Experiences Azerbaijan
Period of visit: December 2019
1 Euro is 1.85 Azerbaijani manat
1 US dollar is 1.69 Azerbaijani manat
Traffic
The traffic in Azerbaijan is not to bad. They are decent drivers compared with my previous country Georgia.
Road conditions
The road conditions in Azerbaijan is really good. Especially all the highways are new or in good shape. I can see that they invested a lot of money in new infrastructure in the last few years.
Car insurance
When entering Azerbaijan you have to buy a car insurance. You can buy this at the border for about 30 euro’s for a month.
Crossing the border with your vehicle
Crossing into Azerbaijan is not a big deal. An easy and fast process. You don’t need any special documents for your vehicle. Probably you European car insurance covers Azerbaijan. Check your policy to make sure! They will search your car for a bit but not really thorough. Take care about the fact that they don’t like drones. If you have one look for more information about this subject. I didn’t have a drone at that time so no issues for me. They especially look for drugs of any kind. Check my complete report here: add page caravanistan.
Money
As usual you have to exchange some money at some point. At the border the rate is not that good. You can try exchanging money in the next big city. Make sure you have enough fuel to reach that place.
Internet connection
I bought a simcard with Azercell after a couple of days. For about 10 euro you have 5 GB of data valid for thirty days.
Alcohol
As Azerbaijan doesn’t have any special regulations about alcohol its widely available. Drugs of all kinds is prohibited. Don’t bring this over the border. They are looking for that.
Health insurance
you don’t need to proof your health insurance when entering. Azerbaijan probably is covered with your European policy. Check it to make sure!
Strange immigration rule
On a normal visa you are allowed to stay in Azerbaijan for 30 days. However if you stay longer than 15 days in Azerbaijan you have to make an extra registration. This takes only a couple of minutes. Costs nothing and can be done by every decent hotel, hostel and guesthouse.
If you don’t do this extension you will have to a fine between 200 and 250 euro when leaving the country. Why Azerbaijan has this rule is not really clear to me.