VISAS
Most Western nationals require a visa. One (or sometimes two) photos are required. The typical cost is about US$40 for a single entry, $80 double entry, $250 multi-entry or $20-30 for a five-day transit visa. The tourist ministry plans a new system in which the visa will be half-price for tourists applying through a recognized travel agency.
Visas on arrival
You can get a visa on arrival but ONLY at Baku Airport’s international terminal (NB no chance if you arrive overland). The $40 fee generally allows a stay of the duration requested when you fill the form in, up to a maximum of one month. An invitation letter isn’t usually necessary (though in a couple of rare cases one has been demanded causing considerable aggravation). Nonetheless you should have two photos and it may be useful to have a photocopy of your passport to hand.
Bizarrely you should get stamped in at immigration BEFORE you apply for the visa! Some travellers have reported that the slightest error in filling out the form can result in having to queue all over again, though the procedure appears to be getting easier as time goes by.
Tourist/entry visas
To arrive overland you need a visa in advance. To apply you’ll probably be asked for either a letter of invitation (from an Azeri friend/business), or a confirmation of a tour/hotel booking.
The formality is easy to overcome even if you don’t have contacts in Azerbaijan and don’t want to book a tour. Simply fax a booking to any top Baku hotel and use their confirmation fax to get the visa (or use an on-line booking system).
If you later cancel the booking the visa is unaffected. Azeri consuls in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Istanbul (Turkey) are reportedly giving tourist visas without invitations/hotel bookings and hopefully others will soon follow suit. In Ankara (Turkey) and Tehran (Iran) instead of an invitation you need a letter from your home embassy (ie from the UK embassy for Brits etc). This simply confirms your identity and is effectively meaningless. But although it is easy enough to obtain it adds extra hassle and expense. Visas typically take between one and three days to issue. If flying in it’s much easier to apply on arrival.
Transit visas
These are valid for five days and usually available without a fuss in Tbilisi, Istanbul (if you can show them an onward visa for Turkmenistan), Tehran or Tashkent. Annoyingly you often have to state the exact dates of usage. Until winter 1999 you could legally transit Azerbaijan for five days with a Georgian visa (and vice versa) but this ‘visa shuffle’ has long since been cancelled.
Extending a visa
Take a new invitation letter, passport and photo to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Consular Department (tel 935940), at 4 Shikhali Gurbanov St.
If the extension is possible you’ll have to pay the relevant fee into a nearby bank then return with the receipt. Applications are accepted between 10.00 and 13.00 Monday to Friday.
Registration
Visa registration is unnecessary if you stay less than a month. Longer stays and one-year multiple-entry visas should technically be registered at the main police station of the rayon in which you’re resident or at central OVIR, 58 Behbutov St (opposite Aquapark, C6 room #18 upstairs, open 10-13.00, 15-17.00, Monday to Friday, northbound minibus #88 stops outside).
Permits
Any rayon which has a border zone with Armenia or Armenian-occupied Azerbaijan may choose to find your presence undesirable. In the mountainous regions such as Gädäbäy and Xanlar there are manned army roadblocks so it’s easy to know how far you’re allowed to go. In other areas there is no such demarcation but that does not mean you’re entirely at liberty to explore. I found myself in uncomfortable situations in Ordubad, Qazax and Agstafa where my photography was considered very suspicious. The latter two provinces seem to require tourists to have clearance from the Ministry of Defence should they wish to do more than transit en route to/from Georgia. If you’re travelling in a group or by car you’re much less liable to arouse the curiosity and suspicion of the authorities.
AZERBAIJAN EMBASSIES ABROAD
Austria Strozzigasse 10, Vienna A-1080 (tel 1 403 1322, fax 1 403 1323).
Belgium 464 Ave Molière, Brussels, but enter from the side (tel 02-345 2660, fax 02-345 9158), Mon to Fri, 10-13.00.
China Taiyuan Diplomatic Tower, 1-32 Sanlitun, Beijing (tel 1 6532 4614, fax 1 6532 4615; website www.azerbembassy.org.cn; open Tue and Thur 14:30-17:30 only).
Egypt 22 Hassan Assem St, Cairo (tel 2-735 1230, fax 2-736 1228).
France 209 rue de la Université, Paris 75007 (tel 01 44 18 92 20, fax 01 44 18 92 24).
Georgia 47 Nutsubidze St, Saburtalo (tel 252639, fax 234037). Open Mon to Fri, 10-12.00, collect 15-17.00, visa $40 delivered in 24 hours. Alternatively Caucasus Travel (p309) can sort out invitations and make both embassy visits for you for $65 total, two working days.
Germany 54a Axel-Springer St, Berlin 10117 (tel 30-206 29 46).
Iran 30 Vatanpur St, Shahid Lavasani Ave, Tehran (tel 21-221 2554, fax 221 75 04),
by taxi (15,000Rials) from Mirdabad metro station. Embassy letter (but no invitation/ booking) required, visa costs $40 plus 9000Rials. Apply am, collect pm same day.
Pakistan 1/A St #25, Sector F-6/2, Islamabad (tel 282-9165, fax 282-0898).
Romania 23 Caracea Ioan Voda, sector 1, Bucharest (tel 211 05 17, fax 211 05 13).
Russia 16 Leontiyevski (Stanislavsky) 16, Moscow (tel 095 229 5546 (visas), fax 202 4730; website http://azembassy.msk.ru open Mon-Fri 10-11am). Metro Tverskaya.
Saudi Arabia PO Box 94005, Riyadh 11693 (tel 1-419 2382).
Turkey The new embassy, 1 Bakü Sok, Or-An, Ankara (tel 312-491 1681/2/3, fax 492 0403) is on the very far edge of the city; bus #189 from Kizlay, #188 from Çankaya – 15 stops! They want $40 and a letter from your home embassy. Takes three days but some travellers managed to get visas on the spot for $120. The consulate in Istanbul, Sümbül Sok 17, 1-Levant (tel 325 8045, metro Levent from Taksim), open Mon-Fri 10-13, 15-17.00, charged me $80 for a tourist visa, issued in three working days.
Turkmenistan 121 Ata Govshudov St, Ashgabat (tel 391102, fax 355625).
UAE PO Box 45766, Al-Bateen area, sector W/16, Plot N-297 Abu Dhabi (tel 666 28 48, fax 666 31 50).
UK 4 Kensington Court, London W8 (High St Ken tube) (tel 020-7938 5482, fax 020-7938 1783).
Ukraine 24 Gilbochiska St, Kiev (consular dept tel/fax 4619209 Tue and Fri 10-11am only), ministry-approved invitation required.
USA 2741 34th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel 202-337-5912, fax 202-337-5913; website http://www.azembassy.com/; open Mon-Fri 10-13:00).
Uzbekistan 25 Sharq Tongi St, Tashkent 700043 (tel 173 6167, fax 173-2658). Next door to UzCom head office, south of Metro Yoshliq on Halqar Dustligi: $20 for a transit visa issued in less than an hour; $40 for a 60-day tourist visa without invitation.
GETTING THERE
By air
AZAL (the Azeri national carrier) has very acceptable Boeing 757 flights from London Gatwick (tel UK 020-7629 3722) and Paris (tel France 1 40 15 61 34). Prices ex-Baku can be as low as $400 return, but will generally be much more TO Baku. There are also scheduled flights from London Heathrow (daily, BA), Frankfurt (Lufthansa), Prague (Czech Airlines), Vienna (Austrian), Istanbul (THY, AZAL), and several other Turkish and CIS cities. Planes are rarely full except in early June at the time of the Oil Show. Prices are lowest in mid-summer.
If money is more important than time you may save a little by flying from Europe to Turkey then continuing overland. It’s usually possible to fly (daily) between Istanbul and Eindhoven (Netherlands) for Euro19-49 on website www.corendon.com. Various charter flights offer cheap options too, especially one-ways at season ends (ie October to Turkey, March from Turkey). Dozens of agencies in the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul offer one-ways to Europe in the Euro80-120 range. From Istanbul you can reach Nakhchivan by bus for a mere $30 whence it’s a $50 hopper flight to Gänjä plus $3 by train to Baku. Via Tbilisi is cheaper but you’ll need a Georgian visa ($30 transit, up to $80 tourist). Another cheap alternative is to fly directly to Tbilisi from Düsseldorf for Euro250 one-way on website www.germania.de.
There are no direct flights from the Americas, Africa or Australasia.
An intriguing AZAL flight links Baku to Ürümqi in western China (Thur, $386 one-way, $520-678 return, discounts possible). However, other connections to east Asia are awkward – either via Tashkent (Uzbekistan Airlines connects to Bangkok), Dubai (AZAL then change), or via Europe. Beware of flying via Moscow (Aeroflot) or Tehran (Iran Air) as you’ll almost inevitably need a Russian or Iranian transit visa which can prove an annoying fiddle.
Western travel agents may not immediately remember the airport codes: Baku BAK, Gänjä KVD, Nakhchivan NAJ.
From/to Turkey
THY (Turkish Airlines) is a very reliable carrier and offers competitive fares between European cities and Baku via Istanbul. However, AZAL is cheaper with Baku–Istanbul (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat), $220 one way, $285 return, Baku–Ankara (Mon, Thur same prices) and Baku–Trabzon, Tue only, $150 (discounts possible).
You’d need a very good map to notice that Turkey and Azerbaijan actually share 10km of common border. This has proved very important to the Nakhchivan enclave which is otherwise completely cut off – sandwiched between hostile Armenia and ambivalent Iran.
Incredibly, buses run eight times daily Nakhchivan–Igdir–Istanbul (approx 30 hours, from $25). The main problems of this route are the spurious charges levied at the border (p295) and the challenge of reaching the rest of Azerbaijan from Nakhchivan: flight only, $100 to Baku (4/day), $50 to Gänjä (4/week).
The 48-hour ordeal of direct Baku–Georgia–Istanbul buses was once very popular with tourist-traders, but now that the Azeri economy has stabilized frequency has dwindled to just a few buses per week, running around $50-80 (plus visa). Company offices are based around 26 Commissars Sq in Baku (p95, K10), and the Laleli district in Istanbul.
It is much more pleasant, however, to do this fascinating trip in stages. And because the through buses get stuck for hours at each frontier, doing it yourself is not much slower. Buses from Istanbul to Hopa (p334) cost a mere $20-30 for the 20-hour journey (comfortable, coffee served by hostesses aboard, regular meal stops) and remarkably several services depart every hour. This usually involves a change in Trabzon (map p334), where you can pick up a Georgian transit visa in a few minutes. Dolmus minibuses run on the newly-asphalted road between Hopa and Sarp, the Georgian border post.
Istanbul–Ardahan services are also quite frequent if you prefer to take the scenic ‘alternative’ route into Georgia via Posof (an alpine-chalet village, p239) and Vardzia (a Georgian cave city, p238). From either Batumi (p330) or Akhaltsikhe (p237), the first main towns in Georgia, there are cheap, comfortable(ish) overnight trains to Tbilisi, whence there are several options for reaching Baku (see below).
From/to Georgia
AZAL and Caucasian Airlines fly between Baku and Tbilisi. This costs $120 for locals but a whopping $200+ for foreigners though occasionally they’ll throw in a night in a good hotel on arrival. The SI Express luxury train (website www.si-travel.com) is a sensible alternative for business-folk. It runs five nights a week taking 13 hours so you arrive reasonably rested at around 08.30. With breakfast and dinner it costs $168 one way, $270 return for a berth in a two-person compartment, $260/470 for a private cabin. The short hop Gänjä–Tbilisi costs less than half this but leaves Gänjä at around 2am.
If you’re paying for your own ticket take the ‘normal’ overnight train (daily, 20.00 ex Baku), a bargain at around $15 kupe. It’s quite bearable but can take 17-20 hours thanks to laborious, sometimes nerve-racking immigration/border procedures (these are easier on the SI Express).
From Tbilisi’s Ortajala bus station there is a nightly bus (sometimes minibus) to Baku, currently at 17.00. From Baku’s Mashin Bazar in the ‘8th Km’ suburb (minibus #35) there are old Ikarus overnight bus services, leaving around 18.00, to Marneuli, Bolnisi, Rustavi and Tbilisi (4-5 shirvan). These are aimed at ethnic Azeris living in Georgia and are particularly uncomfortable.
There are also morning services to/ from Tbilisi (Ortajala) and both Qax and Shäki. If you have time it is preferable to take a leisurely drive through Kaheti (p320), cross the Lagodekhi border and arrive in Azerbaijan near Balakän (p231). Minibuses from Tbilisi (Isani) leave when full to Lagodekhi via Tsnori (3-4hrs, $4, see or go via Telavi (p322).
If you’re driving a car to Georgia you’ll have to pay around $45 in insurance and short-stay road tax payments at the Customs department.
From/to Central Asia
Turkmenistan Lufthansa fly Baku–Ashgabat for around $300 one-way (Mon, Wed, Fri at 22.00). Cheaper options on AZAL and Turkmenistan Airlines have been suspended so the only other direct option is an overnight Caspian ferry. This supposedly leaves nightly around 18.00 but in practice it departs at whim, maybe the next morning. It should take around 12 hours but can take three times that, the boat anchoring offshore if there is no berth available on arrival at Turkmenbashi. This can make a terrible bureaucratic mess if your hard-to-arrange Turkmen visa has fixed dates. Heavy winds can make the crossing unpleasant, or even dangerous. Berths cost $75 to $100 per person, or you can pay $45 for ‘5th class’ seats (though once on board there is sometimes pressure to upgrade for around $10-20). Foot passengers must buy tickets at the Port Office opposite Absheron Hotel. However, the ferry departs from a separate dock, further east: ask a taxi for Turkmenistanski Peron, or cross Gagarin overpass (east end of Hacibayov St) then walk 10 minutes south following the freight-rail tracks. If you want to take a vehicle (from $78 for a car) buy the ticket at the port gate.
On the Turkmen side the port is 6km from Turkmenbashi station whence there are cheap overnight trains to Ashgabat.
Other ‘stans’
There are four flights per week Baku–Aktau (Kazakhstan) on AZAL, $170 (locals $96). Alternatively there’s a ferry charging $46-60 one way for foot passengers and $220-285 for a car and two drivers. However, the trip can take anywhere from 24-60 hours. The date and time of departure depends on finding enough cargo to load the boat so having bought a ticket you still need to enquire carefully and check regularly for changes in plan – once full the boat may suddenly depart unannounced. This is too unreliable an option if you have limited visa time. Daily trains link Aktau to Aktöbe/Aktyubinsk and Atirau on the main Kazakh–Russian rail network. There’s a direct Baku–Atirau flight (Tue and Thur on IrtyshAvia). For Almaty ImAir (Improtex) flies on Saturdays (via Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from $160). For Tashkent alternatively fly Uzbekistan Airlines (Tue, Thur). British Airways flies to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan, Mon, Thu, Sat nights, $475 return). AZAL has direct flights to Kabul (Afghanistan; Wed, Fri, Sun, $320 return).
From/to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus
AZAL and many ex-Soviet ‘babyflots’ fly to a wide variety of Russian and CIS cities. Competition is particularly fierce on the Baku–Moscow route flown by Turan (which also flies Gänjä–Moscow), Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Imair, Aeroflot and Transaero, with prices as low as $90 one way, $160 return. St Petersburg is offered direct by Imair (Sun, $135) and Pulkovo, Minsk by Belavia ($188), Kiev by Air Ukraine (Sun) and AZAL (Wed). Other direct flights sold through AZAL’s main office (though not necessarily on AZAL flights) include Donetsk (Sun), Kazan (Fri), Nizhny Novgorod (Fri), Perm (Wed), Tyumen (Wed), Samara (Mon, Fri plus a service from Gänjä), Ufa (Tue) and Volgograd (Sun, $90). There are also flights to Novosibirsk ($177, Sundays on Astair, website www.astair.ru/en), to Krasnoyarsk via Omsk (Mon) and Ulyanovsk ($120) on Izhavia.
At the time of writing the Russian land borders with both Azerbaijan and Georgia remain closed to foreigners – fallout from the Chechen troubles. So at present only locals can take the trains that run from Baku to Moscow (Wed, Fri, Sun, 160,000M platskart/240,000M Kupe), Kiev (Tue, Thur 170,000/260,000M), Brest (Mon, Sat), Kharkov (Thur, Sun), Rostov, Astrakhan and Makhachkala. There are similar problems with Russia–Azerbaijan bus services (100,000M Min Vodi, 130,000M Rostov, 150,000M Volgagrad).
The proposed Baku–Astrakhan ferry service has yet to materialize.
From/to Iran
There are flights to Tehran with AZAL (Tue and Fri nights, $115 one way, $155 return) and IranAir (Mon, $120). FROM Iran the AZAL flight costs $155. The direct bus, Baku–Tabriz can take as much as 24 hours including border waits of four to seven hours so it’s quicker and more comfortable to make the trip in hops to Astara, walk across the border then continue (easy and friendly). From Nakhchivan there is a direct train to Tabriz three times a week but it’s quicker and easier to get a taxi to the border post at Culfa then cross on foot to Iranian Jolfa which is a great base for visiting little-known Iranian Azarbaycan.
Khazar Shipping (website www.khshco.com, Inflot office, 2nd floor of the Baku port office above the small police room) has suspended Baku–Iran passenger ferries but moots a new route Baku–Amirabad (a new port near Neka, east of Sari) for the distant future. There’s also an outside chance of a new hydrofoil link from Länkaran to Bandar Anzali.
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