Transit Azerbaijan? Yes. Visit? Forget it!
Here is what İ experienced 2 days ago:
If you enter the country for a visit, they ask you to pay about 60% of the bike's current value at the border as a deposit. When you return, you present your receipt and get your money back (or so they say).
Needless to say, I was not prepared for such a hostile policy, and who carries such a wad of dollars in his pocket, anyway? Credit cards not accepted.
This rule does not apply to cars, and it does not apply to bikes in transit.
Most AZ travellers we read about in this BB have been on transit, so they weren't hit by this nonsense. But for someone from central Europe, like me, AZ is well within a 5 weeks tour reach. Bah!
So, if you intend to visit AZ, you have the following options (no guarantee they will work):
1. transit to, say, iran and turn back immediately.
2. pretend you're on a transit trip, although you really aren't. When you return to the border, try manage the situation with some bribe money.
3. Carry, say, 6000 USD with you if you ride a brand new BMW 1200 GS.
Frigging idiots. (sorry, İ had to get this off my chest).
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