prescription.

Numbers

• 103 for an ambulance - not 911 or 112.

Baku

• Icherisheher, the walled old city, is the atmospheric place to stay - small hotels inside the walls, and the Maiden Tower and Shirvanshahs' Palace on the doorstep.
• Around Fountains Square and the Boulevard is the modern centre, well connected and full of restaurants.
• The Flame Towers overlook everything and the hotels up there have the view and a hill to climb.
• Baku is genuinely handsome - the oil-boom architecture of the early 1900s makes the centre look like a Caspian Paris.

Elsewhere

• Sheki - the old silk-road town in the northern foothills, with the Khan's Palace and a caravanserai you can sleep in.
• Quba and Lahic - mountain villages, cooler, and the start of the good walking.
• Lankaran in the south, subtropical and green, near the Iranian border.
• Gabala - the ski and resort town, busy with domestic tourism.

Where not to book

• Twelve districts in the south-west carry an advisory against all but essential travel because of mines and unexploded ordnance: Kelbajar, Lachin, Qubadli, Zengilan, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Khojavand, Shusha, Khojali, Khankendi, Aghdam and Tartar.
• Some of these have been marketed for tourism since the conflict ended. The clearance is not finished and the FCDO advice stands.
• Within 5 km of the Armenian border, all travel is advised against.

Register if you stay

• Over 15 days means registering with the State Migration Service. Hotels do it; apartment hosts often do not. The fine comes on departure.

The local SIM

• Azercell, Bakcell and Nar cover the country. Tourist prepaid SIMs are sold at Baku airport and in the malls.
• Registration needs the passport.
• Coverage is good in Baku and along the main roads, and thinner in the mountains of the north and the far west.

The IMEI rule

• Azerbaijan requires foreign phones to be registered after 30 days if you are using a local SIM in them, through a government process and for a fee.
• This does not affect a normal tourist visit of a week or two - but it is worth knowing if you are staying a month, because the phone stops working on local networks rather than warning you.
• Roaming or an eSIM avoids it entirely.

An eSIM instead

• Straightforward here and it sidesteps both the SIM registration queue and the IMEI question.
• Check the plan covers Azerbaijan specifically rather than a Caucasus bundle, some of which cover only Georgia and Armenia.

What not to photograph

• Military bases, equipment and installations are sensitive areas and visitors have been detained for photographing them.
• Ask before photographing religious or commemorative sites - the FCDO advises it and it is taken seriously, particularly around memorials to the conflict.

Sockets in Azerbaijan are Type C and F at 220 V, 50 Hz - two round pins in the European pattern.

• A Europlug fits every socket, and Schuko plugs fit the earthed ones.
• British, American and Australian plugs need an adapter.
• Soviet-era sockets are unearthed and a little narrower, so a chunky European plug can be a tight fit.
• 220 V behaves as 230 V does for European appliances; American 120 V-only equipment needs a converter.
• Georgia and Turkey match, so a Caucasus trip needs one adapter at most.
• Iran, across the southern border, also uses the same two round pins, so the plug is one of the few things that does not change in this region.

The basics

• Plugs are the European two-pin type C and F, 220 V.
• Azerbaijani is a Turkic language written in the Latin alphabet, so you can at least read signs and place names - a relief coming from Armenia or Georgia.
• Russian is widely understood, and English is common among younger people in Baku and rare in the regions.
• UTC+4 all year, no daylight saving.
• Dialling code +994.

Culture

• Azerbaijan is secular and Shia-majority, and considerably more relaxed than the Gulf - alcohol is freely available, dress is European in Baku.
• It is more conservative in the regions. Cover shoulders and knees outside the capital, particularly at mosques.
• Tea is the social ritual. Served black in a pear-shaped armudu glass, with jam and sugar cubes rather than milk, and refusing the first cup is not done.
• The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is present in everything - memorials, museums, street names, conversation. Listen rather than opine; there is no neutral position available to a visitor and there is no need to take one.

Practical

• The Novruz holiday in March shuts much of the country for the better part of a week.
• Ramadan is observed but not enforced on visitors; restaurants stay open.
• Baku's wind is constant - the name means "city of winds" - and it is genuinely strong in winter.
• The Caspian is not a swimming sea near Baku; the beaches north of the city are where people go.

The manat

• The Azerbaijani manat (AZN) is pegged to the US dollar and has been stable for years.
• Azerbaijan is inexpensive by European standards - Baku is the priciest part and still good value.
• Exchange offices are plentiful and give better rates than the airport.

Cards, carefully

• Cards work well in Baku - restaurants, shops, hotels - and contactless is normal.
• The FCDO warns specifically about card fraud, advising caution at cash machines and with card details. That is an unusual thing for it to single out and worth acting on.
• Use machines inside bank branches during opening hours, cover the keypad, and check your statement before you fly home rather than after.
• Cash outside Baku, particularly in the north and in the villages.

Medical costs

• Facilities outside Baku are severely limited and a serious problem may mean evacuation to Turkey or western Europe. That is what your insurance is for, and it is expensive without.

Tipping

• 10% is normal in restaurants and often added as a service charge in Baku.
• Drivers and guides get a modest tip.

Small things

• The manat symbol is a stylised ₼ and prices are usually written with it.
• Keep small notes for buses outside Baku, where the card system does not reach.

In Baku

• The metro is cheap, clean and useful, and runs on the BakiKart - the same card as the buses and the airport express. Buy one on arrival and load it; nothing takes cash.
• Bolt works and is very cheap. Uber does not operate.
• The old city (Icherisheher) and the Boulevard are walkable, and that is where most of Baku's sights are.

Around the country

• Buses and shared taxis run from Baku's international bus terminal to Sheki, Quba, Lankaran and Ganja.
• Trains connect Baku to Ganja and Sheki and are comfortable and slow.
• Hiring a driver for a day is affordable and is how most visitors do Gobustan and the mud volcanoes.

Driving yourself

• You need an international driving permit as well as your own licence.
• Driving standards are poor and accidents are frequent - the FCDO's assessment.
• There is no permitted level of alcohol. Any alcohol detected risks severe fines or imprisonment.

Where not to go

• The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to twelve districts in the south-west: Kelbajar, Lachin, Qubadli, Zengilan, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Khojavand, Shusha, Khojali, Khankendi, Aghdam and Tartar - because of mines and unexploded ordnance left by the 2020 and 2023 conflicts.
• Also against all travel within 5 km of the Armenian border.
• This is not a bureaucratic restriction. These are genuinely mined areas and clearance is ongoing.

Worth having

• Bolt - the ride-hailing app, cheap and reliable in Baku. No Uber here.
• BakiKart - the physical transport card for the metro, buses and the airport express. Not an app, but the thing you cannot travel without.
• ASAN Visa - the official eVisa portal, and the only one to use. There is a substantial reseller industry charging a multiple of the government fee.
• The State Migration Service site for the registration, if you are staying over 15 days and your accommodation is not doing it.

A warning about cards

• Card fraud is a concern in Azerbaijan, the FCDO says directly, advising caution at cash machines and with card details.
• Use machines inside bank branches, cover the keypad, and check statements while you are still there.

Language

• Azerbaijani is Turkic and written in Latin script, so signs are at least readable even when they are not comprehensible - a real relief after Armenia's alphabet next door.
• Russian is widely understood and English is common among young people in Baku.

Free roads, a good main network, and heavy police presence.

• The alcohol limit is zero, and enforcement includes checkpoints on the intercity roads.
• Roads are free and the Baku-Ganja and Baku-Quba highways are modern; mountain roads to Xinaliq and Lahic are not.
• Speed cameras are everywhere on the Baku approaches and fines are issued automatically.
• Baku traffic is fast and assertive, and parking in the old city is close to impossible.
• Some border regions are closed to visitors and driving toward them is refused at checkpoints.
• Fuel is cheap and stations are frequent on the main routes, and far apart in the Talysh mountains and toward Lerik.

Crime

• Crime levels in Baku are generally low. Bag-snatching and mugging happen, particularly after dark.
• Card fraud is the FCDO's specific concern - see the money section.

Mines

• Twelve districts in south-western Azerbaijan carry mine and unexploded ordnance risk from the 2020 and 2023 conflicts, and the FCDO advises against all but essential travel to all of them.
• Follow national and local authority advice in any area not yet cleared.
• This is a live hazard, not a legacy one. Clearance is ongoing and casualties still occur.

Photography

• Military bases, equipment and installations are sensitive areas and visitors have been detained for photographing them.
• Ask before photographing religious or commemorative sites, particularly memorials connected to the conflict.
• Azerbaijan is more sensitive about this than its neighbours, and the consequence is detention rather than a word.

Drugs

• Possession carries long jail sentences and heavy fines.
• The airports scan all baggage with advanced detection technology, which the FCDO mentions specifically. Trace amounts are found.

Driving and drinking

• There is no permitted blood alcohol level. Any alcohol detected risks severe fines or imprisonment.
• Driving standards are poor and accidents are frequent.

Protests

• Demonstrations are illegal in Azerbaijan and police respond quickly. Avoid any gathering.

LGBT+

• Same-sex activity is not criminalised, but people are discreet, and public displays of affection are discouraged - markedly so outside Baku.

The numbers

• There is no single unified emergency number in general use, so save all four. 103 is the ambulance.
• Operators speak Azerbaijani and Russian; English is not reliable.

If something goes wrong

• Outside Baku, the plan is getting to Baku, and for anything serious, an evacuation flight to Turkey. Have the insurer's assistance number written down.
• Report a crime and get the report for the claim.
• Card fraud: report it to your bank immediately and while you are still in the country, since the FCDO flags it as a specific risk here.

If you are detained

• Photographing a military installation is the most likely reason a visitor is detained in Azerbaijan. Delete nothing, argue nothing, ask for your embassy.
• Most countries have an embassy in Baku.

Things not to do

• Do not attend a demonstration. They are illegal and police respond quickly.
• Do not drive after any alcohol at all.
• Do not enter the twelve advised-against districts or the 5 km border strip. Mines are not a rule you can be careful around.